The Trustee for Grove Family Trust (Migration)

This matter concerned a review of a decision to refuse a nomination for a visa under the Direct Entry stream. The applicant, The Trustee for Grove Family Trust, sought to have the nomination approved. The Tribunal, presided over by P. Maishman, was tasked with determining whether the applicant met the requirements for nomination approval.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the nominator, The Trustee for Grove Family Trust, was actively and lawfully operating a business in Australia, as required by regulation 5.19(9)(a) of the Migration Regulations 1994. This requirement was central to the approval of a nomination under the Direct Entry stream.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the lack of sufficient and current evidence provided by the applicant. Despite an invitation from the Tribunal to provide updated information, including tax returns and BAS statements for the past two financial years and 24 trading months respectively, the applicant failed to respond. Consequently, the Tribunal was left with outdated documents and could not be satisfied that the business was actively and lawfully operating at the time of the decision. The Tribunal applied regulation 5.19(9)(a) and concluded that this essential requirement was not met, which in turn meant that regulation 5.19(4)(f) was also not met.

As a result of the failure to satisfy the requirements of regulation 5.19, the Tribunal was compelled by regulation 5.19(3)(b) to refuse the nomination. The Tribunal affirmed the original decision to refuse the nomination.