YES JAPANESE MASSAGE PTY. LTY. (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Cth) considered a nomination refusal concerning YES JAPANESE MASSAGE PTY. LTD. and a visa holder seeking to transition to permanent residency. The dispute centred on whether the applicant, a massage therapist, met the requirements for approval under the Temporary Residence Transition nomination stream.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the nomination application was compliant, if the nominator was an actively and lawfully operating business in Australia, and crucially, if the business had the financial capacity to employ the nominee full-time for at least two years. The Tribunal also had to assess whether the nominated occupation aligned with the nominee's previous visa occupation and met the relevant ANZSCO code requirements.

The Tribunal found that the application was made in the approved form, with the prescribed fee, and correctly identified the nominee and the occupation of Massage Therapist, aligning with ANZSCO. It was satisfied that the nominator was a standard business sponsor actively and lawfully operating in Australia, and that the nominee had held the requisite Subclass 457 visa and been employed in the nominated position full-time for at least two years. The Tribunal also considered the financial capacity of the business, reviewing financial reports, bank statements, tax returns, and service agreements, alongside oral evidence, to conclude that the business could sustain the employment.

Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the original decision to refuse the nomination and substituted a decision approving the nomination.