The Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) has been caught out lying to law abiding Australian businesses owners who have applied for nomination approvals under the RSMS visa program for the occupation of Retail Manager. The department has issued this statement on a number of refusal letters recently;
“A Retail Manager as defined in ANZSCO is responsible for setting the overall direction and objectives of a business.”
Do they really? I’m sure retail owners around Australia would be troubled to think the managers they have appointed are suddenly setting the overall direction and objectives of their businesses. Maybe these high powered Retail Managers would start by giving themselves a gigantic pay rise or perhaps an additional 4 weeks of leave? Perhaps they would like to relocate the shop next to a beach so they can take a dip easily after their shift?
Of course any reasonable person would know the DOHA’s assertion is completely false. In addition, you can search high and low on the ANZSCO site and you will find nothing to support their statement. Under Migration Regulations, this would be regarded as a False and Misleading statement. Can we slap a PIC 4020 finding upon the case officers who have used this lie? Perhaps even give them a 3 year ban on making further decisions? I wish we could.
However I have seen many of these decision letters brought to my office, using the same template. It is clearly some manager at the Parramatta processing office who has made up this porky. Worse still, it could be someone based in the policy section in Canberra. It seems there is one standard for immigration offers and another for visa applicants. If it was just some generic statement that had no influence on the decisions, nobody would care, however they have used this as justification for the refusals. It is a deliberate unconscionable act, not some accidental typing error or simple act of stupidity. The mere fact that many individual case officers have been using this template also demonstrates a collusion to deceive the public.
This is a serious issue and we know of a number of complaints being lodged, so lets see what they have to say for themselves. If you have received a refusal letter lately which makes the same claim, please let us know. It may also be regarded as a breach of the Public Service Act, which ensures public servants conduct themselves in an honourable and professional manner. Such refusals of the nominations should be lodged at the AAT and in our opinion, there would be no difficulty in having the decision overturned.
