1504021 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the protection visa application of a male applicant from China, who claimed to be a practicing Christian of Han Chinese ethnicity. The applicant arrived in Australia in 2007 and his mother subsequently applied for a protection visa in 2008, with the applicant as a dependent. This application was refused, and the applicant later made a new application based on complementary protection criteria, which was also refused. The Tribunal affirmed this refusal.

The central legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant's claims of persecution were credible and, if so, whether he faced a real risk of significant harm in China due to his religious beliefs and practices. The Tribunal was required to assess the applicant's fear of harm from both PRC authorities and villagers, considering his specific allegations regarding police raids, land seizure by neighbours, and mistreatment of his mother upon her return to China.

In its reasoning, the Tribunal acknowledged that an applicant's delay in lodging a protection visa application can be relevant to assessing the genuineness of their claimed fear. The Tribunal considered the applicant's claims that he would face persecution from authorities and harm from villagers due to his Christian faith. These claims were based on his mother's alleged mistreatment in China, including detention and the deregistration of her household registration, as well as allegations of land seizure and lack of police assistance. The Tribunal also noted the applicant's age at the time of his arrival and at the time of the review. The Tribunal concluded that the decision under review should be affirmed.