1504822 (Refugee)

The applicant, a Vietnamese national who arrived in Australia in August 2011 and subsequently lodged a protection visa application, sought review of a delegate's decision to refuse his visa. The applicant claimed he would face persecution in Vietnam due to his conversion to Christianity, his family's financial ruin and debt to loan sharks, his loss of household registration, and his inability to subsist. The delegate had accepted some aspects of the applicant's claims, including his conversion to Christianity and his family's financial difficulties, but had not been satisfied that these, or other claimed grounds such as membership of particular social groups, would lead to persecution or significant harm.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant was a person to whom Australia owed protection obligations under section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) by reason of persecution for one of the five Convention grounds, or alternatively, whether there was a real risk of significant harm under section 36(2)(aa) of the Act as a consequence of his removal to Vietnam. The Tribunal was also required to consider whether the applicant had a right to enter and reside in a safe third country under section 36(3) of the Act.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's claims in light of Ministerial Direction No. 56 and relevant Departmental guidelines and country information. While the delegate had not been satisfied that the applicant's conversion to Protestantism would attract adverse attention amounting to persecution, the Tribunal found that the applicant was a person in respect of whom Australia had protection obligations under the Refugees Convention. The Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant met the criterion set out in section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act.

Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the matter for reconsideration with a direction that the applicant satisfies section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act.