1508457 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of Pakistan, sought review of a decision not to grant him a Protection visa. The applicant arrived in Australia in March 2014 and applied for a Protection visa, claiming he had been in Australia since that time and had been unable to obtain suitable employment. He stated he had asked his agent to apply for the visa before events occurred that led him to seek protection in Australia. The applicant also claimed to have previously applied for visas to another country twice through a different agent, both of which were refused.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criteria for a Protection visa under section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). This involved assessing the applicant's claims regarding events at his local mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, in January 2014, where he alleged he observed a suspicious individual with a gun who was subsequently apprehended by police after the applicant reported him. The Tribunal also considered the applicant's assertion that he was illiterate and had no knowledge of the basis on which his agent applied for his current visa, despite providing supporting documents for a previous visa application.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a Protection visa. It found no suggestion that the applicant satisfied section 36(2) on the basis of being a member of the same family unit as a person who held a protection visa. Consequently, the applicant did not meet the criterion in section 36(2).