1601121 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for a protection visa by an elderly, illiterate Coptic Christian widow from Cairo, Egypt. The applicant had previously visited Australia on temporary visas and lodged her protection visa application in November 2013. The Department refused to grant the visa in January 2015, leading the applicant to seek review of this decision before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Australia had protection obligations towards the applicant under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), specifically under sections 36(2)(a) and 36(2)(aa). This required the Tribunal to assess whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of membership of a particular social group or for reasons of religion, and whether she could obtain protection from the Egyptian state. The Tribunal was also required to consider relevant policy guidelines and country information assessments.

The Tribunal accepted the applicant's identity and nationality as Egyptian. It considered the applicant's claims of persecution, including allegations of illegal dispossession of her residence, false charges of proselytising Muslims, lack of family support, and militant attacks on churches in Egypt. The Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was a person in respect of whom Australia had protection obligations under the Refugees Convention, thus satisfying the criterion in s.36(2)(a) of the Act.

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