1610593 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa by a non-citizen who had previously been in Australia. The dispute centred on whether the applicant met the threshold jurisdictional requirement for the grant of such a visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant was a non-citizen in Australia, as stipulated by section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), which is a prescribed criterion for the grant of a protection visa. The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant satisfied this fundamental requirement.

The Tribunal's reasoning was based on the evidence of the Department of Immigration's movement records, which indicated that the applicant had departed Australia in July 2017. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but no response was received. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia at the time of the decision. As this criterion was not met, the Tribunal concluded that it was unnecessary to consider the substantive claims for protection. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa.