1612887 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of Vietnam, sought a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) dismissed the applicant's application. The applicant failed to appear at the scheduled hearing, and subsequently did not apply for reinstatement of the application within the prescribed 14-day period.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was required to confirm the dismissal of the application, given the applicant's failure to appear and subsequent failure to seek reinstatement. The Tribunal was required to determine the consequence of these failures under the relevant provisions of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and associated regulations.

The Tribunal applied the principle that where an applicant fails to appear at a hearing and does not seek reinstatement within the stipulated timeframe, the Tribunal must confirm the decision to dismiss the application. This failure to take steps to have the application reinstated means that the decision under review is taken to be affirmed. Consequently, the Tribunal confirmed its earlier decision to dismiss the application.