1613666 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa. The applicants failed to appear before the Tribunal, which led to the dismissal of their application. No application for reinstatement of the dismissed application was made within the prescribed 14-day period.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was required to confirm the dismissal of the protection visa application, given the applicants' failure to appear and their subsequent failure to seek reinstatement.

The Tribunal reasoned that under its procedural rules, where an applicant fails to appear and does not seek reinstatement within the stipulated timeframe, the Tribunal must confirm the decision to dismiss the application. This procedural requirement meant that the original decision to dismiss the application was to be affirmed. Consequently, the Tribunal confirmed the decision to dismiss the application.