1701570 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered the application of a Sri Lankan Tamil national for a protection visa. The applicant claimed to fear persecution upon return to Sri Lanka due to his ethnicity and an imputed political opinion, stemming from his alleged past involvement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The applicant had previously been a failed asylum seeker and was now seeking review of a decision that refused his protection visa application.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant had established a well-founded fear of persecution for a Convention reason, specifically ethnicity and imputed political opinion, or whether he belonged to a particular social group. This involved assessing the applicant's credibility, particularly in light of inconsistencies in his evidence regarding his passport and departure from Sri Lanka, and evaluating new claims of membership and active service with the LTTE that were raised late in the proceedings. The Tribunal also had to consider the applicant's stated fears of identification as a security risk and his inhibition in the presence of a female representative and interpreter.

The Tribunal found that the explanations provided for the late claims were not reasonable and that documentary evidence was consistent with the applicant's original claims, which had been found to be not credible. Consequently, the Tribunal rejected the new claims and proceeded to make its decision based on the original grounds. However, the Tribunal also considered the possibility of the applicant belonging to a particular social group, defined as Tamils with a historical family link to the LTTE, and found that the decision under review should be remitted for further consideration on this basis.