1703360 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant seeking a protection visa for Bangladesh. The applicant claimed to have been a member of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and alleged a physical assault by members of a rival student group in 2011, which led to his family advising him to leave Bangladesh. He arrived in Australia in 2012 and applied for a protection visa in 2016.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether there was a real chance the applicant would suffer serious harm if returned to Bangladesh due to his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. Alternatively, the Tribunal had to consider whether there were substantial grounds for believing that, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of his removal to Bangladesh, the applicant faced a real risk of suffering significant harm.

The Tribunal applied the provisions of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), including sections relating to refugee status and complementary protection. It considered the applicant's claims in light of the Ministerial Direction No. 84 and relevant guidelines and country information. The Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not satisfy the criteria for a protection visa, specifically noting that he did not meet the refugee criterion under s.36(2)(a) or the complementary protection criterion under s.36(2)(aa). The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.