1704026 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the protection visa applications of two applicants from China. The applicants arrived in Australia in August 2016 and applied for protection visas shortly thereafter. Their applications were initially refused by the Department, and they sought review of this decision by the Tribunal. The central issue before the Tribunal was the credibility of the applicants and whether, based on their accepted claims, they met the criteria for a protection visa.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicants were persons in respect of whom Australia had protection obligations, specifically whether they met the definition of a refugee under section 5H of the Migration Act 1958, or if they qualified under the complementary protection provisions. This involved assessing whether the applicants held a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, and whether such persecution would involve serious harm. The Tribunal also considered the provisions relating to members of the same family unit.

In its reasoning, the Tribunal noted that it had taken into account relevant Ministerial Directions, guidelines, and country information. The Tribunal concluded that it was not satisfied that either applicant was a person in respect of whom Australia had protection obligations. Consequently, the applicants did not satisfy the criteria under section 36(2)(a) or (aa) for a protection visa. As a result, they were also unable to satisfy the criteria under section 36(2)(b) or (c) as members of the same family unit.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicants protection visas.