1705577 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of China, sought a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) dismissed the application after the applicant failed to appear at the hearing. The applicant did not subsequently apply for reinstatement of the application 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 applicant's failure to appear and subsequent failure to seek reinstatement.

The Tribunal applied the relevant procedural rules, which stipulated that if an applicant fails to apply for reinstatement within 14 days of a dismissal for non-appearance, the decision to dismiss is affirmed. Consequently, the Tribunal was bound to confirm its earlier decision to dismiss the application. The Tribunal confirmed the decision to dismiss the application.