1705901 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Migration and Refugee Division) considered an application for review of a delegate's decision to refuse to grant the applicant a protection visa. The applicant, who claims to be a citizen of Malaysia, applied for the visa on 27 January 2017. The delegate's decision to refuse the visa was made on 23 March 2017.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically under section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). This section requires that an applicant for a protection visa must be a non-citizen in Australia.

The Tribunal reasoned that a protection visa can only be granted if the applicant is physically present in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia on 15 April 2020. The Tribunal had notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but no response was received. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not satisfy the criterion under section 36(2) of the Act. As this criterion was not met, the Tribunal found it unnecessary to consider the substantive claims made by the applicant for the grant of the visa. The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.