1709025 (Refugee)

The applicant sought review of a decision to dismiss their application for a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine whether to confirm the dismissal decision.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was obliged to confirm the dismissal of the applicant's protection visa application, given the applicant's failure to attend a scheduled hearing and their subsequent failure to apply for reinstatement within the prescribed timeframe.

The Tribunal Member, Peter Vlahos, reasoned that the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) mandated that if an applicant fails to attend a hearing and does not apply for reinstatement within 14 days, the Tribunal must confirm the decision to dismiss the application. As the applicant did not meet the criteria for reinstatement, the Tribunal was bound to affirm the dismissal. The Tribunal confirmed the decision to dismiss the application.