1710271 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant from Turkey. The core of the dispute was whether the applicant met the eligibility criteria for the visa, specifically the requirement of being present in Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine whether the applicant satisfied the criterion stipulated in section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), which requires an applicant for a protection visa to be a non-citizen in Australia. This criterion is a prerequisite for the grant of such a visa under section 65(1) of the Act.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the applicant's physical presence in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia on 7 February 2018. The Tribunal 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 meet the essential criterion under section 36(2). As a result, the Tribunal found it unnecessary to assess the substantive grounds of the applicant's protection claim.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.