1710943 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision concerning a Vietnamese national whose Subclass 155 visa was cancelled on character grounds following convictions for murder and unlawful imprisonment. The applicant, who had lived in Australia since childhood and arrived in 1993, had his permanent residency cancelled in January 2015. He was released on parole in January 2015 and has remained in immigration detention since then. The applicant’s mother resides in Vietnam, and he has a daughter and most of his extended family in Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically whether he had a well-founded fear of persecution or faced significant harm if returned to Vietnam. This involved considering both the refugee criterion under s.36(2)(a) and the complementary protection criterion under s.36(2)(aa) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). The Tribunal was required to assess the applicant's claims of religious oppression within the context of his criminal history and his status as a Vietnamese national.

The Tribunal considered Ministerial Direction No. 56, relevant policy guidelines, and country information. It found that the applicant did not satisfy the refugee criterion. Furthermore, the Tribunal determined that the applicant did not meet the complementary protection criterion, as there were no substantial grounds to believe that his removal from Australia would result in a real risk of significant harm. The Tribunal noted that the applicant did not satisfy the criterion under s.36(2) as a member of the same family unit as a person who holds a protection visa.

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