1715660 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for a protection visa by a Pakistani national who claimed to have converted from Sunni Islam to Catholicism. The applicant arrived in Australia in 2009 as a student and had not returned to Pakistan since. She asserted that she had a well-founded fear of persecution from religious extremists, some relatives, and the general community in Pakistan due to her conversion, and that she would be unable to practice her Christian faith freely. The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant faced a real chance of persecution or a real risk of significant harm on return to Pakistan on account of her claimed religious conversion.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's claims regarding her religious journey, including her attendance at a church in Karachi before coming to Australia and her baptism in Australia in 2015. It also assessed the credibility of her explanations for any inconsistencies in her claims and evidence, and the timing of her conversion. The central legal issue was whether, under sections 5H and 5J of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), the applicant met the definition of a refugee, specifically whether she had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of religion, and whether there was a real chance of such persecution in Pakistan.

The Tribunal accepted that the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for the purposes of section 5J of the Act. It found that she was outside her country of nationality and unable or unwilling to avail herself of its protection due to this fear, thus meeting the criteria for a refugee under section 5H(1). The Tribunal concluded that the applicant satisfied the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) of the Act. Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the matter for reconsideration with a direction that the applicant satisfies section 36(2)(a).