1715957 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review of a decision concerning a protection visa. The applicant sought to challenge a decision made in relation to their protection visa application, which was processed under arrangements involving Papua New Guinea.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the application for review had been lodged within the time prescribed by the relevant legislation. This question turned on when the applicant was deemed to have been notified of the original decision.

The Tribunal applied section 494C of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), which deems a person to have been notified of a decision on a specific date. In this instance, the Tribunal found that the applicant was taken to have been notified of the decision on 19 April 2017. Consequently, the prescribed period for lodging an application for review expired on 17 May 2017. As the application for review was not received by the Tribunal until 21 July 2017, it was not made in accordance with the legislative requirements.

Therefore, the Tribunal concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the merits of the application for review.