1715996 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant from Taiwan. The dispute centred on whether the applicant met the threshold requirement for the grant of such a visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criterion that they be a non-citizen *in Australia* at the time of the decision, as stipulated by section 36(2) of the relevant Act.

The Tribunal reasoned that section 65(1) of the Act mandates that visa criteria must be satisfied for a visa to be granted. It noted that section 36(2) specifically requires an applicant for a protection visa to be in Australia. Movement records indicated the applicant had departed Australia on 5 February 2018. The Tribunal communicated this information to the applicant, inviting comment, but received no response. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not meet the criterion under section 36(2). As this threshold requirement was not met, the Tribunal found it unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the protection claim. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.