1717426 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant from Taiwan. The core of the dispute revolved around the applicant's presence in Australia at the time of the decision.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement under section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) that the applicant must be a non-citizen *in Australia*.

The Tribunal reasoned that a protection visa can only be granted if the applicant is physically present in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia in March 2019. The Tribunal communicated this information to the applicant, inviting comment, but received no response. Based on the evidence of departure and the lack of response, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia. Consequently, the applicant failed to satisfy the criterion under section 36(2) of the Act, and the Tribunal did not need to consider the substantive grounds of the protection claim. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa.