1720473 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa by a Sri Lankan national. The applicant had departed Australia, and the decision under review was an affirmation of a previous decision not to grant the visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement that the applicant be a non-citizen *in* Australia at the time of the decision.

The Tribunal was satisfied, based on movement records and correspondence with the applicant's migration agent, that the applicant had left Australia in November 2018. The Tribunal had notified the applicant's migration agent of this information and invited comment, to which the agent responded that they were unable to obtain instructions and that the Department of Home Affairs had confirmed the applicant's departure. As the applicant was not in Australia, the Tribunal concluded that the criterion under section 36(2) of the Act, requiring the applicant to be a non-citizen in Australia, was not satisfied. Consequently, the Tribunal found it unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's protection claim.

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