1726068 (Refugee)

The applicant sought review of a decision concerning a protection visa. The primary dispute revolved around whether the application for review was lodged within the prescribed time limits. The matter was heard by Dr Colin Huntly, a Member of the Tribunal.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to hear the applicant's review application, given that it was lodged after the expiry of the statutory time limit. This required the Tribunal to determine the date on which the applicant was deemed to have been notified of the original decision.

The Tribunal applied section 494C of the Act, which deems notification of a decision to have occurred on a specific date. In this instance, the Tribunal found that the applicant was taken to have been notified on 15 September 2017. Consequently, the prescribed period for lodging an application for review expired on 12 October 2017. As the application was received by the Tribunal on 24 October 2017, it was not made within the statutory timeframe.

The Tribunal concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the review application due to the failure to comply with the legislative time requirements.