1801529 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant who was not in Australia. The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant met the prescribed criteria for the grant of a protection visa.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criterion that they be a non-citizen in Australia, as stipulated by section 36(2) of the relevant Act. This section mandates that an applicant must be physically present in Australia to be eligible for a protection visa.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the jurisdictional requirement of the applicant's presence in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia on 10 February 2018. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but no response was received. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that 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 concluded it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's claim for protection. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa.