1802877 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa by applicants who had departed Australia. The Tribunal, constituted by Scott Clarey, was tasked with determining whether the applicants met the criteria for the grant of a protection visa.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicants 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. This requirement is a prerequisite for the grant of a protection visa under section 65(1) of the Act.

The Tribunal reasoned that movement records indicated the applicants had left Australia in August 2018. Consequently, they were not physically present in Australia at the time of the decision. The Tribunal had notified the applicants of this information and invited comment, but no response was received. Based on the evidence of their departure and the lack of any response, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicants did not meet the criterion of being in Australia. As this criterion was not satisfied, the Tribunal concluded it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of their protection claims. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicants protection visas.