1805937 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision by the Minister to cancel a protection visa granted to an applicant from Iran. The cancellation was based on the allegation that the applicant had provided incorrect answers in their visa application form, specifically concerning their reasons for seeking protection and their fear of returning to Iran. The Tribunal's jurisdiction was limited to the first applicant, as other visa cancellations were automatic consequences of the primary decision.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had failed to comply with section 101(b) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) by providing incorrect answers in their protection visa application. This required the Tribunal to determine if the applicant's subsequent voluntary returns to Iran, using their own passport and travelling through official border crossings, were inconsistent with their original claims of persecution and therefore rendered their initial answers incorrect. The Tribunal also had to consider whether the Minister's notice of intention to cancel the visa complied with the requirements of section 107 of the Act.

The Tribunal reasoned that while the applicant had initially claimed to be a reformist imam threatened by government and religious authorities in Iran, their voluntary returns to Iran on two occasions, using their Iranian passport and entering through Imam Khomeini Airport, suggested that their life was not under the threat they had originally claimed. The Tribunal found that these voluntary travels were inconsistent with a genuine fear of harm and indicated that the applicant was likely not of interest to the Iranian authorities as alleged. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the ground for cancellation, based on non-compliance with section 101(b) of the Act, was not made out.

The Tribunal set aside the decision to cancel the applicant's visa.