1806926 (Refugee)

The applicant sought review of a decision by the Minister to refuse to grant a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered whether it had jurisdiction to hear the application for review.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had validly lodged an application for review of the Minister's decision within the time prescribed by the relevant legislation.

The Tribunal found that the application for review was received on 14 March 2018. As this date was outside the statutory timeframe for lodging such an application, the Tribunal concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the merits of the applicant's case. The Tribunal applied the principle that strict compliance with statutory time limits is a prerequisite for the exercise of its jurisdiction.

Consequently, the Tribunal made no order in relation to the merits of the protection visa application, as it had no jurisdiction to do so.