1809181 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of China, sought a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Cth) dismissed the applicant's application after the applicant failed to attend a scheduled hearing. The applicant subsequently failed to apply for reinstatement of the application within the prescribed 14-day period following the dismissal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was required to confirm the decision to dismiss the application, given the applicant's failure to seek reinstatement within the statutory timeframe. This also raised the question of whether the decision under review was therefore to be taken as affirmed.

The Tribunal, constituted by Dr Greg Weeks, Member, applied the relevant legislative provisions which mandate confirmation of a dismissal decision where an application for reinstatement is not made within the specified 14-day period. The Tribunal reasoned that this failure automatically triggers the confirmation of the dismissal, rendering the decision under review affirmed by operation of law.

Consequently, the Tribunal confirmed the decision to dismiss the application for a protection visa.