1810080 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa by an applicant from Fiji. The applicant had previously left Australia, and the Tribunal was reviewing a decision not to grant the visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criterion for a protection visa that they must be a non-citizen in Australia. This criterion is stipulated in section 36(2) of the relevant Act.

The Tribunal reasoned that a protection visa can only be granted if the applicant is physically present in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia in September 2018. Despite attempts by the Tribunal to contact the applicant and their former representative to discuss this information, no response was received, and correspondence was returned undelivered. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not meet the essential requirement of section 36(2) of the Act.

As the applicant failed to satisfy this fundamental criterion, the Tribunal determined it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of their protection claim. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.