1810640 (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for review of a decision to cancel the applicant's subclass 155 (Five Year Resident Return) visa. The applicant had provided incorrect information in his 2010 protection visa application regarding his father's return to Afghanistan and presumed death. The applicant admitted to providing this false information, stating he was advised to do so to bolster his claims for refuge. The court was required to determine whether the decision to grant the original visa was based, wholly or partly, on this incorrect information.

The court considered the circumstances surrounding the applicant's original visa grant, noting the Department's Refugee Status Assessment Record. This record detailed the perilous situation for Hazara Shias in Afghanistan, including persecution by the Taliban. While the applicant's initial reason for leaving Afghanistan was attributed to civil war, the delegate acknowledged the possibility that the family also fled due to the imminent threat of persecution based on their ethnicity and religion. The delegate also considered the applicant's claims about his father's disappearance and his lack of a family network in Afghanistan, concluding that the applicant faced a real chance of persecution as an unaccompanied minor Hazara Shia.

The court reasoned that even if the applicant's father was alive and residing in Pakistan, this fact would not have altered the delegate's assessment of the applicant's risk of persecution upon return to Afghanistan. The delegate's findings indicated that the applicant's vulnerability as an unaccompanied minor Hazara Shia without family support in Afghanistan was the primary concern. Therefore, the court was not satisfied that the decision to grant the visa was based, in any part, on the incorrect information provided about the applicant's father. Consequently, the decision to cancel the visa was set aside.