1811378 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by a non-citizen. The applicant had previously been in Australia but had departed the country. The Tribunal was tasked with determining whether the applicant met the criteria for the grant of a protection visa.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criterion that they must be a non-citizen *in Australia* at the time of the decision, as stipulated by section 36(2) of the relevant Act. This requirement is a prerequisite for the grant of a protection visa under section 65(1) of the Act.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the applicant's physical presence in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had left Australia in July 2019. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited them to provide comments by a specified date. No response was received from the applicant or their representative. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not meet the criterion under section 36(2). As this essential criterion was not met, the Tribunal concluded it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's protection claim.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.