1811931 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for protection visas by applicants who had departed Australia. The dispute centred on whether the applicants met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement of being physically present within Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicants satisfied the criterion that they be a non-citizen in Australia, as stipulated by section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), for the grant of a protection visa. This criterion is a prerequisite for the Tribunal to consider the substantive claims for protection.

The Tribunal reasoned that a protection visa can only be granted if the applicant is in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicants had left Australia in November 2019. The Tribunal notified the applicants of this information and invited them to provide comments by a specified date. As neither the applicants nor their representatives responded to this invitation, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicants were not in Australia. Consequently, they failed to meet the criterion under section 36(2) of the Act, and the Tribunal did not need to consider their substantive claims for protection.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicants protection visas.