1813423 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by a non-citizen. The applicant had departed Australia, and the Department of Home Affairs' records indicated that they were no longer in the country. The Tribunal had invited the applicant to comment on this information, but no response was received.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement under section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) that the applicant must be a non-citizen in Australia.

The Tribunal reasoned that as the applicant was outside Australia, they did not satisfy this essential criterion for the grant of a protection visa. The Tribunal noted that it had provided the applicant with an opportunity to respond to the information indicating their departure from Australia, but no response was forthcoming. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's protection claim. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa.