1813958 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for a protection visa by a non-citizen who had departed Australia. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was the decision-making body.

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

The Tribunal reasoned that under section 65(1) of the Act, a visa can only be granted if the prescribed criteria are satisfied. It noted that movement records indicated the applicant had left Australia in August 2019. The Tribunal had communicated this information to the applicant, inviting comment, but received no response. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia, and therefore did not meet the criterion in section 36(2). As this criterion was not met, it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the protection claim.

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