1814847 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of Taiwan, sought review of a decision by the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) to affirm the refusal of a protection visa. The RRT had dismissed the applicant's application after the applicant failed to attend a scheduled hearing. The applicant contended that the RRT had not made reasonable efforts to contact them to arrange an alternative hearing.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the RRT had taken all reasonable steps to notify the applicant of the hearing and to offer them an opportunity to attend, either in person or by other means, before dismissing their application. This involved an assessment of the RRT's conduct in attempting to contact the applicant and the adequacy of those attempts in the circumstances.

The court considered the evidence of the RRT's attempts to contact the applicant, including correspondence sent to the applicant's last known address and attempts to contact them via telephone. The court found that the RRT had made multiple attempts to contact the applicant and had provided sufficient opportunity for the applicant to engage with the process. Consequently, the court affirmed the RRT's decision to dismiss the application.