1816638 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for review of a decision by a delegate of the Minister for Immigration to cancel the applicant’s Subclass 866 (Protection) visa under s.109(1) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). The applicant had been granted a protection visa in 2015, having arrived in Australia in 2013 and subsequently lodged his protection visa application. The cancellation was based on alleged non-compliance with s.101(b) of the Act, specifically the provision of incorrect information in his protection visa application.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had provided incorrect information in his protection visa application, thereby constituting non-compliance with s.101(b) of the *Migration Act 1958*. If non-compliance was established, the Tribunal was then required to consider whether the discretionary power to cancel the visa under s.109(1) of the Act should be exercised.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had not provided incorrect information in his protection visa application. It reasoned that the applicant's subsequent voluntary travel to Lebanon to visit his ill parents, despite his earlier claims of fearing persecution, did not render his original statements incorrect. The Tribunal considered that the applicant's concern for his parents' welfare and the changing security situation in his hometown, which may have altered his personal risk assessment, did not equate to a deliberate provision of false information at the time of his application. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that there was no non-compliance as particularised in the s.107 notice, and therefore the discretionary power to cancel the visa did not arise.

The Tribunal set aside the delegate's decision to cancel the applicant's Subclass 866 (Protection) visa and substituted a decision not to cancel the visa.