1817181 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant seeking a protection visa. The applicant, a citizen of Thailand, arrived in Australia on a student visa which subsequently ceased. The applicant applied for a protection visa approximately ten months after their visa ceased. The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) (refugee criterion) or section 36(2)(aa) (complementary protection criterion), or as a member of the same family unit of such a person.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, as defined by section 5H of the Migration Act 1958, or whether there were substantial grounds for believing that the applicant faced a real risk of suffering significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal from Australia to Thailand. The Tribunal also considered the applicant's written claims regarding their reasons for leaving Thailand, which included distrust of the judiciary and government, economic hardship, and fear of creditors, as well as claims of workplace discrimination due to gender.

The Tribunal applied Ministerial Direction No. 84, the Refugee Law Guidelines, and Complementary Protection Guidelines. It found that the applicant was a Thai citizen and assessed the claims against Thailand. The Tribunal noted discrepancies between the applicant's written claims and their oral statements, and concluded that the applicant's stated reasons for leaving Thailand, such as economic hardship and general distrust of the government, did not establish a well-founded fear of persecution or a real risk of significant harm. The Tribunal found no suggestion that the applicant satisfied the criteria as a member of the same family unit as a person who holds a protection visa.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa, finding that the applicant did not satisfy the criteria under section 36(2) of the Migration Act 1958.