1822564 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by applicants who were not in Australia. The dispute arose because movement records indicated the applicants had departed Australia in January 2019, which meant they were not physically present in the country.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicants satisfied the criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement that an applicant must be a non-citizen in Australia at the time of the decision. The Tribunal was also required to determine if it was necessary to consider the substantive claims for protection given the applicants' location.

The Tribunal reasoned that under section 36(2) of the relevant Act, a protection visa can only be granted if the applicant is in Australia. As movement records confirmed the applicants were not in Australia, they failed to meet this essential criterion. The Tribunal had notified the applicants of this issue and invited a response, but no reply was received. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it was not necessary to assess the merits of their protection claims.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicants protection visas.