1823422 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an individual who had departed Australia. The Tribunal was tasked with determining whether the applicant met the prescribed criteria for the grant of such a visa.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criterion that they be a non-citizen *in* Australia, as stipulated by section 36(2) of the relevant Act. This criterion is a prerequisite for the grant of a protection visa under section 65(1).

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the applicant's physical presence in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had left Australia in February 2019. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but no response was received. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia at the time of the decision. As this fundamental criterion was not met, the Tribunal concluded that it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's claim for protection. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa.