1827544 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant who was not in Australia. The dispute centred on whether the applicant met the threshold requirement for the grant of such a visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criterion stipulated in section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), which requires an applicant for a protection visa to be a non-citizen in Australia. The Tribunal also considered whether it was necessary to assess the applicant's substantive claims for protection given the preliminary jurisdictional issue.

The Tribunal reasoned that movement records indicated the applicant had departed Australia in November 2018. The Tribunal had notified the applicant of this information and invited comment by a specified date, but no response was received. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia, and therefore did not meet the criterion under section 36(2) of the Act. As this essential criterion was not met, the Tribunal concluded it was unnecessary to consider the applicant's substantive case for protection.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.