1833850 (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision to cancel the applicant's Subclass 155 (Five Year Resident Return) visa. The cancellation was based on the grounds that the applicant had provided incorrect information in a previous protection visa application, specifically concerning his country of citizenship. The applicant, identified as stateless Rohingya, held a Bangladeshi passport.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had failed to comply with section 101 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), which requires visa applicants to provide correct information, and section 107A of the Act, which allows for the cancellation of a current visa based on non-compliance in a previous visa application. The Tribunal was required to determine if the possession of a Bangladeshi passport constituted unequivocal evidence of Bangladeshi citizenship, given the applicant's claim of statelessness and the independent country information regarding Rohingya individuals in Bangladesh.

The Tribunal considered evidence suggesting that the applicant's father, and by extension the applicant, were stateless Rohingya who had obtained Bangladeshi passports through fraudulent means based on false identities. Independent country information indicated that Bangladeshi authorities had not granted citizenship status to Rohingya individuals. The Tribunal found that the possession of a Bangladeshi passport was not conclusive proof of citizenship in this context. Furthermore, the Tribunal noted inconsistencies in the Department's assessment, including a failure to adequately address the contradiction between the finding that the applicant was born in Bangladesh and the evidence suggesting he was originally Burmese.

Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the decision to cancel the applicant's visa should be set aside.