1834340 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of China, sought a protection visa. The primary dispute concerned the applicant's failure to attend a scheduled hearing before the Tribunal, which led to the dismissal of their application. The applicant subsequently failed to apply for reinstatement of their application within the prescribed timeframe. The decision under review was made by the Tribunal.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was required to confirm the dismissal of the applicant's protection visa application, given the applicant's failure to attend the scheduled hearing and their subsequent failure to apply for reinstatement within the 14-day period.

The Tribunal applied the relevant legislative provisions which mandate that if an applicant does not apply for reinstatement within the specified period following the dismissal of an application due to non-attendance, the Tribunal must confirm the decision to dismiss. In this instance, as the applicant did not seek reinstatement within the 14 days, the Tribunal was bound to affirm the earlier decision.

Consequently, the Tribunal confirmed the decision to dismiss the applicant's protection visa application.