1900908 (Refugee)

This case concerned an applicant for protection visas who arrived in Australia by sea in August 2012. The applicant claimed to be a stateless ethnic Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, fearing persecution due to his ethnicity, religion, and imputed political opinion as a returned asylum seeker. The applicant had made two applications for protection visas, both of which were refused by delegates of the Minister. The applicant sought review of these decisions by the Tribunal.

The legal issues before the Tribunal included whether the applicant was a person in respect of whom Australia had protection obligations under section 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) by reason of being a refugee, and whether the second visa application was valid, given a potential bar under section 48A of the Act. The Tribunal was required to assess the applicant's claims regarding his ethnicity, statelessness, religion, and the risks he faced if returned to Myanmar, considering principles of credibility assessment and the benefit of the doubt where appropriate.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant satisfied the criterion under section 36(2)(a) of the Act, finding that Australia had protection obligations towards him. This conclusion was reached after carefully considering the applicant's claims and evidence in light of relevant guidelines and country information. The Tribunal noted that while not all claims need to be accepted uncritically, a fair and reasonable assessment process was applied. Regarding the second visa application, the Tribunal determined it was invalid due to the operation of section 48A of the Act, as the statutory bar had not been effectively lifted for this applicant.

Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the matter concerning the first protection visa application with a direction that the applicant satisfies section 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act*. For the second visa application, the Tribunal set aside the delegate's refusal decision and substituted it with a decision that the application was invalid.