1905443 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant who had left Australia. The Tribunal was tasked with determining whether the applicant met the 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.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the applicant's physical presence in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia in April 2024. 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 the applicant did not meet the fundamental requirement of being in Australia, the Tribunal concluded that they could not be granted a protection visa, rendering it unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of their protection claim. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa.