1907569 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant from Vietnam. The applicant's claim for a protection visa was affirmed by the Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement that the applicant must be a non-citizen present in Australia.

The Tribunal reasoned that under section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), a criterion for a protection visa is that the applicant must be a non-citizen in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia in August 2019. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but received no response. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not meet the criterion under section 36(2). As this criterion was not met, the Tribunal concluded it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's protection claim.

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