1908021 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an individual who had departed Australia. The dispute centred on whether the applicant met the eligibility criteria for the visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criterion that they must be a non-citizen *in* Australia to be granted a protection visa, as stipulated by section 36(2) of the relevant Act.

The Tribunal reasoned that section 65(1) of the Act requires prescribed criteria to be satisfied for a visa grant. It noted that section 36(2) specifically mandates that an applicant for a protection visa must be in Australia. Movement records indicated the applicant had left Australia in December 2019. The Tribunal communicated this information to the applicant, inviting comment, but received no response. Based on this evidence, the Tribunal was satisfied the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not meet the criterion under section 36(2). Consequently, it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the protection claim.

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