1908432 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for protection visas by certain applicants. The dispute centred on whether the applicants met the eligibility criteria for these visas, specifically concerning their physical presence in Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicants satisfied the criterion stipulated in section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), which requires an applicant for a protection visa to be a non-citizen in Australia. This criterion is a prerequisite for the grant of such a visa under section 65(1) of the Act.

The Tribunal reasoned that a protection visa can only be granted if the applicant is physically present in Australia. Evidence from movement records indicated that the applicants had departed Australia in March 2020. The Tribunal notified the applicants of this information and invited them to respond, but they did not do so. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicants were not in Australia, and therefore, they failed to meet the requirements of section 36(2). As a result, it was unnecessary for the Tribunal to consider the substantive grounds of their protection claims. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visas.