1912309 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of China, sought a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) dismissed the applicant's application after the applicant failed to attend a scheduled hearing. The applicant subsequently failed to apply for reinstatement of the application within the prescribed 14-day period following the dismissal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was required to confirm the decision to dismiss the application, given the applicant's failure to apply for reinstatement within the statutory timeframe. The Tribunal was therefore required to determine the consequence of this failure under the relevant migration legislation.

The Tribunal applied the principle that where an applicant fails to apply for reinstatement of a dismissed application within the 14-day period, the Tribunal must confirm the decision to dismiss the application. In accordance with this legislative requirement, the Tribunal confirmed its earlier decision to dismiss the applicant's protection visa application. The decision under review was therefore taken to be affirmed.