1915493 (Refugee)

The applicant, a national of China, sought a protection visa, claiming a well-founded fear of persecution upon return. The applicant alleged that after reporting unpaid wages to the Labour Bureau, he was threatened by his employer, physically assaulted by gangsters, and faced threats from loan sharks to whom he owed money. The applicant contended that these threats and the lack of effective state protection in China meant he would suffer harm if returned.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), specifically whether he had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. This required the Tribunal to assess the credibility of the applicant's claims and consider whether effective protection measures were available in China, as per section 5J(2) of the Act.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's claims in light of the 2021 DFAT Country Report on China. While acknowledging that loan sharks operate in China and that violent crimes related to debt collection have occurred, DFAT assessed that state protection is available and that the overall risk to victims of loan sharks is low. The Tribunal found that the applicant had not demonstrated that he would be unable to access state protection in China, nor that the authorities would be unwilling or unable to protect him from the alleged threats. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not have a well-founded fear of persecution.

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