1918115 (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.

The central legal issue before the AAT was whether the Tribunal was obliged to confirm the dismissal of the protection visa application, given the applicant's failure to apply for reinstatement within the statutory timeframe.

The AAT Member, Mary-Ann Cooper, applied the relevant legislative provisions which mandated the confirmation of a dismissal decision where an applicant does not seek reinstatement within the specified period. The Member reasoned that the failure to comply with the reinstatement timeframe meant the original dismissal decision was taken to be affirmed. Consequently, the Tribunal confirmed its earlier decision to dismiss the application.