1918374 (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 provisions of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and associated regulations, which mandate that if an application is dismissed for failure to attend a hearing, and no application for reinstatement is made within 14 days, the Tribunal must confirm the decision to dismiss the application. In this instance, as the applicant did not lodge a reinstatement application within the specified period, the Tribunal was bound by the legislative framework to confirm the earlier decision.

The Tribunal confirmed the decision to dismiss the application.