1919004 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for protection visas made by applicants who were not physically present in Australia. The dispute centred on whether the applicants met the eligibility criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement of being within 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. The Tribunal also had to determine if it had received any response from the applicants regarding evidence suggesting they were outside of Australia.

The Tribunal reasoned that section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) mandates that an applicant must be in Australia to be eligible for a protection visa. Movement records indicated that the applicants had departed Australia. Despite being notified and invited to comment on this information, the applicants did not respond. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicants were not in Australia and therefore did not meet the prescribed criteria for a protection visa.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicants protection visas.