1922551 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of China, sought review of a decision by the Department of Home Affairs concerning a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was asked to consider whether it had jurisdiction to hear the applicant's review application, which was lodged after the prescribed time limit.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant's review application had been made in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions, specifically concerning the timeframes for lodging such applications. The Tribunal was required to determine if the late lodgement of the application deprived it of jurisdiction.

The Tribunal found that the application for review was not received by the Tribunal until 14 August 2019. As this date was outside the timeframe stipulated by the relevant legislation for lodging an application for review, the Tribunal concluded that the application was not made in accordance with the law. Consequently, the Tribunal determined that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the merits of the applicant's case.

The Tribunal ordered that it does not have jurisdiction in this matter.