1926072 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant from China. The applicant was not physically present in Australia at the time of the Tribunal's decision.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for the grant of a protection visa, specifically the requirement that the applicant be a non-citizen *in* Australia.

The Tribunal reasoned that under section 36(2) of the relevant Act, a criterion for a protection visa is that the applicant must be in Australia. Movement records indicated the applicant had departed Australia in October 2019. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but ultimately was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not satisfy the statutory requirement of being in Australia and therefore could not be granted a protection visa. The Tribunal found it unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's protection claim.

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