1926652 (Refugee)

[2020] AATA 972

1926652 (Refugee) [2020] AATA 972 (3 April 2020)

DECISION RECORD

DIVISION:Migration & Refugee Division

CASE NUMBER:  1926652

COUNTRY OF REFERENCE:                   Pakistan

MEMBER:Denise Connolly

DATE:3 April 2020

PLACE OF DECISION:  Sydney

DECISION:The Tribunal does not have jurisdiction in this matter.

Statement made on 3 April 2020 at 11:24

CATCHWORDS
REFUGEE – protection visa – Pakistan – application for review lodged out of time – tribunal’s letter seeking comments contained typographical error of date – error does not affect statutory requirements – no jurisdiction

LEGISLATION
Migration Act 1958 (Cth), ss 65, 494C
Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth), r 4.31(2)

Any references appearing in square brackets indicate that information has been omitted from this decision pursuant to section 431 of the Migration Act 1958 and replaced with generic information which does not allow the identification of an applicant, or their relative or other dependant.

STATEMENT OF DECISION AND REASONS

APPLICATION FOR REVIEW

1. This is an application for review of a decision of a delegate of the Minister for Immigration on 22 August 2019 to refuse to grant a protection visa under s.65 of the Migration Act 1958 (the Act). The review application was lodged with the Tribunal on 22 September 2019. For the following reasons, the Tribunal has found that it has no jurisdiction to review the decision.

2. As the applicant was not in immigration detention on the day the applicant was notified of the decision, an application for review of the decision had to be made within 28 days, commencing on that day: r.4.31(2) of the Migration Regulations 1994.

3. The Tribunal formed the preliminary view that the application was lodged out of time. A case officer wrote to the applicant on 23 September 2019 seeking his comments. Unfortunately there was a typographical error in that letter indicating that the last day to lodge a valid application was 22 September 2019. However this was clarified in a subsequent email sent on 9 October 2019, when the applicant was advised that the last day to lodge his application for review was 18 September 2019. In his response the applicant confirmed that he lodged his review application on 22 September 2019.

4. The material before the Tribunal indicates that the applicant was notified of the decision by letter dated 22 August 2019 and dispatched by email. The Tribunal is satisfied that the applicant was notified of the decision in accordance with the statutory requirements.

5. The Tribunal finds that the applicant is taken to have been notified of the decision on 22 August 2019: s.494C of the Act. Therefore the prescribed period to apply for review ended on 18 September 2019.

6. As the application for review was not received by the Tribunal until 22 September 2019 the application for review was not made in accordance with the relevant legislation and the Tribunal has no jurisdiction in this matter.

   DECISION

7. The Tribunal does not have jurisdiction in this matter.

   Denise Connolly
   Member