1927427 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa by applicants who had departed Australia. The core of the dispute revolved around the applicants' physical presence in Australia at the time of the decision.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicants met the criterion for a protection visa that they must be a non-citizen *in Australia*. This required the Tribunal to determine the applicants' location and, if they were outside Australia, whether they could still satisfy the visa requirements.

The Tribunal reasoned that under section 36(2) of the relevant Act, a protection visa can only be granted if the applicant is in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicants had left Australia in January 2020. The Tribunal corresponded with the applicants to advise them of this information and invite comment, but received no response. Based on the evidence of their departure and the lack of any response, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicants were not in Australia. Consequently, they failed to meet the essential criterion for the grant of a protection visa.

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