1927823 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant from India. 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 a protection visa, specifically the requirement that the applicant must be a non-citizen *in Australia* at the time of the decision.

The Tribunal reasoned that section 36(2) of the relevant Act mandates that an applicant for a protection visa must be in Australia. Evidence from movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia in February 2020. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but no response was received by the deadline. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not meet the essential criterion under section 36(2). As this criterion was not met, 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.