1929617 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by a Vietnamese national. The applicant sought to challenge a decision not to grant her a protection visa.

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 noted that section 36(2) of the relevant Act stipulates that a criterion for a protection visa is that the applicant is a non-citizen in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had left Australia in November 2022. The Tribunal communicated this information to the applicant, inviting comment, but received no response. Based on the available evidence, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was no longer in Australia and therefore did not meet the criterion under section 36(2). Consequently, 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.