1929897 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for a protection visa by an Ethiopian citizen, who claimed to be Oromo and Protestant. The applicant alleged he faced persecution due to his ethnicity and imputed political opinion, particularly in light of the civil war and exacerbated political and ethnic conflict in Ethiopia. The court was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) or section 36(2)(aa) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).

The court considered the applicant's claims in the context of the complementary protection criterion, which allows for the grant of a visa if, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal, there is a real risk of significant harm. The Tribunal noted that country information from August 2020 was outdated due to dramatic changes in circumstances in Ethiopia. While the Tribunal found that the other applicants, who were family members of the first applicant, did not independently meet the criteria for protection, their eligibility for a visa was contingent on the first applicant's application being successful, provided they were members of the same family unit.

Ultimately, the Tribunal concluded that the decision under review should be remitted for reconsideration. The Tribunal directed that the first named applicant should be considered to satisfy section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act, and that the other applicants should satisfy section 36(2)(b)(i) based on their family unit membership. The remittal also included a direction that the grant of the visas would not be prevented by sections 91W, 91WA, or 91WB of the Act.