1932366 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa by an applicant from China. The applicant had departed Australia, and the Tribunal was reviewing a decision not to grant the visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criterion for a protection visa that they must be a non-citizen in Australia. This criterion is stipulated in section 36(2) of the relevant Act.

The Tribunal reasoned that under section 65(1) of the Act, a visa can only be granted if the prescribed criteria are satisfied. It noted that movement records indicated the applicant had left Australia in May 2024, meaning they were not physically present in Australia at the time of the decision. The Tribunal had notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but no response was received. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant did not meet the criterion of being in Australia, and therefore, it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the protection claim. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa.