1932824 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by a non-citizen who had departed Australia. The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant met the prescribed criteria for the grant of a protection visa.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant, who had left Australia, satisfied the criterion that a protection visa applicant must be a non-citizen *in Australia*. The Tribunal also considered whether it was necessary to assess the applicant's substantive claims for protection given their absence from Australia.

The Tribunal reasoned that section 36(2) of the relevant Act mandates that an applicant for a protection visa must be in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia in October 2023. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but received no response. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not meet the criterion under section 36(2). As this criterion was not met, the Tribunal concluded it was unnecessary to consider the applicant's substantive claims for protection.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.