2000549 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for a protection visa by an applicant from Bangladesh. The dispute arose because the applicant had left Australia, and the Tribunal was therefore unable to grant the visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement under section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) that the applicant must be a non-citizen in Australia.

The Tribunal reasoned that a protection visa can only be granted to an applicant who is physically present in Australia. Movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia in March 2022. Despite being notified of this information and invited to comment, and being granted extensions of time to respond, the applicant or their representative failed to provide any response. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not meet the criterion under section 36(2) of the Act. As this criterion was not met, the Tribunal concluded it was 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.