2003395 (Refugee)

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

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criterion that they be a non-citizen in Australia, as stipulated by section 36(2) of the relevant Act. This criterion is a prerequisite for the grant of a protection visa.

The Tribunal reasoned that a protection visa can only be granted if the applicant is physically present in Australia. Evidence from movement records indicated that the applicant had departed Australia in November 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 statutory requirement. As a result, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa, without needing to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's protection claim.