2006342 (Refugee)

The applicant, a man from Burkina Faso, sought a protection visa. His initial protection application in 1997 was refused, and this decision was upheld by the Refugee Review Tribunal in 1998. He later obtained permanent residency on spousal grounds, but this visa was cancelled in 2017 following his conviction for importing drugs and subsequent imprisonment. He lodged his current protection visa application in August 2019.

The court was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically whether he had a well-founded fear of persecution or faced a real risk of significant harm if returned to Burkina Faso. This involved assessing the credibility of his claims, particularly in light of significant discrepancies between his current claims and those made in previous applications and requests for ministerial intervention.

The court affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa. It found that while the applicant may have had some involvement in political activities in Burkina Faso, most of his claims lacked credibility. This conclusion was based on the substantial differences between his 1997 and 2019 claims, his implausible explanations for these discrepancies, his initial denial of having lodged a protection application in 1997, and his failure to mention any fear of returning to Burkina Faso in previous proceedings related to his spouse visa. The court also noted that the applicant did not satisfy the criteria for a protection visa based on being a family member of a protection visa holder.