2007241 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant who had departed Australia. The Tribunal, constituted by Meena Sripathy, was tasked with determining 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* at the time of the decision, as stipulated by section 36(2) of the relevant Act. This criterion is a prerequisite for the grant of a protection visa under section 65(1) of the Act.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the applicant's physical presence 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 no response was received. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia at the time of the decision, and therefore did not meet the essential criterion under section 36(2). As this criterion was not met, the Tribunal concluded that 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.