2007843 (Refugee)

The applicant, a national of China, sought a protection visa after arriving in Australia in August 2019. The applicant's case was based on allegations that a colleague used his identification to obtain a substantial loan from an underground bank, leading to threats from gangsters hired by the bank. The applicant claimed that Chinese police were unable to assist due to corruption and that these threats extended to his family in China, compelling him to seek protection in Australia. The applicant elected to have his case decided on the papers, without a hearing.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). This required determining if the applicant was a refugee within the meaning of section 5H, or if he faced a real risk of significant harm as a consequence of removal from Australia, thereby satisfying the complementary protection criterion under section 36(2)(aa). The Tribunal also considered the relevance of country information and departmental guidelines as mandated by Ministerial Direction No. 84.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the lack of corroborating evidence and the absence of any updated information from the applicant to support his claims. Despite the detailed account of threats and alleged police inaction, the Tribunal found no further information capable of substantiating the applicant's narrative. Crucially, the Tribunal noted that the applicant did not satisfy the refugee criterion under section 36(2)(a) and, in the absence of further evidence, could not be satisfied that he met the complementary protection criterion under section 36(2)(aa). The Tribunal also found that the applicant did not satisfy the criteria by being a family member of someone who held a protection visa.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa, concluding that the applicant did not satisfy the requirements of section 36(2) of the *Migration Act 1958*.