2010921 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for protection visas by applicants who were not in Australia. The dispute centred on whether the applicants met the eligibility criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement of being physically present in Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicants 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 under section 65(1) of the Act.

The Tribunal reasoned that movement records indicated the applicants were not in Australia. Consequently, the Tribunal notified the applicants of this finding and invited them to provide written comments, which they failed to do. Based on the evidence of their absence from Australia, the Tribunal concluded that the applicants did not meet the fundamental requirement of being in Australia to be eligible for a protection visa. Therefore, it was unnecessary for the Tribunal to consider the substantive grounds of their protection claims. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visas.