2011014 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by an applicant who had departed Australia. The Tribunal was tasked with determining whether the applicant met the criteria for the 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's reasoning focused on movement records indicating the applicant had left Australia in August 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, and therefore did not meet the fundamental requirement of section 36(2). As this criterion was not met, the Tribunal concluded it was unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's protection claim. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa.