2014736 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for a protection visa by a child born in Australia to Vietnamese parents. The applicant claimed to be a Vietnamese citizen who had never travelled to Vietnam and was dependent on his parents, who were unable to return to Vietnam. He asserted that he would struggle to integrate into Vietnamese society due to his lack of Vietnamese identity and household registration documents, and feared mistreatment and prejudice as a result of his parents' prolonged absence from Vietnam. The applicant also claimed he would be considered stateless by Vietnamese authorities, leaving him without access to support. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant faced a real chance of persecution under section 5J(1)(a) of the Act, or a real risk of significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal from Australia under section 36(2)(aa).

The Tribunal considered the applicant's claims in light of the Refugee Law Guidelines and Complementary Protection Guidelines. It accepted that the applicant was born in Australia, was of Vietnamese ethnicity, and had lived his entire life in Australia without departing the country. The Tribunal also accepted that the applicant did not have a right to enter and reside in a third country. However, the Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision, finding that while single mothers in Vietnam might face some stigma, this was unlikely to manifest as active aggression, but rather exclusion and neglect. The delegate was satisfied that the applicant was not at risk of harm from authorities or the wider community due to his circumstances as the child of a single mother or being without a father, noting the availability of support services for single mothers and their children in Vietnam. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not meet the criteria for a protection visa.