2015531 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa made by applicants from China. The core of the dispute concerned the applicants' failure to attend a hearing before the Tribunal and their subsequent failure to apply for reinstatement of their application within the prescribed 14-day period.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was required to confirm the decision to dismiss the application, given the applicants' non-compliance with the procedural requirements for reinstatement. This involved determining the legal consequence of failing to lodge a reinstatement application within the stipulated timeframe.

The Tribunal's reasoning was grounded in the clear legislative requirement that an application for reinstatement must be made within 14 days of the dismissal. As the applicants did not meet this deadline, the Tribunal was statutorily obliged to confirm the decision to dismiss the application. Consequently, the decisions under review were taken to be affirmed.

The Tribunal confirmed the decision to dismiss the application.