2017268 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal, constituted by Rebecca Mikhail, considered an application for protection visas by two applicants from India. The dispute arose because the applicants had departed Australia, and the Tribunal was therefore unable to grant them protection visas.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicants met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically the requirement that an applicant must be a non-citizen present in Australia. The Tribunal also considered whether it was necessary to assess the substantive grounds of the protection claims given the applicants' departure from Australia.

The Tribunal reasoned that under section 36(2) of the relevant Act, a protection visa can only be granted to a non-citizen who is in Australia. Movement records indicated that both applicants had left Australia in late 2023 and early 2024 respectively. The Tribunal had notified the applicants of this information and invited them to comment, but no response was received. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicants did not meet the criterion of being in Australia and therefore could not be granted protection visas. As this threshold requirement was not met, the Tribunal concluded it was unnecessary to consider the substantive claims for protection.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicants protection visas.