2017776 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for a protection visa by an applicant from China. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to review a decision not to grant the visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criterion for a protection visa that they must be a non-citizen in Australia. This required the Tribunal to determine the applicant's location and, if they were no longer in Australia, whether this precluded the grant of the visa.

The Tribunal considered movement records which indicated the applicant had left Australia in December 2023. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but received no response. Applying section 36(2) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), which stipulates that an applicant must be in Australia to be granted a protection visa, the Tribunal found that the applicant did not satisfy this essential criterion. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa, finding it unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the protection claim.