2103935 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review of a decision concerning a protection visa for an applicant from Thailand. The core of the dispute revolved around the timeliness of the applicant's request for review.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it had jurisdiction to hear the application for review. This question turned on whether the application was lodged within the time prescribed by the relevant legislation, which in turn depended on when the applicant was deemed to have been notified of the Department's original decision.

The Tribunal found that the applicant was taken to have been notified of the Department's decision on 22 February 2021. Consequently, the prescribed period for lodging an application for review expired on 22 March 2021. As the applicant's application for review was received by the Tribunal on 26 March 2021, it was lodged outside the statutory timeframe. The Tribunal applied the principle that a failure to lodge an application within the prescribed period, without an extension being granted, deprives the Tribunal of jurisdiction.

Accordingly, the Tribunal determined that it did not have jurisdiction to consider the applicant's matter.