2104030 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of China, sought review of a decision by the Minister to refuse to grant a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was asked to consider whether it had jurisdiction to hear the applicant's review application, which was lodged outside the prescribed time limit.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the application for review had been made in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions, specifically concerning the timeframes for lodging such applications. The Tribunal was required to determine if the late lodgement of the application deprived it of jurisdiction to proceed with the review.

The Tribunal found that the application for review was not received until 29 March 2021. As this date fell outside the statutory time limit for lodging an application for review, the Tribunal concluded that the application had not been made in accordance with the relevant legislation. Consequently, the Tribunal determined that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the merits of the applicant's case.

The Tribunal made no orders other than to state that it did not have jurisdiction in this matter.