2106852 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review of a decision concerning a protection visa. The applicant sought to have the AAT review a decision, but their application was lodged with the Tribunal on 23 May 2021, which was outside the prescribed time limit. The applicant's stated reason for the delay was that their phone had been stolen.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it had jurisdiction to consider the applicant's review application, given that it was lodged out of time. The Tribunal was required to determine if the circumstances presented by the applicant, namely the theft of their phone, constituted a sufficient basis to extend the time for lodging the application or otherwise confer jurisdiction.

The Tribunal determined that the application for review was not made in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions because it was received after the statutory deadline. The Tribunal found that the theft of the applicant's phone did not operate to extend the time for lodging the application or to grant the Tribunal jurisdiction in this matter. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the review.

The Tribunal made no orders as to costs.