2205286 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for a protection visa by an applicant who had previously departed Australia. The applicant had been invited to provide comments on adverse information that had come to light but failed to respond.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was necessary to consider the substantive merits of the applicant's protection visa claim, given their failure to respond to the invitation to comment on adverse information.

The Tribunal reasoned that under section 424A of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), it was not required to consider the substantive case for protection if the applicant did not provide a response to an invitation to comment on adverse information. As the applicant had not responded to the invitation, the Tribunal concluded that it was not necessary to examine the merits of their claim. Consequently, the decision under review, which refused the protection visa, was affirmed.