2216210 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review of a decision to refuse a protection visa. The applicant, who sought protection in Australia, had his visa application refused by the Department of Home Affairs. The applicant's agent had failed to provide the correct contact details for the applicant, resulting in the applicant not being notified of the Department's request for further information or the subsequent refusal decision. The applicant's visa application form indicated that all correspondence should be directed to his supplied email address.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it had jurisdiction to hear the application for review. This depended on whether the application for review was lodged within the time prescribed by the relevant legislation, which requires applications to be made within 28 days of notification of the decision.

The Tribunal found that the application for review was not received until 4 November 2022, which was more than 28 days after the notification of the visa refusal decision. The Tribunal reasoned that because the application was not made within the statutory timeframe, it lacked jurisdiction to consider the merits of the case. The Tribunal noted that the applicant's failure to receive notification was due to his agent's error in providing incorrect contact details, but this did not extend the time limit for lodging an application for review.

Consequently, the Tribunal made an order that it does not have jurisdiction in this matter.