2309498 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a protection visa by an applicant from East Timor. The dispute arose because the applicant had left Australia, which raised questions about their eligibility for the visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criterion for a protection visa that they must be a non-citizen *in* Australia. This required the Tribunal to determine the applicant's physical location at the time of the decision.

The Tribunal reasoned that section 36(2) of the relevant Act mandates that an applicant for a protection visa must be in Australia. Movement records indicated the applicant had departed Australia in December 2023. The Tribunal notified the applicant of this information and invited comment, but received no response. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant was not in Australia and therefore did not meet the statutory requirement. As this threshold criterion was not met, the Tribunal found it unnecessary to consider the substantive grounds of the applicant's protection claim.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.