2310533 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review of a decision to refuse a protection visa made by an applicant from East Timor. The applicant sought review of the refusal decision, but the application for review was lodged with the Tribunal after the statutory time limit had expired. The applicant conceded that the application was late and did not raise any issues regarding the notification requirements for the refusal decision.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it had jurisdiction to hear the application for review, given that it was lodged outside the prescribed time limit. The Tribunal was required to determine if the application had been made in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions governing the lodgement of review applications.

The Tribunal found that the application for review was received on 17 July 2023, which was more than 28 days after the notification of the refusal decision. As the applicant conceded the lateness of the application and did not dispute the notification, 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 application.

The Tribunal made no orders in relation to the merits of the protection visa application, as it had no jurisdiction to do so.