2311963 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of the Republic of Korea, sought review of a decision by the Minister to refuse to grant a protection visa. The application for review was lodged with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) outside the prescribed time limit. The AAT, constituted by Member Justin Meyer, was therefore required to determine whether it had jurisdiction to hear the application, given the delay.

The central legal issue before the AAT was whether it possessed the power to extend the time for lodging an application for review of a protection visa refusal, notwithstanding the applicant's failure to meet the statutory deadline. This involved an interpretation of the relevant provisions of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) and the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) concerning time limits and the Tribunal's powers of extension in migration matters.

Member Meyer reasoned that the *Migration Act* contains specific provisions governing the time limits for lodging applications for review of protection visa decisions. These provisions are generally considered to be strict. The Tribunal's power to extend time under the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act* is subject to limitations, particularly in the context of migration decisions where the *Migration Act* often prescribes exclusive timeframes. In this instance, the Tribunal found that it lacked the jurisdictional capacity to extend the time for lodging the review application due to the specific nature of the time limits imposed by the *Migration Act* for protection visa matters.

Consequently, the AAT determined that it did not have jurisdiction to proceed with the review application.