2401661 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review of a decision to refuse a protection visa. The applicant sought review of the refusal decision, but the application was lodged with the Tribunal after the statutory time limit had expired. The applicant had also subsequently applied for another visa, which was also refused.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it had jurisdiction to consider the application for review, given that it was lodged out of time. The Tribunal was required to determine if there was any discretion to extend the time limit for lodging an application for review in these circumstances.

The Tribunal found that the application for review was not received until 2 February 2024, which was more than 28 days after the notification of the visa refusal decision. The Tribunal held that the relevant legislation did not grant it a discretion to extend this time limit. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the application for review.

The Tribunal made no orders as to costs and determined that it did not have jurisdiction in this matter.