2403569 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for review of a delegate's decision to refuse an Indonesian citizen a protection visa. The applicant applied for the visa on 5 August 2023, and the delegate refused the application on 24 January 2024. An application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for a merits review of this decision was lodged on 28 February 2024.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to review the delegate's decision, given that the application for review was lodged outside the prescribed time limit. Specifically, the Tribunal was required to determine the date on which the applicant was taken to have received the notification of the visa refusal and, consequently, the deadline for lodging a valid application for review.

The Tribunal reasoned that the notification of refusal, dated 24 January 2024, was sent by email to the address provided by the applicant. Under section 494C of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), the applicant was taken to have received the notification at the end of the day it was transmitted. As the applicant was not in immigration detention, regulation 4.31(2) of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) stipulated that an application for review must be made within 28 calendar days of being taken to have received the notification. This meant the deadline for lodging a valid review application was 20 February 2024. The Tribunal noted that the applicant was invited to comment on the validity of her review application, but she did not respond. The Tribunal concluded that it had no power to extend the time for making an invalid review application.

Consequently, the Tribunal found that it had no jurisdiction to review the decision because the application for review was lodged on 28 February 2024, which was after the statutory deadline of 20 February 2024.