Policies And Processes Refugees Encounter

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Processes refugees have to encounter when they come to Australia in order to stay?

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Asylum seekers arrive in Australia on a valid Visa and then apply for protection (as part of the onshore protection program).
They then have their claims assessed through the refugee status determination and complementary protection system that applies under the Migration Act.

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The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (Department) will make a primary assessment as to whether the person is a refugee according to the criteria set out in the Refugee Convention.
If a person is found to be a refugee or to be owed complementary protection, providing he or she satisfies health, identity and security requirements, he or she will be granted a protection visa.

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If an asylum seeker is found not to be a refugee, the Department will assess whether he or she meets 'complementary protection' criteria – that is, whether he or she is owed protection under the ICCPR, CAT or CRC because if they were to be sent to another country there is a real risk they would suffer serious harm.

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People who are refused protection by DIAC at the primary stage have access to independent merits review by the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT), or in some circumstances the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). In some circumstances, they can seek judicial review of decisions made by the RRT or the AAT. In some exceptional circumstances they can seek Ministerial intervention to allow them to remain in Australia on other humanitarian or compassionate grounds.

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Australias Policy on refugees?

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The Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), through its Humanitarian Program, aims to:
• assist people in humanitarian need overseas for whom resettlement in another country is the only available option; and
• comply with Australia's international obligations onshore under the Refugee Convention.

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The program has two main parts: off-shore resettlement and on-shore protection.
Off-shore resettlement
The off-shore resettlement program is for refugees and other 'humanitarian entrants' who apply for a visa from outside Australia.
There are two categories of permanent visas and two categories of temporary visas under the off-shore component of the Humanitarian Program

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a) Permanent off-shore humanitarian visas

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• Refugee Visas: for people outside their home country who satisfy the Refugee Convention definition of 'refugee' and who are in need of resettlement because they cannot return to their own country or stay where they are.
• Special Humanitarian Program Visas: for people outside their home country who have experienced substantial discrimination amounting to a gross violation of human rights in their home country. A proposer, who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen, or an organisation that is based in Australia, must support such an application for entry

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b) Temporary off-shore humanitarian visas
Changes to the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (Migration Act) introduced in September 2001 created two new categories of temporary off-shore humanitarian visas. These new visas were introduced to encourage asylum seekers to remain in their country of first asylum, that is, the first safe country where they can seek and obtain effective protection outside their home country. Both these visas are only available to asylum seekers who have spent less than seven days in a country where they could have sought and obtained protection.

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• Secondary Movement Relocation Visas: for people outside their home country who are subject to persecution or substantial discrimination in their home country (or women registered as being 'of concern' to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). This visa is available to asylum seekers who have moved from a safe first country of asylum but have not yet entered Australia. This temporary visa is valid for five years and people who hold this visa may apply for a permanent protection visa after four and a half years if there is a continuing need for protection.

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• Secondary Movement off-shore Entry Visas: for people outside their home country who are subject to persecution or substantial discrimination in their home country (or women registered as being 'of concern' to the UNHCR). This visa is available to asylum seekers who enter Australia at a place outside Australia's migration zone (such as Christmas Island, Ashmore Reef or the Cocos Islands). This temporary visa is valid for three years and the people who hold this visa are not entitled to permanent residence. Holders of this visa are eligible for successive temporary protection visas, if there is a continuing protection need.