What do refugees do in australia

Since , Australia has had a policy of mandatory immigration detention, which requires all non-citizens without a valid visa to be detained until they are granted a visa or leave the country. This includes people who entered the country on a valid visa who overstayed, breached their visa conditions or had visas cancelled, and people who entered Australia without a valid visa. People in community detention may live at designated addresses within the community, with some reporting requirements and other restrictions.

While the number of people in closed immigration detention in Australia has reduced, the average length of time detention has increased from five years ago. There is no time limit on immigration detention, and individuals cannot challenge the legality of their detention.

UNSW Websites. This website. Climate change, disasters and displacement. Rethinking the international protection regime. Regional protection. Offshore processing. Regional protection for refugees. Australian law and policy reform.

Resettlement and other pathways to protection. The history of Australian refugee policy. Book chapters. Journal articles. Research briefs. For example, in —13 the top ten countries of citizenship for non-IMAs granted protection visas included six with high grant rates—Pakistan As mentioned earlier, under current Government policy, asylum seekers attempting to arrive in Australia by boat may be turned around and returned to international waters, or transferred to offshore processing centres.

Presumably the subsequent drop in boat arrival numbers will result in a return to the historical norm whereby the majority of those applying for protection onshore in Australia will have arrived originally by air with a valid visa. In the case of Europe, the figures on irregular migration are not as reliable due to its porous borders.

While unauthorised arrival figures for Australia are more precise owing to our geography, those for Europe are only estimates. We know how many unauthorised arrivals there are in Australia because we are able to monitor unauthorised boat arrivals in Australian waters and all air arrivals at Australian airports.

For example, historically in Italy only about 15 per cent of irregular migrants arrive by sea. The vast majority of asylum seekers arrive in Italy within mixed migratory flows, travelling alongside irregular migrants, including victims of trafficking, through highly dangerous channels managed by smugglers.

Whilst some of these arrive by air or by land, some 70 per cent of asylum seekers in Italy are now estimated to arrive by sea. Unauthorised boat arrivals have always undergone comprehensive security and health checks.

In the past, asylum seekers were usually transferred to Christmas Island initially where the following checks were made:. Unauthorised arrivals, regardless of whether they arrive on the mainland or at an excised offshore place, undergo a comprehensive and thorough assessment process, including security checking, to establish if they have a legitimate reason for staying in Australia. This process includes assessing identities, as many people dispose of all personal papers en route to Australia; assessing whether the person is raising claims which may engage Australia's protection obligations; and obtaining formal police clearances from countries of first asylum in which they have resided for at least 12 months, to confirm they are of good character The department has a comprehensive process for checking the health of unauthorised arrivals.

An initial health assessment is conducted to identify conditions that will require attention. This assessment includes the collection of personal and medical history, a physical examination and formalised mental health screening and assessment. All unauthorised arrivals can access appropriate health care commensurate with the level of care available to the broader community.

A discharge health assessment is completed for each person leaving any immigration detention placement. This assessment includes the provision of a health discharge summary from the Health Services Manager to the individual, which informs future health providers of relevant health history, treatment received during detention and any ongoing treatment regimes.

Where appropriate, linkages are made with relevant community health providers to facilitate ongoing care beyond discharge. Depending on the individual circumstances, reasons for entering and country of origin, temporary visa applicants may also be required to undergo a health examination.

Asylum seekers who arrive by boat are subject to the same assessment criteria as all other asylum applicants. Past figures show that between 70 and per cent of asylum seekers arriving by boat at different times have been found to be refugees and granted protection either in Australia or in another country.

In contrast, asylum claims from people who enter Australia by air on a valid visa and subsequently apply for asylum have not had such high success rates historically and the majority have not been found to be refugees. This is demonstrated by the lower protection visa grant rates for non-IMAs air arrivals of around 45 per cent annually.

In other words, past figures show that more asylum seekers who arrived by boat have been recognised as refugees than those who entered Australia by air. Historically, successful onshore applicants boat and air arrivals usually only make up a relatively small proportion of the total number of refugees and other humanitarian entrants accepted by Australia each year—usually in the region of 17 to 20 per cent. For example:. The following material has been reproduced from L Buckmaster and J Guppy, Australian Government assistance to refugees: fact v fiction , Background note, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, In recent years, a series of emails have been widely circulated throughout Australia claiming to describe the social security entitlements for refugees, compared with those of other Australian residents.

A common claim in these emails is that refugees in Australia receive higher social security benefits than age pensioners. Some also suggest that refugees receive free gifts such as houses. Claims of this kind are erroneous and appear to have caused some confusion in the community. There is no truth to claims made in emails circulated throughout Australia that refugees are entitled to higher benefits than other social security recipients. Refugees have the same entitlements as all other permanent residents—they do not receive special refugee payments or special rates of payment.

Given the circumstances in which refugees come to settle in Australia, they are exempt from the standard waiting period that applies to migrants seeking to access social security payments or concession cards.

Refugees also receive short-term assistance from DSS under the Humanitarian Settlement Services program, aimed at helping them settle effectively once they have received permanent residency. Funding is also provided to assist asylum seekers living in the community through the Asylum Seekers Assistance Scheme and Community Assistance Support Program.

Limited assistance in the form of services is provided in order to assist asylum seekers living in the community to meet basic needs such as access to health and community services. Funding is also provided to NGOs such as the Australian Red Cross aimed at ensuring that people placed in community detention are appropriately supported.

Assistance provided also includes access to housing, health and community services and social support networks. Asylum seekers in immigration detention centres do not receive DHS equivalent payments or percentages of such payments. They are entitled to a range of services, including access to health care, religious facilities, television, library services and other educational and entertainment facilities, clothes, footwear, toiletries, hygiene products and other personal items.

Detainees also have access to the income allowance program, through which they are allocated points that can be exchanged for small items at the facility shop. It is less than 1. In there was only one boat arrival in Australia, but even in high arrival years comparisons show that the number of boat arrivals in Australia is very small when compared to the flows of unauthorised arrivals in other parts of the world, particularly the coasts of Italy and Yemen.

The following table provides comparative data between and According to UNHCR initial estimates, proved to be a record year for boat arrivals globally largely due to Syrian asylum flows. At least , people risked their lives in boats seeking asylum or a better life—most of these , were recorded attempting to cross the Mediterranean. Specifically in our region, approximately 54, people embarked on irregular maritime journeys in However, the vast majority 53, departed from Bangladesh and Myanmar on their way to Thailand or Malaysia—only a handful attempted to reach Australia.

In the previous peak boat arrival years of the s when just over people arrived by boat in Australia over a five year period and — when around 12 people arrived by boat over a three year period the arrival numbers in Australia were also small compared to other destination countries.

The UNHCR summarises trends in the number of individual asylum claims submitted in 44 industrialised countries in Europe and selected non-European countries each year.

In these countries received an estimated , asylum applications—the second highest level of the past 20 years. Around the world most asylum claims are lodged in Europe and the USA—in fact more asylum claims are lodged in Europe particularly in France, Germany and Sweden than in any other part of the world. In many countries, including in Asia Pacific, refugees and people seeking asylum do not have a legal right to stay, work or access basic service.

This affects their ability to remain safe and support the most basic needs of their families. Where people can exercise choice in determining their destination country, they can be influenced by the presence of social networks, historical ties between the countries of origin and destination, and the knowledge or belief that a certain country is democratic, where human rights and the rule of law are likely to be respected.

In the financial year of , Australia granted refugee status to 14, people, either through resettlement from other countries or granting protection to people who had applied for asylum in Australia. Under international law, whether in Australia or another country, a person undergoes a rigorous process to prove they have a well-founded fear of persecution before they are granted refugee status. This may be for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, resulting in the suffering of serious human rights violations including torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.

In Red Cross' experience, the majority of people who apply for asylum do so because their lives and safety are under threat from war, violence or human rights abuses in their homeland. Most people do not wish to leave the homes, families, friends and communities that they know and love. Under both the UN Refugee Convention and Australian law, the right to refugee protection is not given to anyone strongly suspected of having committed a crime against peace, a war crime, a crime against humanity or a serious non-political crime outside their country of refuge, or anyone guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Through community service providers, the Government also provides limited assistance to this group to meet their basic needs, such as assisting people to access health and social services.

Not every person seeking asylum in the community is eligible for support under these programs. People who are not eligible receive no Government financial assistance. They want to work and be self-reliant, but often find it difficult, due to a combination of factors, including temporary visa status, limited understanding of how to find work in Australia, lack of recognition of overseas qualifications and limited English language skills with little to no support to learn or improve English until they have been recognised as refugees.

When refugees arrive in Australia through the Humanitarian Program, they arrive as permanent residents and can immediately access income support payments in the same way as any other Australian permanent resident. They also receive some support specific to their needs such as access to caseworkers, help finding housing and English classes to help them become independent members of the community as quickly as possible.

Australia has a long history of humanitarian resettlement, providing safety to more than , people since World War II. Refugees make an important contribution to Australia in many areas including social engagement, workforce participation, business ownership and volunteering within our communities. Most families from refugee backgrounds are able to adjust effectively over time and generate substantial economic and social benefit.

The Centre for Policy Development, for example, reports that in Australia, refugees are more than twice as likely to establish their own businesses compared to the broader population. Many of Australia's successful and respected citizens have been refugees, having fled their home country to escape persecution. Learn more about how Red Cross works with migrants in transition. Learn about human trafficking and forced labour.

We can talk with your school, workplace or community group about why people seek safety. Refugee and asylum seeker facts. A father and son from Myanmar share a moment of happy relief after reaching the safety of a camp on the Bangladesh border. Is it illegal to come to Australia by boat and seek asylum?

All people who arrive here by boat without a valid visa are subject to mandatory detention. Do all people seeking asylum come to Australia by boat? Many people arrive by plane with a valid visa then claim asylum while they are here. Does Australia have more asylum claims than other countries?