Around 700 people remain in Australia who were transferred to Nauru and Papua New Guinea under Australia’s offshore processing regime and later brought to Australia for urgent medical treatment.
It has now been 14 years since they arrived in Australia, including over eight years living in the community in Australia.
The vast majority have been recognised as refugees and all of them have rebuilt their lives here, working, studying, raising families and, in many cases, having Australian-born children.
However, resettlement pathways to the United States and New Zealand are now closed, and for many they were never viable because ...
Around 700 people remain in Australia who were transferred to Nauru and Papua New Guinea under Australia’s offshore processing regime and later brought to Australia for urgent medical treatment.
It has now been 14 years since they arrived in Australia, including over eight years living in the community in Australia.
The vast majority have been recognised as refugees and all of them have rebuilt their lives here, working, studying, raising families and, in many cases, having Australian-born children.
However, resettlement pathways to the United States and New Zealand are now closed, and for many they were never viable because they have Australian family members or they are still trying to recover from the deep harm that was done to their mental and physical health.
They remain stuck on short-term, temporary bridging visas with no pathway to permanency, despite having nowhere to go. Most are on 6 month Final Departure Bridging Visas and have to apply to renew their bridging visa every six months, impacting Medicare, the ability to get work and rent houses. They do not have the right to study. A small number remain in community detention.
They can be offered Resolution of Status visas in the same way these have been used to provide permanency for the Fast Track cohort.