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Please note: this website was created in 2003 and there have been several changes in relevant Australian legislation since that time (probably Canadian too). The website is kept online as an overview of the situation at that time but has not and will not be updated.

Australian Tour

This section of the site allows you to explore the process a person or family undertakes if they seek asylum in Australia.


As a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, Australia has an obligation to provide protection for people seeking refugee status. Assessment is based on meeting the criteria of a Refugee as defined by the United Nations. In Australia the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) is responsible for processing applications for refugee status.

The ways in which Australia processes refugee claims varies according to whether the claimants are Off-shore or On-shore applicants. This site focuses on the On-shore program in which people seeking refugee status are referred to as Asylum Seekers.

Offshore Applicants are selected overseas, usually after referral from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They enter Australia with a visa that entitles them to Permanent Residency.

Australia also faces the situation where many individuals arrive with tourist, student or other visas or without documents at all. These on-shore applicants may seek refugee status in the hope of being granted Permanent Residency. However, recent changes in Immigration policy relating to on-shore applications specifies that individuals who arrive without a visa, can only be issued a Temporary Protection Visa if recognised as refugees.

Further, asylum seekers arriving after September 27, 2001, who have spent more than seven days in a country where they may have sought protection are deemed ineligible for permanent protection visas.

Case Studies


Case studies from refugees' recorded personal accounts, based on research by psychologist, Maritza Thompson will appear in shaded boxes throughout this tour.

 

"A few months ago, dying was my main thought, I wasn't thinking about anything else...."

- Kurdish Refugee living in Australia

 

 

continue to the Australian Arrival section >>

see also: Canadian Tour