AUSTRALIA'S REFUGEE PROGRAM

Facts + Stats

AUSTRALIAN STATISTICS

1 Number of humanitarian visas granted, by category, in Australia for 1996-97 to 2006 - 2007

NB: Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Senator Chris Evans announced on August 15, 2008 that 13,014 humanitarian visas had been granted from 2007 - 2008.

The offshore resettlement program consists of:

• (a) Refugee category. This includes visa subclasses 200 (Refugee), 201 (In-Country Special Humanitarian), 203 (Emergency Rescue) and 204 (Women At Risk). Refugees are people outside their country of nationality, who are subject to persecution in their home country and have been identified in conjunction with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as in need of resettlement; 
• (b) Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) category. This includes visa subclasses 202 (Global Special Humanitarian). SHP entrants are people outside their home country who have suffered substantial discrimination amounting to gross violation of their human rights and who have been proposed by an Australian citizen, resident or community group in Australia;
• (c) Special Assistance category (SAC). This visa category was discontinued after the 2001-02 program year. This category was for people who, while not meeting the refugee or special humanitarian criteria, were nonetheless in situations of discrimination, displacement or hardship. SAC proposers were required to enter into a written undertaking to provide assistance to the applicant and his or her dependants for at least six months after arrival. 

The onshore resettlement program consists of:

• (d) Onshore Humanitarian category which includes people granted permanent resident status on humanitarian grounds or granted Temporary Humanitarian Concern (subclass 786) visas;

Other notes for this table:

• (e) These figures are rounded thus totals may not be the exact sum of components;
• (f) In addition to this number, 5,900 Safe Haven visas were granted in 1999-00 comprising 4,000 to Kosovars offshore and 1,900 to East Timorese onshore. Most of these people returned to their country of origin.

Sources: 1. DIMIA (2004) Australia's Support for Humanitarian Entrants, p.2 1. DIMIA (2005) Population Flows: Immigration Aspects 2003 - 2004 Edition, p.30-31 and DIAC (2006), Factsheet 60: Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program.

2 Australia's onshore program

2.1 Onshore visa grants, by category, 2006-07

Source: DIAC, Population flows: Immigration Aspects 2006-2007 Edition, p 71

2.2 Onshore applications by country of origin, 2006-07

Source: DIAC, Population flows: Immigration Aspects 2006-2007 Edition, p 73

2.3 Onshore grants by country of origin, 2006-07

Source: DIAC, Population flows: Immigration Aspects 2006-2007 Edition, p 73

3 Overstayers and unauthorised arrivals

An unauthorised arrival is an individual who arrives in Australia without travel documents or a valid visa or with fraudulent travel documents or visa.

Not all unauthorised arrivals and only a very small proportion of overstayers apply for refugee status. 

Note: The number of overstayers is estimated by DIAC at 30 June of each year.

Sources:
1. DIMIA (2005), Population Flows: Immigration Aspects 2003-2004 Edition, p. 35
2. DIMIA (2004), Population Flows: Immigration Aspects 2002-2003 Edition, p. 73
3. DIMIA (2002), Population Flows 2001 Edition, p. 57
4. DIMIA (2001), Population Flows 2000 Edition, p. 56
5. DIMIA (2004), Fact sheet 74: Unauthorised Arrivals by Air and Sea
6. DIMIA (2005), Managing the Border: Immigration Compliance 2004-05, p. 29
7. DIMA (2006), Population Flows: Immigration Aspects 2005 - 2006 Edition, p. 65
8. DIAC (2007), Population Flows: Immigration Aspects 2006 - 2007 Edition, p. 79
9. DIAC (2008), Fact Sheet 2: Key Facts in Immigration
10. DIAC (2008), Fact Sheet 73: People Smuggling

4 Detention

4.1 The latest figure for the number of persons in immigration detention facilities in Australia can be found on the DIAC website at: Immigration Detention Statistics This page is updated weekly.

4.2 Length of time in detention

Source: DIMIA (2005), DIMIA-NGO Dialogue on Humanitarian Issues (25 February 2005)

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