Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program

Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program has two key components – the onshore protection program and the offshore resettlement program.

The onshore component of the program is for asylum seekers who apply for refugee status after arriving in Australia. Most enter as visitors or students; some arrive without authorisation. The onshore component is designed to meet Australia’s obligations as a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention to recognise and provide protection to people fleeing persecution.

The offshore component of the program is for people outside Australia who are in need of resettlement. It is a voluntary commitment designed to provide durable solutions for the many refugees who can neither remain where they are nor return home.

The current size of the Refugee and Humanitarian Program is 13,750. This includes 6,000 places for the offshore refugee program and 7,750 places for the onshore protection program and the Special Humanitarian Program, a visa subclass within the offshore program which targets people who are outside their home country and are subject to substantial persecution or discrimination amounting to a gross violation of their human rights.

The onshore and offshore programs are numerically linked, which means that every time an onshore applicant is granted a protection visa, a place is deducted from the offshore program. Australia is the only country in the world which links its onshore and offshore programs in this way. For further information, see our page on the linking policy.