Know the Facts

Visa Types

1. Permanent Protection Visa
2. Temporary Protection Visas
3. Bridging Visa
4. Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (DIMIA website)
4b....- Regional Migration (Peter Mares "The Government's 'new deal' for TPV holders")
5. Complimentary Protection Proposal (Proposed Model)
6. Comparison of Entitlements for different visa classes

In October 1999 the Australian government introduced the Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) as part of a reform of the Asylum system. The reforms are intended as a deterrent to unauthorised arrivals and have divided protection for asylum seekers into two categories, permanent and temporary.

1. Permanent Protection Visa (visa Subclass 866) :
Asylum seekers who arrive in Australia with a valid visa, and are recognised as refugees, may be granted a Permanent Protection Visa (PPV) which enables them to live permanently in Australia. A refugee with a PPV is entitled to the full range of benefits that are available to permanent residents in Australia, including a range of specialist settlement services from Commonwealth Government funded service providers. PPV holders are also entiltled to family reunion rights that is they are eligible to sponsor family members (see Comparison of Entitlements Chart).

2. Temporary Protection Visa (visa subclass 785):
Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) are granted to people who are recognized as refugees but who have traveled to Australia without valid documentation. The visa is granted for a period of 36 months. A refugee with a TPV has reduced access to government social services and if they leave Australia they have no automatic right of re-entry. TPV status also denies the holder access to family reunion (see Comparison of Entitlements Chart).

In some circumstances applicants may apply for a permanent protection visa after 30 months if they continue to need protection. However, TPV holders who lodged their permanent protection application after September 2001, and have spent more than 7 days in a country where they could have sought and obtained effective protection need to provide reasons to the government why they did not apply for protection in that country.

Temporary Humanitarian Visa (either 447 or 451)
People who have been in any of the offshore centres or have been determined to have engaged in secondary movement do not get a TPV if they receive a visa prior to arrival. Instead they are given a Temporary Humanitarian Visa (either 447 or 451). Secondary Movement Offshore Entry offers a temporary visa to people who arrived unlawfully in Australia at offshore excised places and have moved from a safe first country of asylum. This visa is valid for three years which is an offshore visa.

Return Pending Visa (RPV)
The Subclass 695 Return Pending Visa (“RPV”) was introduced on 27 August 2004. It is a temporary visa available to current, former and future Temporary Protection visa holders (Subclass 785) and Temporary Humanitarian visa holders (Subclass 447 and 451) whose application for further protection is finally determined as refused. It allows them to remain in Australia for a further 18 months.

3. Bridging Visa Another category of visa granted to asylum seekers is the Bridging Visa. There are five classes of Bridging Visas (see DIMIA) A Bridging Visa may be granted to asylum seekers under the following circumstances:

Asylum seekers who arrive with a valid visa and lodge a claim for protection are granted a Bridging Visa, allowing them to remain lawfully in the community until their applications are finalised. Entitlements for holders of a Bridging Visa vary depending on when the application for protection was lodged and individual circumstances (see Comparison of Entitlements Chart).
Asylum seekers awaiting a decision on humanitarian grounds from the Immigration Minister and asylum seekers given "early release" from detention on psychological or medical grounds, as well as those released by a Federal Court order. In most cases this group of asylum seekers are denied all government support and are dependent on charities for food, clothing, housing and medical help. There are a number of community groups assisting asylum seekers and refugees in the community, a number of these organisations are listed in The Advocates' Help Kit published by The Refugee Council of Australia.

4. Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme - Refugees who have a TPV but have been refused a PPV or those who have been found to no longer be in need of protection and hold a RPV and have been employed in regional areas for at least twelve months can now apply to stay in Australia under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme. However researcher and author Peter Mares, points out the associated costs and complexity of this system and the need to secure the backing of an employer to support their application [read more...].

This scheme applies to all regional areas, including some capital cities but does not include Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong, Melbourne and Perth.

The scheme is no long skills based but requires a worker to be employed regularly, including seasonal work, for a period of twelve months. A person can do jobs for several different employers over this period. The worker could live in the city but must be employed in a rural area outside the city limits. If the worker met these conditions a RSMS could be applied for.

These applications would be mainly from people currently on a TPV whose application for a PPV has been refused. However the small print in the regulations say someone on a TPV must have been granted the visa before August 27 2004 to be eligible to apply for a RSMS. Anyone granted a TPV after that date is ineligible to apply. If granted the RSMS would be subjected to a two year period during which the permanent visa could be overturned if the conditions were not satisfactorily met (although he said this would only happen in extreme cases.). People with permanence can apply for citizenship after two years.

The application price for a RSMS is $1845 which can be paid by the applicant or the sponsoring employer. Health checks are carried out every 12 months during the period of the visa. Character and security checks are carried out by an external agency even though they would have already been carried out to allow granting of a TPV.

More information regarding the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme can be found on the DIMIA website @ http://www.immi.gov.au/migration/employers/rsms.htm. Also see the Rural Migration Workshop Report from the 2005 RAR National Conference

5. Complimentary Protection Proposal- Read the paper developed by the Refugee Council, Amnesty International and the National Council of Churches of Australia, 'Complementary Protection: The Way Ahead', which considers how the international community responds to people in need of protection who fall outside the refugee definition and compares this to Australian practice. It then points out the deficiencies in current Australian practice and suggests a model that, if implemented, would ensure that Australian practice is fair, transparent, timely, efficient and legally defensible.

The Uniting Church has endorsed the proposal prepared by the National Council of Churches, Amnesty Australia and the Refugee Council of Australia for a system of Complementary Protection to be introduced in Australia. Such a system would allow us to meet our obligations to protect people under international conventions and treaties other than the Refugee Convention. View the fact sheet at: http://nat.uca.org.au/unitingjustice/reconcilinghumanity/asylumrefugees/index.htm#info

Action for refugee advocates:

You might like to write a letter to your local Federal member drawing their attention to Complementary Protection as a system. You could use details from the Fact Sheet to describe the advantages and refer them to the proposed model which is available from any of the organisations involved or can be downloaded from RCOA web site 'Complementary Protection: The Way Ahead'

6. Comparison of Entitlements for different visa classes - view this chart to see the Entitlements available to asylum seekers and refugees in Australia under different visa classes.

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