Australia to resettle 15,000 Afghan citizens

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Australian government has announced providing at least 15,000 visas for Afghan nationals through its humanitarian and family visa programme over the next four years.

However, advocacy groups have labelled Friday’s announcement as “misleading”, saying it is a commitment within existing quotas — not additional places.

In a statement, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said this “increased allocation” includes 10,000 places for Afghan nationals within Australia’s existing humanitarian visa programme and at least 5,000 visas within the family stream.

“The war in Afghanistan was Australia’s longest, and a humanitarian intake of this size reflects this. Our commitment to Afghan refugees will be second only in scale to our humanitarian intake from Syria and Iraq,” Hawke added.

“The government will continue to monitor processing numbers and reserves the right to increase the program in future years,” he explained.

Hawke said there has been an unprecedented number of visa applications from Afghanistan, with the Department of Home Affairs receiving more than 32,500 applications for the humanitarian programme, on behalf of more than 145,000 individuals.

“In recognition of this demand, and in support of this specific visa commitment, dedicated teams within the Department of Home Affairs have been established to undertake priority processing,” Hawke said.

The department will prioritise former locally engaged employees and their immediate family members, subclass 449 holders and their immediate family members, those with enduring links to Australia and women and girls, ethnic minorities, LGBTIQ+ and other identified minority groups.

nh/mud

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