Family Reunion needs to be made easier for refugees
Being granted a permanent visa is a huge relief, especially for people who have been waiting for so long. At last, they can feel they belong here in Australia and can think about building their future. Some have not seen their spouse or children since before their arrival to Australia. However, it soon it becomes evident that there are many barriers to them being able to reunite with loved ones. People in this situation can be at risk of serious depression and despair.
Refugees who travelled to Australia by boat cannot seek family reunion through the Humanitarian Program and must use the Family Migration Program instead.
This is a continuing form of punishment, because the Family Migration Program differs from the Humanitarian Family reunion program in several ways:
- Has a much narrower definition of who can be considered “family”, ie: partners, and dependent children.
- Has high visa application fees, whereas there are no fees under the Humanitarian Program. Under Family Migration Program, partner visa application fees are just under $10,000, the fee for a dependent over 18 is over $4,000, and for a dependent under 18 over $2,000. This means the cost of reuniting with a spouse and children can cost up to or more than $20,000, depending on the number of children.
- Age restrictions for ‘children’: Only children under 23 are eligible to be reunited with their parents. This means that a child who was only 12 when their parent fled to safety, may now be aged 24, and legally an adult, but still might be dependent and at risk. Some families have been placed the heart-wrenching situation of not being able to have their adult child join them here in Australia. They must remain an unsafe situation because they have turned 23.
- No access to settlement services after they arrive.
In addition to the restricted possibility of reunion with those considered family, there are the usual issues for refugees who are seeking to reunite with family members:
- Difficulties obtaining documentation and navigating complex administrative requirements. War, persecution, economic disadvantage and political instability can make it more difficult or dangerous to travel within the home country to obtain documents, such as passports or identity papers, or health and biometric data.
- Particular difficulties for LGBTIQ+ partners
There are significant challenges in providing evidence of a de facto relationship for refugees with LGBTQI+ backgrounds. In many countries, people with LGBTQI+ backgrounds are persecuted – and this can result in people having to flee and seek refugee status. Partners left behind are in a particularly precarious situation, being subjected to cultural shame, stigma, and discrimination. Because it has been necessary for relationships to be kept secret, it is also often difficult to produce evidence of the relationship. For people with LGBTQI+ backgrounds who also have children there are likely to be added difficulties. - Family reunion is often a long process, and the uncertainty about if, and when people will be reunited with their loved ones can result in mental health issues, especially for those who have experienced long periods of acute uncertainty about being granted refugee status and being given permanent visa. So long is the process for some applicants that their child might have been under 23 when they applied but after up to 10 years of waiting, they have “aged out”.
All of these uncertainties further inhibit family reunion and add significant emotional and financial strain. See more here for examples of families in this distressing situation.
The following reforms are recommended:
- Introduce visa application charge concessions for refugees.
- Adapt visa processing to address the challenges of obtaining identity documents and health and biometric data.
- Change the legal definitions of “dependent” and “member of the family unit” to better reflect the diverse family structures in many refugee communities. C
- Change the age limit of 23 years of age for children whose refugee parent now has permanency in Australia.
- Develop specific guidance around the processing of partners from LGBTIQ+ backgrounds in consultation with relevant community groups.
Further background:
See more detail in the policy brief prepared by RCOA in March 2025, which was also supported by many other organisations.
You can support the call for family reunion by accessing the Australian Refugee Advocacy Network’s latest letter writing page. It will give you links to letter proformas and contact details for the Prime Minister, the Honorable Anthony Albanese, the Minister for Home Affairs, Immigration and Citizenship, the Honorable Tony Burke and your local Member of Parliament and state Senators.