Refugees previously held in detention on Nauru have turned down the chance of a US visa because their partners – also accepted as refugees – have been denied permission to join them.
Under its deal with the Australian government in 2016, the US agreed to resettle up to 1,250 refugees who had been held in Australia’s offshore system on Nauru or Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island.
But the US does not guarantee that family members of anyone accepted for resettlement will also be granted a visa, and lawyers advocating for refugees in Australia say anyone with a temporary or permanent Australian visa is almost always rejected.
Lara*, who fled Iran in 2013 and was on Nauru for more than five years, said she had refused her US medical examination after receiving an email from the US Resettlement Support Center confirming that her partner Parham* would not be allowed to join her.
Lara declared her relationship to the Australian government in 2014 and began living with Parham in 2015. Their protection claims, which were logged separately, were approved in 2015 and subsequently both were recognised as refugees on Nauru.
In 2018 Parham’s application was denied on the grounds that he had failed to “establish that you meet the definition of refugee” under US law. Lara’s application was also denied, but she successfully appealed, while his appeal was rejected.
“I feel like I am swimming in a tsunami and can’t wait to flee persecution in Australia, but not without my partner,” Lara said.
Lara was evacuated from Nauru to Brisbane for Parham’s medical treatment in 2019. Parham was granted a bridging visa in 2020 while she was kept on a community detention visa. Because they have different visa types they are forbidden to live together.
Guardian Australia is aware of at least two other cases where refugees have turned down the possibility of US resettlement because it was clear their partner or other family members would be unable to join them.
Josephine Langbien, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said it had often been difficult for people to obtain clear information about the US resettlement process, and forcing people to choose between their family and permanent resettlement was “an unthinkable cruelty”.
“Our understanding is that in the past, many people with permanent or temporary protection visas in Australia were told they were ineligible for resettlement in the US, regardless of whether their family members are eligible,” Langbien said.
“This is an entirely unfair distinction, especially because many families were initially separated between Australia and offshore detention by the arbitrary date when offshore processing was reintroduced in 2013. That government decision could now potentially separate some families permanently.
“The US resettlement agency now says that temporary protection visa holders can be included in resettlement applications in some circumstances. Because of the lack of transparency, it is difficult to know how often this is happening in practice. But if this option was widely available to refugee families regardless of visa status, it would be an important and positive development.
She said people resettled in the US were also entitled to apply for family reunion once they arrived – but only for their partners or dependent children. That also meant they would have to go through another bureaucratic process and wait even longer to reunite with their family, Langbien said.
Nasreen, 62, a Hazara refugee whose story has been reported previously by Guardian Australia also rejected her second US interview as her husband, Mohammad, is not authorised to join her.
Nasreen fled Afghanistan with her children in 2013 to join Mohammad in Australia. He was recognised as a refugee in 2012 and holds a permanent visa. She was transferred from Nauru to Australia for medical care in 2014 and was admitted to a mental health hospital. Mohammad has never been permitted to live with his family in Sydney due to holding different classes of visa.
“After four years of separation from my children who were on Nauru, now the government wants to split me from my husband who is also my carer. It is not resettlement, but a forced separation for an elderly woman with multiple disabilities and in need of extensive support,” she said.
Principal solicitor at the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, Carolyn Graydon, said accepting resettlement in the US risked permanent separation for such families.
“To be reunited with their families, they have to start all over with lengthy US family reunion processes, which are far from certain and still depend on the individual circumstances in every case and take years of processing. The Australian government has never made an effort to keep families together. These are the cruel, direct consequences of government policy,” Graydon said.
A spokesperson for Australia’s department of home affairs said details of the US resettlement process were “matters for the US”.
“We understand the US intends to return to Australia and Nauru in February 2022, subject to Covid-19 restrictions, to finalise resettlement interviews,” they said.
As of May last year the cap on refugees accepted under the deal had almost been reached, with 936 refugees resettled and a further 258 provisionally approved. By 31 October the number accepted had risen to 990.
• Real names have been withheld
