The list of people in limbo is growing by about 1000 a month as huge backlogs and five-year appeal wait times expose the immigration system to exploitation.
The number of people seeking asylum in Australia has hit a six-year high and a record 117,500 people are on shore awaiting a decision or deportation as huge backlogs and five-year wait times expose the country’s immigration system to exploitation.
Helen Duncan, chief executive of the Migration Institute of Australia, said it was “without doubt” that people who probably did not have legitimate claims were using protection visas to extend their stays in Australia. Rizvi said asylum claims in 2016 and 2017 had been dominated by a labour trafficking scheme sending Malaysian and Chinese migrants to work on farms, construction sites or in the sex industry. “It’s a different phenomenon now. It’s being driven, fundamentally, by the large backlog and slow processing,” he said.
“Protection visas are for asylum seekers who face a real risk of significant harm or a real chance of persecution if they return to their home country – they are not for people who just want to stay in Australia to work,” online descriptions for the events say. Deputy chief executive of the Australian Refugee Council Adama Kamara said it was not unusual for the number of refugee applications to change “given a range of factors, including new and ongoing conflict around the world”.
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