Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program helps refugees and people in humanitarian need who are:
- outside Australia (offshore), and need to resettle to Australia when they do not have any other durable solutions available
- already in Australia (onshore), and want to seek protection after arriving in Australia.
Australia has a long history of providing resettlement for refugees and others who are displaced because of:
- conflict
- persecution
- human rights abuses.
Since the end of World War II, Australia has successfully settled more than 950,000 refugees and others in humanitarian need.
Australia is committed to compassionate and flexible Humanitarian and Settlement Programs that meet our international protection obligations. These programs position Australia as a global leader in international resettlement efforts.
The Government will maintain 20,000 places in Australia’s 2025-26 Humanitarian Program. This will ensure we can provide protection and permanent resettlement to those most in need from around the world. The Humanitarian Program delivers on Australia's global resettlement commitments while ensuring mechanisms are in place to advance and grow complementary pathways. This provides ongoing national economic and social benefits.
The offshore component of the Humanitarian Program prioritises humanitarian entrants and refugees of nationalities from three major regions:
- the Middle East, such as Iraq, Syria and Iran
- Asia, such as Myanmar and Afghanistan
- Africa, such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.
The Australian Government has established policy to guide decisions on which applications we should generally give priority. This policy includes those who are outside their home country and are one of the following:
- Assessed as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and referred to Australia for resettlement, or
- Proposed by an immediate family member (for example, spouses and minor aged children) who has a Refugee category visa (subclasses 200, 201, 203 or 204).
We also fulfil our international obligations by offering protection to non-citizens who are already in Australia. The onshore component of the Humanitarian Program is reserved for people who arrive lawfully in Australia and engage Australia’s non-return obligations.
We may grant protection to individuals who:
- seek Australia’s protection
- are found to engage Australia’s non-return obligations
- satisfy the relevant visa criteria including, health, character and security requirements that apply to all Australian visas.
