Family reunion and Australia's refugee and humanitarian program : a discussion paper. /

Through annual community consultations, the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) has long identified family reunion as one of the top priorities for refugees and other humanitarian entrants. The need for families to be reunited is not only elucidated by refugees, as facilitating family reunion has been shown to have an impact on settlement through improvements in economic participation as well as the psychosocial wellbeing of refugees themselves. This discussion paper outlines some of the key issues and concerns with regard to how people settling in Australia through the refugee and humanitarian program are able to reunite with their families. This paper explores the impact of policy and processes around travel expense, definitions of family, extended separation, regional targets, split families, travel documents, health checks, settlement support for reunited families, migration advice and Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) visas on family reunion experiences. The paper also highlights key recommendations to move forward in addressing these concerns.

Family_reunion_and_Australia?s_Refugee_Humanitarian_Program.pdf