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Australia, September 3, 2009 – Australia’s immigration department has already met its annual target for accepting refugees. For 2008 and 2009, it has already granted 13,507 Australian visas to refugees. This is a little over the original target of 13,500.

“This is directly in line with commitments made by the Australian Government in June 2008 to resettle 13 500 people who had fled their homes in search of safety, an increase of 500 places on the 2007-08 program,” said Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Evans.

The department’s priority regions for accepting refugees include Africa, Asia and the Middle East. “Iraqis were the largest group in the 2008-09 humanitarian program with 2874 visas granted – including 500 additional refugee places that were reserved for this group last program year in recognition of their critical resettlement needs,” said Evans

The second largest group for resettlement were those coming from Burma, most of whom have been living in camps along the Thai-Burma border for over 20 years. Afghans, Sudanese, Bhutanese, Ethiopians, Somalis, Liberians, Sierra Leoneans and people from the Democratic Republic of Congo also represent a significant percentage of refugees to Australia.

In terms of categorization, the “woman at risk” category comprised of more than 12 percent of the total. Target for this sector was set at 10.5 percent. Meanwhile, in terms of travel origin, 81 percent applied for resettlement overseas. In total 2497 were granted visa via the onshore program while 11,010 were granted visas via the offshore migration program.

“Our on-going efforts to help vulnerable populations are a clear demonstration of our nation’s compassion for those in need,” said Evans.

Source:
globalvisas.com