An Afghan Refugee Family Are Suing The Government Over Years-Long Visa Processing Delays

An Afghan refugee family are suing the Federal Government for taking too long to process their visa applications, after years of being kept apart.

Abdullah and Fatema were forced to flee their home country after one of their daughters was killed, and another seriously injured, in a missile attack on their home a decade ago. The father was eligible for permanent refugee status in Australia, and despite his wife and four kids applying for a partner visa five years later, they are still in Pakistan waiting to hear if they can join him. Their youngest child is just one year old.

“Being separated from my family for so long has been really hard and painful,” said Abdullah in a statement. “I hope the Australian Government understands our pain and will put us back together.”

“We are living in a country that is not our own, and there is no future for my sons and daughters here,” said Fatema. “We are suffering every day.”

In a list of recommendations last month, the Refugee Council of Australia called on the department to facilitate and expedite partner visa applications for Afghan nationals. The Department of Home Affairs previously announced in January it would provide 15,000 places for Afghan refugees over the next four years, with at least 5000 spots for family visas in this time period.

However, the Human Rights Law Centre, representing Abdullah and his family, said that in the seven months since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the Morrison Government still hasn’t done enough to fast-track visa applications in what they describe as “unreasonable delays”.

“The empty announcements from the Minister [of Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services, and Multicultural Affairs] have not translated into action or people finding safety or being reunited with their loved ones any faster,” said Shabnam Safa, Chair at the National Refugee-led Advisory and Advocacy Group, who argued that a simple “stroke of a pen” could help people who are still “stuck in limbo without justification”.

The situation is also dire for Afghan refugees in Australia under temporary protection who can’t formally sponsor their loved ones due to their visa type. There have been 145,000 humanitarian visa applications lodged since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last year.

“This family cannot return to Afghanistan. After 20 years of war, the Australian Government has a moral duty to the people of Afghanistan, including family members of Australians like Abdullah,” said senior lawyer Josephine Langbien. “The Morrison Government must do more to help these families reunite and rebuild their lives together in safety.”