Australia swamped with asylum claims as would-be refugees fly in and fight to stay there

The monthly number of people attempting to stay in Australia by claiming to be refugees despite having arrived by plane on student, work, or holiday visas has nearly doubled since last year.

The growing number of applications is flooding courts and tribunals with applications that are found to be bogus more than 85 per cent of the time, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Yet despite Department of Home Affairs figures showing that there are now nearly 102,000 people awaiting either deportation or a ruling on their refugee status, the government only managed to kick out 14 failed asylum seekers in March, with eight of those leaving the country voluntarily.

According to the latest Home Affairs report on asylum claims, 1,786 people who had arrived by plane on other visas as students, tourists, or workers later applied for onsore protection visas in March, 2023.

This was nearly double the 938 such claims made in the same period the previous year.

The greatest number of claimants in March came from India (190), followed by mainland China (158), Vietnam (117), and Malaysia and Pakistan (88 each).

By far the largest demographic category was males aged 25-34, with 404 claims made by this group.

Some 53 Ukrainians also claimed asylum, likely seeking protection from Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of their homeland.

Plane speaking

1786: Asylum seeker claims made by people who arrived by plane in March 2023

938: Claims in March 2022

14,645: Claims since Labor took office

85+%: Rejection rate, June-December 2022

14: Total deportations of rejected claimants, March 2023

Top countries for claims: India, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Pakistan

Home Affairs figures also show that 14,645 jet arrivals have claimed asylum since Labor took office last May.

In June, 2022, 1,040 people claimed to be refugees, but in just six months that figure had jumped to 1,633 per month.

While the number of claimants has increased, data released by Home Affairs in response to Senate committee hearings also showed that the percentage of applicants receiving permanent protection visas granted to refugee claimants has been climbing.

In 2022, 14.2 per cent of those claiming refugee status had their applications upheld, up from 11.2 per cent the previous year.

However, that 14.2 per cent represented just 995 claims, or a tiny fraction of the cases awaiting determination, leaving thousands more cases clogging up the legal system.

Individuals familiar with the process say that claims of persecution are often used by people trying to stay in the country and their cases can take years as they work their way through the process.

The Department of Home Affairs noted in its 2022 annual report that a “proportion” of applicants claim refugee status out of “genuine fear”, many apply for another purpose including “to prolong their stay to access the Australian labour market.”

In March, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled on the case of an individual living in Parramatta known only as AYT22 who arrived in Australia in 2008 from India on a student visa and made a claim for refugee status in 2016 on the basis that he was a practising Christian who feared persecution if he returned home.

The Tribunal rejected the man’s claims of persecution, as well as his claims that he would “face economic difficulties” if forced to return to India, but it is understood he is now appealing to stay in the federal court.

Home Affairs documents show that Indians have among the lowest “grant rates” of protection visas, with just 1.74 per cent of claimants from that country having their applications approved last month.

By contrast, all six Afghanis who had their claims decided in March received protection visas.

“Since Labor was elected 14,645 asylum seekers have arrived by plane and Labor have no plan to deal with this problem,” said shadow immigration minister Dan Tehan, who added that Labor had campaigned hard on the issue of asylum seekers arriving by plane but had done little about the problem.

“There are now more than 101,000 asylum seekers who arrived by plane in Australia. In opposition, Labor said the government needed to address asylum seekers arriving by plane so where is their plan?”

“Labor were happy to use asylum seekers to score points against the Coalition but their lack of action in government demonstrates they never really cared,” he said.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/australia-swamped-with-asylum-claims-as-wouldbe-refugees-fly-in-and-fight-to-stay-here/news-story/f1b6e880850ee0861f9a795d1d28ecb0

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