Refugee Advocacy Service SA

Migration Assistance, Induction and Training Program

July 2016 – December 2016,  January 2018 – December 2019

From August 2012, the Australian government suspended the processing of protection visas for asylum seekers arriving by boat.  This affected about 2,500 asylum seekers in South Australia.  From early 2015 the government began inviting applications for temporary protection visas on a client by client basis.  The application process is extremely complicated and legalistic and there are limited opportunities for review.  The Migration Assistance Project of the Refugee Advocacy Service of South Australia (RASSA) provides pro bono migration advice and assistance to asylum seekers invited to apply for temporary protection visas. Federal government funding for migration assistance for all but a very few asylum seekers has been abolished.  RASSA endeavours to assist all clients who do have the means to purchase commercial migration assistance.  The Broadley Trust funded an induction and training program for more than 50 solicitors registering as migration agents who then volunteered to work with RASSA. In 2018 the Broadley Trust then contributed to the cost of interpreters.