Refugee Legal is Australia’s largest not-for-profit provider of free legal services in its specialist field of immigration and refugee law.

  • Total client assistance:
  • Telephone advice:
  • Face-to-face advice:
  • People represented:
  • Clinic assistance:
  • 19,853
  • 7,169
  • 5,134
  • 2,712
  • 4,838
  • Afghanistan
  • Myanmar
  • Malaysia
  • Israel-Gaza
  • India
  • Iraq
  • Ethiopia
  • Sudan
  • Somalia
  • Ukraine

Afghan client – Partner visa

Saafi* is a 47-year-old Afghan citizen. He contracted polio as a child leaving him with a physical disability. Saafi and his family are Shia Muslims who faced the constant risk of persecution by the Taliban and so fled to Pakistan. Saafi arrived in Australia in 2012, and was granted a permanent Protection visa in 2013. Saafi’s family could not accompany him on his journey to Australia because it was too dangerous. This caused Saafi significant distress, and meant his wife was left to raise their children alone. Saafi proposed his family for a Refugee and Special Humanitarian
visa, but this was refused by the Department of Home Affairs in 2013. Saafi’s mental health deteriorated due to the prolonged separation from his wife and children and he began to suffer from depression and anxiety. Refugee Legal assisted Saafi to sponsor his wife and children for Partner visas in February 2023. At this stage, Saafi had been separated from his family for ten years, while his wife and children lived illegally in Pakistan in constant fear of deportation back to danger in Afghanistan. Saafi’s wife and six children were granted partner visas in 2024, and they are extremely relieved to finally have been reunited in safety in Australia.

Angolan client – AAT

Firyali* was born in Angola in 1974. She arrived in Australia in 2018. Firyali had a traumatic childhood, owing to the civil war in Angola
which lasted from 1975-2002. Firyali and her family had to flee to Congo when she was still a child. They eventually returned to Angola when the situation there improved. Firyali became a police officer and had five children. In Angola, Firyali reported her neighbour for sexually abusing
his six-year-old daughter. As a result, Firyali was subjected to sexual abuse, physical harm, and kidnapping by her neighbour, his associates and by corrupt police. She fled from Angola to Australia in fear of her life. As a result of the abuse she endured, Firyali suffers from depression and PTSD. With Refugee Legal’s help, she applied for a Protection visa but her application was refused by the Department of Home Affairs. In 2023, with our help she successfully appealed this decision at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Firyali is now waiting for her visa to be granted, so she can sponsor her children to join her in Australia.

Afghan client – Protection visa

Mahsa* was born in Afghanistan in 1978. He left school at the age of ten or eleven to support his family, and is functionally illiterate. By 1994, Mahsa was married and had three daughters. When the Taliban took control of Kabul in 1996, one of Mahsa’s cousins was killed. Between 1996 and 2000, the Taliban kidnapped Mahsa three times. He fled with his family to Iran, where his two sons were born. It was difficult for Mahsa to obtain medication in Iran for his chronic illnesses which also made it impossible for him to work. Mahsa registered with the UNHCR, and he and his family were granted global humanitarian visas to Australia in 2013. Mahsa struggled to adjust to life in Australia, and he suffered from major depression
and suicidal ideation. In 2015, he was convicted of several offences. He served his time in prison, but his visa was cancelled and he was subsequently taken into immigration detention. In 2018, Refugee Legal assisted Mahsa to apply for a Protection visa. When this application was rejected on
character grounds, Refugee Legal brought Mahsa’s matter before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, where he was successful. Mahsa was finally granted a Protection visa in 2024.

* Personal details have been changed to protect confidentiality