All Chinese Asylum Applications in May Rejected in Australia

The Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Canberra, Australia, on April 1, 2022. (Rebecca Zhu/The Epoch Times)

Refugee applications in Australia saw a surge in May, with Chinese applicants coming in second, the latest figures from Australia’s Department of Home Affairs revealed.

According to the latest figures released, 1,896 people living in Australia have applied for onshore asylum visas, the highest number since February 2020.

Among the nearly 2,000 asylum applications, only 26 visa applications processed in May were determined to show a genuine need of protection, and only seven asylum seekers were deported in the same month after their applications failed.

Of all the asylum applications received in May, the highest number received were from Indian passport holders (262), followed by Chinese (182), Pakistanis and Vietnamese (114 each), Malaysians (95), Thais (73), and Iranians (67).

Despite the high number of applicants, China had the highest rejection rate during the period, with none deemed to be in need of asylum.

The surge of Chinese refugee seekers to Australia started before COVID-19.

According to figures from the Department of Home Affairs, the number of people arriving from China and applying for onshore protection visas rose from 2,269 in 2016-17 to 9,315 in 2017-18, a massive increase of 311 percent.

In stark contrast, the protection visa approval rate for Chinese nationals is at the bottom, with approval rate in 2017-2018 at 10 percent.

Chinese Asylum Seeker: Working Illegally Here Better Than Life in China

According to one Chinese asylum seeker based in Sydney, the high number of Chinese seeking asylum is due to China’s deteriorating economy.

“The fake ones are much more than real ones, myriads more than real Falun Gong [practitioners] or religious people [being persecuted], than [those who have] political [reasons].” Zhang told The Epoch Times on June 20.

Falun Dafa practitioners commemorate lives lost and 20 years of persecution by the Chinese communist regime in Sydney, Australia, on July 19, 2019. (The Epoch Times)

“Most came here because they could not make a living there [in China].”

“They prefer working illegally here. Even if they are only paid $20 (US$13.58) or $15 per hour, it’s still better than staying in China.

China’s economy stumbled in May, with metrics deteriorating across the board, from youth unemployment to retail sales, real estate prices, and capital investments.

Asylum Seekers Taking Advantage of Waiting Time

Zhang said many of these fake Chinese asylum seekers, who were usually not well-educated and did not have better alternatives in China, do not care if their asylum applications can be granted in the end.

“They don’t care if they can be granted [asylums]… Even if they are denied, they can stay here… They can work [here] for several years... and they can enjoy the Medicare.”

What Zhang said was corroborated by the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA)’s document to the government in January, which warned that the backlog of applications has created a circumstance where it is possible “to lodge asylum applications even when they may not have meritorious claims for protection as they can stay in Australia while their application slowly passes through the system.”

John Sweeney, an asylum seeker advocate and Case Officer with a local law firm, referred to these Chinese asylum seekers who escaped China due to economic reasons as “economic migrants,” different from political refugees.

“The reality of the matter is that those two areas overlap extraordinarily. People who are very poor [are] much more vulnerable to the sorts of repressive repression and threatening and persecuting activities of those who are in power in many countries,” Sweeney said.

“The reality of the situation means that when they come to work, when those poor people come to us to seek protection from a very inhuman life, they are forced to exaggerate the political work. There’s a lot of pressure on them to exaggerate, to blow up the political aspects of what they have suffered.”

“So when we say, ‘Are they fake?’ Yes, a lot are fakes… There may be considerable exaggeration in what they say... But on the other hand, they’re facing a system that is aggressively against them, and in many cases, prejudicial and biased.”

Refugee Community Calls for Government Action

In June, the Council further called the Albanese Government to act on Labor’s pledge to increase Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program as global displacement reaches a new high.

“Around the world, communities in low and middle-income countries are playing the largest role in welcoming and supporting refugees, collectively hosting 76 percent of those with refugee status,” RCOA chief executive officer Paul Power said in a statement on June 14.

Power accused the Australian government of leading the world in policies designed to turn refugees away.

“Australia’s policy is to subject any refugee who seeks asylum on arrival at our national border to indefinite detention—sending them to Nauru if they arrive by boat or to onshore detention centres if they arrive by plane.

“The offshore detention policy is now being copied by the United Kingdom. If every other nation followed suit, the international refugee protection system would collapse, and millions of people would be at grave risk of persecution and death.”

Asylum seekers gesture to protesters holding a pro-refugee rights rally from their hotel room where they have been detained in Melbourne on June 13, 2020, after they were evacuated to Australia for medical reasons from offshore detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island. (Photo by William West/AFP via Getty Images)

The Home Affairs Department said Australia provides protection consistent with its international obligations.

“The criteria for a protection visa, and the relevant tests, are set out in the statutory protection framework provisions of Australia’s Migration Act 1958 (the Act) and Migration Regulations 1994,” a spokesperson of the Department told The Epoch Times in an email on June 20.

Migrants and Refugees Could Boost Economy: Report

Meanwhile, a new report found that Australia’s economy could benefit up to over $1 billion if the skills of migrants and refugees can be better used.

The report, Billion Dollar Benefit, by non-profit Settlement Services International (SSI), was released in Canberra as the nation marks World Refugee Day on June 20.

It lists barriers that limit the potential of the migrant and refugee workforce and recommends five solutions to unlock their skills by 2025:

* Australia has 350,000 job vacancies, including 80,000 in regional areas

* About 290 occupations face shortages

* There are more than 7.6 million migrants, including 60,000 refugees and 80,000 people seeking asylum

* Refugees are twice as likely to start a business than the wider Australian population, and one-in-four work below their skill level

* 80 percent of migrants are of working age, compared with 65 percent of the broader population

* The report found $1.25 billion in lost wages across five years from the underuse of skilled migrants

* Easing occupational licensing would deliver a potential economic benefit of $5 billion a year

* 57 percent of people seeking asylum in Australia are not allowed to work

* Only 33 percent of permanent arrivals have their post-school qualifications recognised in Australia

SOLUTIONS

* Fix the skills and qualifications recognition system

* Strengthen protections for migrant workers

* Review the right to work for people on temporary visas

* Partnerships between organisations

* Reform English language requirements