Post-Settlement and Integration Challenges Faced by Refugees and Their Families in Australia

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Introduction:
The year 2015 was deemed as affected and most disturbing period for the refugees in
Australia and also at the international level. There are number of people who are forcibly
displaced because of the prosecution, conflict, violence, and human rights violations, as all these
things are at highest level in comparison of World War II. This big challenge of the movement at
global level has come to be symbolized by the affected images of the Syrian children’s lie dead
and lining up of Germans in terms of helping the refugees at the train stations.
In Australia these images are accompanied with some alarming stories in which harm is
suffered by the refugees. This year 2015 was further marked as the application of affected
changes in Australia’s asylum policy which affects almost 30000 people in the community of
Australia. This mainly includes the important changes in the determination of the refugee status,
introduction of the temporary protection visas and also the removal of the government-funded
legal assistance. However, some new issues are also emerged which mainly includes the
protracted delays in giving the citizenships and also the denial of access to the higher education
for those who holds Temporary Protection Visas. Other old issues are also there, which includes
destroying the chances for many refugees for being reunited with their loved ones, access related
to the education and employment, and also the absence of the suitable options of housing (DSS,
no date).
Settling in new regions and countries poses number of challenges for the refugees and
migrant families in Australia. As migrants and refugees to Australia face some or all these issues,
but country also introduced some features which helped them in making the transition smoother.
The main aim of this paper is to critically analyse all the post-settlement and integration
challenges faced by the refugees and their families in Australia. Structure of this paper includes
the discussion in terms of challenges faced by the refugees and their families. This paper further
discusses the help and relief offered by Australian government in terms of resolving these
challenges faced by refuges and their families. At the end brief conclusion is stated to conclude
the essay.
Discussion
First Federal Department of immigration in Australia was established during the year
1945, and from that time period almost 6.5 million migrants including the 700,000 refugees and
the people in need of humanitarian came to Australia for seeking shelter. There are number of
source countries which have shifted such as United Kingdom to Northern Europe, to Southern
Europe, to the Middle East and Asia. Presently almost 24% of the Australian population is
overseas born, or 43% is either born overseas or one of their parents born overseas ((ACOSS
2013).
Employment- When refugees and their families arrive in Australia; they are seeking new
horizons in their lives and want to start new life with their families. There are number challenges
which are faced by them, and in this context the biggest challenge they face is the seeking

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employment for them and adopting the changes of new society. Thousands of refugees and their
families arrive in Australia with the hope of starting new and safe life, and tin this context they
have to meet different requirements.
All these refugees belong from different racial, social, and economic backgrounds and
because of this they have diverse needs to fulfil in Australia. Accessing the employment and
business opportunities in Australia for refugees is the serious challenge from which they have to
deal.
There are number of migrants, especially the refugees, will face high level difficulties till
the time any of them find the job. Refugees and all those people who arrive in Australia through
the Family reunion program at the matured age are the people who are most disadvantaged,
because it is necessary for them to learn skills and English in context of getting access to the
labour market. While learning these skills of getting the job, they reach the age of 50 and this
make it more difficult for them to find the job. Some reasons because of which migrants fail to
seek the job and adopt the changes of society are defined below-
 Language is the biggest barrier and it significantly affects the written and oral skills of
the refugees. This issue becomes bigger when refugees come from the places in which
their native languages shares nothing in common with the English language like Asian,
African or Eastern European languages. A strong accent is deemed as another issue
which prevents the employers to give job to the migrants.
 Cultural barriers is the another issue which prevents the refugees to find the job, and in
case of matured age refugee these barriers can cause serious threat to the possibility of
finding the work. This happens because of the different religious beliefs, difference in the
thinking and behaviour, and also because of the different attitudes in their lives. Job
selection procedures in Australia and start the new business are completely new approach
for these migrants, and there are numbers who find difficulty in understanding these new
procedures and cultures of Australia (Rodriguez-Jimenez & Gifford, 2010).
 As some refugees in Australia also come from the areas which are badly affected by
wars, as all these refugees required the special assistance of specialized health
organizations and professionals. In this few of these are highly skilled professionals and
technicians, but because of the trauma they suffered in their past lives it becomes difficult
for them to settle in the different society.
 Another issue faced by the refugees is the overseas skills and qualification recognition, as
procedures in this context takes years for conducting the proper assessment and
recognition. This is another serious issue for the refugees, as it becomes barrier for the
refugees which end their dream to find suitable job in Australia. These refugees need to
prove themselves again on the Australian standards and generally these standards do not
qualify all those who are not able to speak English (McMichael, Gifford & Correa-Velez,
2011).