Citizenship provides refugees with a sense of meaningful security and protection, and better enables them to sponsor family members for Australian visas and travel to visit family. This research raises serious questions about discrimination in access to citizenship for refugees who came by boat to Australia.

The Refugee Council of Australia conducted 188 interviews or surveys with people of refugee background. These people can apply for citizenship after being in Australia for four years on a permanent humanitarian visa. However, they have experienced considerable delays in the citizenship process, especially if they arrived in Australia by boat.