- Australia has granted more than 30,000 permanent visas to people covered by the Resolution of Status pathway.
- Reported grants rose 22 per cent in the 2026 financial year, with roughly 30 more grants each business day.
- The pathway covers boat arrivals from 2009 to 2014, not a newly announced route for recent arrivals.
The Albanese government has granted permanent visas to more than 30,000 people in the cohort, and the total is still rising. Reported grants are increasing by roughly 30 per business day.
The pace picked up in the 2026 financial year, when permanent visas for this group rose 22 per cent. The numbers are reported totals.
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More than half of the visas went out during the program’s first 18 months. Grants have continued since.
The figures concern people who arrived during the Rudd-Gillard years, rather than a newly announced pathway for recent arrivals. The reported tally has moved well beyond the program’s initial estimate.
The pathway covered a cohort first estimated at about 19,000
The government introduced the Resolution of Status visas in early 2023, under then-immigration minister Andrew Giles. The pathway covers people who arrived by boat between 2009 and 2014, during a period of increased people-smuggling activity.
Officials initially flagged that about 19,000 people would be covered. The reported grant total has now exceeded 30,000, a marked gap between the original expected cohort and the number of permanent visas issued.
The group included people living in Australia on Temporary Protection visas and Safe Haven Enterprise visas. The new route offered eligible people in those categories a path to permanent status.
Those figures describe different stages: the early estimate concerned the number expected to fall within the pathway, while the current count records permanent visas granted. The grant count is continuing to climb.
Recipients include thousands from Iran and Afghanistan
More than 6,500 recipients are from Iran, while more than 4,500 are from Afghanistan. These reported country figures describe a sizeable part of the group, without establishing a ranking of recipient nationalities.
Around 17,000 recipients had already become Australian citizens or were eligible to do so. That total combines people who had gained citizenship with those who qualified to pursue it; it is not a count of permanent visas alone.
The citizenship figure reflects how far many people in the cohort have progressed beyond temporary status. It also sits alongside the larger reported visa tally, which measures grants under the pathway.
The grants followed a turn away from settlement for boat arrivals
Australia’s policy shifted away from settlement for people arriving by boat after 2012 and 2013. In 2013, then-prime minister Kevin Rudd said people arriving by boat without a visa would “have no chance of being settled in Australia.”
The new permanent-visa pathway for this earlier cohort operates alongside the government’s ongoing commitment to Operation Sovereign Borders. The two policies appear in the same broader framework: the government has maintained its stated deterrence policy while granting permanent status to people covered by the older program.
Critics have warned that the grants could leave border security “seriously weakened.” The reported policy change concerns people who arrived between 2009 and 2014, not a new category of arrivals.
Burke tied Labor’s overhaul to separate migration targets
The visa grants have also unfolded during a wider debate over migration. On 17 September 2026, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said: “If you want to come on a temporary basis to Australia, apply for a temporary visa. If you want to come to Australia permanently, apply for a permanent visa.”
At the National Press Club that day, Burke set out Labor’s wider migration overhaul. He framed it around reducing net overseas migration to 245,000 in the current financial year and 225,000 in 2027–28.
Those targets cover migration overall, while the Resolution of Status pathway applies to a defined historical group. The next target Burke set out is 225,000 for 2027–28.
