As many as 150 refugees living in Canberra could benefit if a push to have the ACT recognised as a Safe Haven Enterprise Visa [SHEV] zone is successful, asylum seeker advocates have said.
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Companion House director, Kathy Ragless, said there was no reason Canberra should not join Adelaide and Hobart as approved metropolitan areas for holders of the special five-year protection visas to live and work.
Introduced on July 1, 2015, the SHEV scheme was born out of the federal government's refusal to grant permanent protection visas to refugees deemed to have entered the country illegally.
After 42 months SHEV holders are able to apply for "a substantive visa". If this is not granted SHEVs must be renewed after five years. Holders must live in designated regional areas.
In NSW, Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and parts of the Central Coast are excluded.
Ms Ragless was one of the signatories on a letter sent to the federal government by ACT Community Services Minister Yvette Berry asking that the Territory be allowed to opt into the scheme.
Under the existing arrangement local asylum seekers who have applied for a SHEV would have to leave Canberra and the community links they had formed if they were successful, Ms Berry said.
Their only residential options would be regional NSW, Tasmania or South Australia.
"I look forward to continuing this conversation with an incoming Commonwealth immigration minister," Ms Berry said.
"By designating the ACT as a SHEV zone they [the federal government] will be allowing those who are part of our flourishing multicultural community to study, work and continue to contribute to our society with a greater sense of security.
"The [SHEV] program also provides a pathway to permanent residency."
Canberra is already a Refugee Welcome Zone.
SHEVs, according to the 25-page application form, can only be granted to people who have been "assessed as engaging Australia's protection obligations" under international conventions, don't hold dual nationality, haven't previously been refused a protection visa in Australia or have had a protection visa cancelled and haven't been offered haven in another country.
Unauthorised sea and air arrivals are eligible to apply and all applicants are required to provide fingerprints, photographs and other data to assist with background checks.
Ms Ragless, whose organisation dates back to 1989 when it was founded as Transact, said Companion House was initially set up to care for survivors of torture and trauma who had sought refuge in Australia.
It has been at the forefront of growing refugee services in the ACT ever since.
Milestones have included the provision of health and nutrition, physical health and parenting programs in 2000, helping set up the Refugee Transitional Housing Program as a tripartite agreement with ACT Housing and CatholicCare in 2005 and the establishment of the ACT Asylum Seekers Network in 2009.
Other services include assistance with medical, counselling, community development and migration advice needs.
SHEVS are one of just two options for unauthorised arrivals seeking asylum. The other is a temporary protection visa.
