The impact of visa insecurity on refugee mental health

Current regional conflicts are creating a surge in global migration. In response, Australia has adopted a range of restrictive visa policies that have potential to create uncertainty for refugees and asylum seekers. The... [ view full abstract ]

Current regional conflicts are creating a surge in global migration. In response, Australia has adopted a range of restrictive visa policies that have potential to create uncertainty for refugees and asylum seekers. The current study aimed to determine the effect of visa insecurity on mental health outcomes within a clinical sample of refugees in Australia. The sample comprised 781 treatment-seeking adult clients (53.9% male) attending a clinic for torture and trauma survivors. Country of origin was most frequently identified as Afghanistan (18.1%), Iraq (15.3%), Iran (15.1%) and Myanmar (8.2%). The Hopkins Symptom Checklist was administered at treatment admission, with the help of an interpreter where necessary. Latent class analyses identified four groups varying in severity of symptoms. Combined depression and anxiety severity was significantly associated with female gender and visa insecurity. Refugees with insecure visa status were five times more likely to report severe symptoms than low-level symptoms. The findings suggest that for refugees living in the community, temporary status visas play a significant role in ongoing distress.