Australia has temporarily blocked thousands of Iranian nationals with valid visas from entering the country beginning on Thursday, an extraordinary move the government said was because of the risk that visitors from Iran will be “unable or unlikely” to return because of the war in the Middle East.
The ban will be in effect for six months, and is expected to affect about 7,000 Iranians who have already been issued visitor visas for Australia. Exemptions will be made for family members of Australian citizens or residents, officials said.
Tony Burke, Australia’s home affairs minister, said in a statement that the restrictions would “protect the integrity and sustainability” of the country’s migration system, preventing temporary visas from becoming an avenue for permanent stays in the country because of the war.
The United States under the Trump administration also has put in place a travel ban for Iranian nationals, but the restrictions do not apply to existing visa holders.
Australia’s Parliament passed a new law earlier in the month granting the government the power to enact such bans in response to international events, over the objections of some legislators who criticized the step as arbitrary and an overreach by the government.
The law was debated as Australia offered asylum to members of the Iranian women’s national soccer team, who became a cause célèbre after staging an act of silent protest during the Asian Cup tournament in Australia. President Trump urged the Australian government in a social media post to allow the team to remain in the country, saying the United States would accept them if Australia didn’t.
Last year, the Australian government expelled the Iranian ambassador and closed its embassy in Tehran, but it maintains some diplomatic ties with Iran through the Iranian Embassy in Canberra.
Zali Steggall, an independent member of Parliament, accused the Australian government of hypocrisy for championing the athletes’ cause while imposing the travel ban for other Iranian nationals.
“What we’re clearly seeing from this government is that, if you’re a high-profile person and a minister from the government can get a photo opportunity, then we will show some leniency, thoughtfulness and compassion. To everybody else, we’re shutting the gate,” Ms. Steggall said in Parliament earlier this month.
Rights groups criticized the move. The Asylum Seeker Resource Center, another Australian advocacy group, called the ban a “moral failure” coming at a moment when “people need safety the most and their country is being torn apart.”
Mr. Burke defended the decision in his statement this week.
“Decisions about permanent stays in Australia should be deliberate decisions of the government, not a random consequence of who had booked a holiday,” he said.
Under previous conservative governments, Australia has enacted harsh and restrictive policies on refugees and asylum seekers arriving by sea, including offshore detention, which was described by the International Criminal Court as cruel, inhuman and degrading.
Victoria Kim is the Australia correspondent for The New York Times, based in Sydney, covering Australia, New Zealand and the broader Pacific region.
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