Fact Sheet 96 - Eligibility for Settlement Services
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The Department of Immigration and Citizenship funds a range of settlement services aimed at assisting eligible migrants and humanitarian entrants within the initial period of settlement. These services focus on building self-reliance, developing English language skills and fostering connections with mainstream services as soon as possible after arrival in Australia.
Who is eligible for settlement services?
Eligibility to access the department's settlement services depends on visa class and length of residency in Australia.
To be eligible, entrants need to be permanent residents who have arrived in the last five years as either:
- humanitarian entrants or family stream migrants with low English proficiency
- dependants of skilled migrants located in rural or regional areas, with low English proficiency.
Detailed information on eligibility for specific settlement programs and services is provided below.
Adult Migrant English Program
The Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) is available to eligible migrants from the humanitarian, family and skilled visa streams. Free English language courses are available to eligible migrants who do not have functional English.
All AMEP clients have access to up to 510 hours of English language courses in their first five years of settlement in Australia.
Eligible migrants must register for AMEP English courses within six months of the date their visa commences and start English classes within one year.
Eligible migrants may also be eligible for additional hours of English language tuition:
- if they have special needs due to difficult pre-migration experiences (for example torture and trauma) or limited schooling
- to gain familiarity with Australian workplace culture and practices through the AMEP Settlement Language Pathways to Employment and Training program.
More information about the AMEP is available on the department's website.
See:
Fact Sheet 94 – English Courses for Eligible Migrants and Humanitarian Entrants in Australia
Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP)
Settlement Grants Program
The aim of the Settlement Grants Program (SGP) is to deliver services that help eligible clients become self-reliant and involved in Australian society. To ensure that SGP funding is directed to those most in need, services are limited to permanent residents who have arrived in Australia in the last five years as:
- humanitarian entrants
- family stream migrants with low English proficiency
- dependants of skilled migrants in rural and regional areas with low English proficiency.
Also included in the target group are:
- selected temporary residents (prospective marriage, provisional spouse, provisional partner, provisional interdependency visa holders and their dependants) in rural and regional areas who have arrived in the last five years and who have low English proficiency
- newly arrived communities which require assistance to develop their capacity to organise, plan and advocate for services to meet their own needs and are still receiving significant numbers of new arrivals.
Other provisional or temporary visa holders who are not eligible for SGP services include:
- temporary entrants, such as skilled entrants or students who enter Australia for a specific and time-limited purpose and are expected to be supported by their sponsors or make their own provision for employment, accommodation, access to health and other services while they are temporarily in Australia.
More information about the settlement services provided through the SGP is available on the department's website.
See: Fact Sheet 92 – Settlement Grants Program
Details of SGP projects currently funded throughout Australia is available on the department's website.
See: Settlement Grants Program
Details about settlement service providers are also available via an interactive map.
See: Settlement Services Locator
Humanitarian Settlement Services
Humanitarian Settlement Services (HSS) provides intensive settlement support, through a coordinated case management approach, to newly-arrived humanitarian clients on arrival and throughout their initial settlement period.
There are three categories of clients eligible for HSS support based on their individual needs:
- refugees
- global Special Humanitarian Program clients under the Special Humanitarian Program category
- protection visa holders.
More information about settlement assistance for refugees and humanitarian entrants on arrival in Australia under HSS is available.
See: Fact Sheet 66 – Humanitarian Settlement Strategy
Complex Case Support
Complex Case Support (CCS) delivers specialised and intensive case management services to humanitarian entrants with exceptional needs. CCS is specifically targeted at supporting clients whose needs extend beyond the scope of other settlement services, such as the HSS and the SGP.
CCS has three main client groups:
- refugee entrants
- Special Humanitarian Program entrants
- protection visa holders and persons who hold or have held a temporary protection visa.
Clients are eligible for services within five years of their arrival in Australia. Flexibility may be shown to this timeframe in exceptional circumstances.
More information about CCS is available on the department's website.
See: Complex Case Support Program
Translating and Interpreting Service
The Australian Government provides the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) National for people who do not speak English and for the English speakers who need to communicate with them.
TIS National has access to more than 1900 contracted interpreters across Australia, speaking more than 170 languages and dialects. TIS National is accessible from anywhere in Australia and is available to any person or organisation requiring interpreting services. Telephone interpreting is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Fee-free interpreting service
The government also funds TIS National to provide fee-free interpreting services to non-English speaking Australian citizens and permanent residents communicating with the following approved groups and individuals.
- private medical practitioners (defined as General Practitioners and Medical Specialists) providing Medicare-rebateable services and their reception staff to arrange appointments and provide results of medical tests
A list of approved categories of medical specialists is available on the Medical Board of Australia’s website.
See: Medical specialties and specialty fields
- non-profit, non-government, community-based organisations for case work and emergency services where the organisation does not receive funding to provide these services
- members of parliament for constituency purposes
- local government authorities to communicate with non-English speaking residents on issues such as rates, garbage collection and urban services
- trade unions to respond to members' enquiries or requests
- Emergency Management Australia
- pharmacies, for the purpose of dispensing Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medications.
In 2009-10 the department piloted an initiative to provide fee-free telephone interpreting, through TIS National, to participating real estate agents to help new migrants secure accommodation in the private rental market. Following an internal evaluation, a decision was made to expand the pilot for a further 12 months from October 2011. The expanded pilot will include wider metropolitan coverage and more regional centres around Australia, with the number of participating real estate agents trebling from 114 to approximately 340. The pilot is linked to the department’s settlement services.
Further information on fee-free interpreting services and eligibility for these services is available on the department’s website.
See: Free Services
Fee-free translating service
The Australian Government also provides a fee-free document translation service, through TIS National, for eligible permanent residents and Australian citizens to help with their settlement in Australia. The service is provided to enable permanent settlers to participate in the community by having personal documents, such as driver’s licences, birth certificates and tertiary certificates, translated into English during their initial two year settlement period in Australia. Documents for translation are lodged at an Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) centre in Australia.
Detailed information on the translation policy, lists of eligible visa sub-classes and documents and addresses of participating AMEP centres are available on the department's website.
See: Help with Translations
Further information is available on the department's website.
See: www.immi.gov.au
The department also operates a national general enquiries line.
Telephone: 131 881
Hours of operation: Monday to Friday from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm (recorded information is available outside these hours).
Fact Sheet 96. Produced by the National Communications Branch, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Canberra.
Last Reviewed December 2011.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2010.