The Australian government has engaged in bilateral agreements to send these ‘transitory persons’ to external countries such as New Zealand and the United States and appears reluctant to engage in consideration of an Australian pathway to settlement until these agreements are exhausted. The majority of the ‘transitory cohort’ however have now been living in Australia for more than a decade—some have had children born in this time who know no other country. As such, many are understandably reluctant to relocate. What results is essentially an ongoing ‘stalemate’ between the government and the ‘transitory’ person facing removal, who, through lack of alternatives, is placed on rolling Bridging Visas and/ or experiences recurring periods of immigration detention. “Even though our children are Australian citizens, the government won’t let my husband and I apply for a permanent visa and keeps telling us we need to leave—that they can arrange for us to go to America or New Zealand. But how can we do this? I don’t want to leave. This is a safe country.” — Yasmin* In the absence of available permanent visas or pathways to naturalisation for stateless people under existing Australian legislation, a significant number of stateless people are placed on short-term Bridging Visas. One example is the Bridging Visa (BE) E (subclass 050) (the BE E Visa). The BE E Visa is described by DHA a visa that ‘lets you stay lawfully in Australia while you make arrangements to leave, finalise your immigration matter or wait for a immigration decision.’104 As has been established for stateless people, making arrangements to ‘leave’ and go elsewhere is not possible. “I’ve definitely spoken to at least a couple of clients who are stateless … who are saying, “I had enough with the Australian Government’s treatment (of me) not being allowed to apply for a Visa here. And I would, as the Australian Government has asked me several times, like to go back to where I came from. So you can send me back”. But then the problem is that they can’t be sent back. There is nowhere to send them back to and we’ve tried contacting the International Organisation for Migration, who helps facilitate these transfers to ask them about this particular issue of “Is there any way, or do you have processes in place to assist the stateless returnees?”, and they said, “No”. So now you have stateless person … not being able to return anywhere, unable to seek any sort of permanency here and are just in this absolute state of limbo.” — Ahmad Sawan, Australian Legal Practitioner, Refugee Advice and Casework Service Some stateless participants interviewed for this study had been on Bridging Visas for years, highlighting that a ‘decision’ regarding their immigration status is not possible, as (with the exception of Ministerial discretion) there is simply no visa pathway available to them under existing legislation. As of 31 December 2025, there were 7,035 ‘Unauthorised Maritime Arrival’ Bridging Visa E holders in the Australian community.105 Almost 9% (at least 628) were recorded as stateless, indicating a significant number of people experiencing uncertain legal statuses within this cohort are without a nationality.106 People on Bridging Visas may be prohibited from working or studying , opening a bank account or buying a house.107 Behavioural conditions can also be placed on people through this visa (See Annex 3: Extract of Behavioural Code of Conduct for Community Detention), including a requirement to – • ‘not to be disruptive to the Australian community;’108 • report to the Department at specified times and dates;109 • Continue to live at the address specified before the visa was granted;110 • Abide by a specified code of behaviour.111 DHA can also require a person to pay for the costs of their detention.112 Legal practitioners interviewed for this Project reported witnessing a sense of ongoing ‘unsettledness’ with their clients. “I mean they’re never settled, right? That’s the big one; they’re just never settled. And although they’re happy for their child to have citizenship they’re just never settled because they’re also worried about “How can I consistently provide for my family?” or “How can I really raise my family with this almost voice in the back of my head saying, “This isn’t going to last” or “This isn’t forever”. And I think that’s a problem that all stateless people have; they’ve never had an experience where they can be like “This is forever” or “This can be our forever”. And so, the problem is that they’re always in that state of unsettledness.” — Ahmad Sawan, Australian Legal Practitioner, Refugee Advice and Casework Service Being ‘stuck’ in Australia with no possibility of returning to a home country also means stateless people are presented with no choice but to endure the challenges of an Australian migration policy that is not designed to accommodate or support them. “So some of the main issues is just this feeling of “stuck-ness”. Where going home is not an option and so they’re really having to endure whatever the government’s throwing at them.” — Social Worker 60 Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness | Understanding Statelessness in Australia