Episode #215: Navigating the Legal Pathways Down Under
Ko Ko Aung grew up in a middle class family in the far south of Myanmar. Their family business was making ngapi, fermented fish paste, that essential, Burmese staple served with just about every meal. “Burmese politics is not something that we usually talked about in the family,” he remembers, “because our family had a fair share of bad experiences.” Indeed, few Burmese could avoid having such “bad experiences” given the decades overbearing state oppression. Ko Ko Aung talks about relatives who, in times of political turmoil, missed years of education or had to go into prison or hiding. He had his own near miss in 2007 when, as a 13-year-old, he turned down the wrong street and ended up amid Saffron Revolution protesters. The military suddenly swooped in to arrest everyone they could get their hands on, but fortunately, a family friend on the police force recognized him, and saved him from being dragged off to the dreaded interrogation center.
While his brothers continued to work in the family business, Ko Ko Aung’s path was academics. Although he was encouraged to focus on medicine or engineering, he chose a totally different field: the law. He got accepted to a school in Australia. “At that time, in 2012, the Myanmar political landscape was changing,” he says. He wanted to learn something which could support the dramatic shifts taking place back home. His chosen field, however, was a daunting task; he not only had to adjust to a different educational culture where critical thinking and freedom of expression were both promoted, but he also was learning about a subject matter which barely existed in his home country.
But he persevered, and after graduating, Ko Ko Aung decided to specialize in immigration law. Little did he know how important this field would become after the 2021 military coup, when hundreds of thousands of displaced Burmese fled for their lives, and looking for a country that would accept them.
Ko Ko Aung describes the “red tape” that has made entry to Australia difficult for many Burmese refugees. So, working pro bono, he developed comprehensive fact sheets that informed applicants how to best navigate the system. Still, he estimates that as many as 8 out of every 10 visa applications submitted by Burmese are rejected; case officers are not required to factor in ongoing political turmoil there. Amazingly, many visa officials do not usually even bother to review the full application, and only infrequently do they give a coherent reason for a rejection. “They just quickly make the refusal decision based on the country's profile, not the individual characteristics of the application,” he says, adding that the proportion of Burmese students coming to study in Australia is far lower than other Southeast Asian nations. Even worse, he notes that the desperate situation in Myanmar actually might work against applicants seeking any kind of visa, as officials fear that that Burmese who are allowed into the country may then not be able to return home due to the conflict, and so could end up in Australia indefinitely. Ko Ko Aung contrasts the policy for Burmese visa applicants with immigrants escaping conflict in Hong Kong, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, for whom the Australian government has created a more streamlined, expedited process.
Burmese expat communities have long called out this unfair treatment, and the NUG and NUCC have even made formal complaints in hopes of impacting Australian immigration policy. “I understand Australia is a very good place to stay,” he says. “But not a lot of [Burmese] people share this sentiment, and that's the reality.” Making matters even more strained, because the Australian government self-imposes a fixed number of refugees each year through their Offshore Visa Program, people facing hardship around the world are essentially competing with each other for a finite number of visas. As noted above, this is exacerbated by the cold, hard truth that because of the country’s foreign policy, refugees from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong are prioritized in ways that other, equally desperate and deserving refugees, including the Burmese, are not. Indeed, Ko Ko Aung says he is not aware of a single Burmese person holding refugee status who has been given a visa to Australia since the coup! Although he is not sure why those from other conflict areas have better chances, he has a theory: Because Myanmar is actively sanctioned by Australia, officials may worry about granting visas to the wrong types of people, such as those associated with the regime.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is another potential avenue for getting a visa. But while Ko Ko Aung notes that, in theory, anyone recognized by the UNHCR can apply for refugee status, the chances of Australian authorities accepting applications through this program is again, tremendously low, and even more so if one does not have family already living in the country. “You have grounds to meet the refugee status, but you are being prioritized at the lowest [level],” he says.
There is one small ray of hope for those applying for what is called “Protection Visa.” This has the added advantage of not requiring a valid passport; if the visa is granted, one is granted travel documents, and able to legally work in-country as well. Because of this, many Burmese have chosen this pathway in hopes of getting to Australia.
Another option is the Skilled Refugee Visa Program, which prioritizes those who can immediately contribute to Australia. This option also allows Burmese exiles and allies to potentially play a role, as they can sponsor these applicants. “These businesses want to help their own kind from the country, and that's what I am proposing to the Myanmar community here as well. Our community here is also getting bigger and bigger. A lot of people have been starting their own business and then giving back to the community.” But this is easier said than done, as the Burmese community in Australia focuses most of its attention on fundraising and advocacy events that support the resistance movement back home.
Finally, Ko Ko Aung notes that things may finally be beginning to change for the better, as a government announcement recently promised that Australia will begin prioritizing Burmese applications through that Offshore Visa Program.
Ko Ko Aung also feels that all this underscores the need for the Burmese community in Australia to do more outreach to educate people, including immigration officials, about what is happening in Myanmar—a similar point that Nandar Swe Min made in a recent podcast episode about the California-based events she organizes. “[We need to] just make sure that the Australian community becomes more aware of this [situation],” he says. “Nobody is reading about it, because nothing is there! Whenever we do something, it's always private within our community only, there was not outreach to any specific industries or authorities… when the public becomes aware of it, then the government has to do something about it. So that's where I would like things to change, for me it is about engagement and awareness.” He adds that Australia often follows the examples of policies set down by bigger countries such as the US and UK, and because the conflict in Myanmar continues to be left out of the big news headlines and is not a centerpiece of foreign policy for many Western countries, they have also paid less attention to the issue.
“I understand that most of the things that I've been talking about is quite negative, but this is the reality of the situation, and there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. The Burmese community in Australia as a whole needs to work together and come together,” he says in closing. “And during these difficult times, because we come from a Buddhist country, the teaching of the Dhamma, we cannot be we cannot forget about that. Meditation and our Buddhist teachings have been helping me a lot going through this… I would like everybody who is listening to not forget about our Buddhist values. During these tough times, being mindful will help a lot in terms of getting through these tough times.”