As Christmas approaches there's fear and confusion among refugees recognised by Australia, but who were never given visas.
Some have waited for years and have now been asked by the Immigration Department to apply for a second time for refugee assessment and visas.
As Stefan Armbruster reports, the Refugee Council of Australia says it is very unusual.
A family of Tamil Catholics from Sri Lanka is decorating their tree for the festive season and hoping for a happy Christmas -- especially for their two young children.
They are asking their God: Why -- if the Australian government wants to take Christian refugees from Syria -- will it not take them too?
Fear of endangering their status in Australia means they do not want to be identified.
Dominican priest Pancras Jordan is a Tamil community worker in Brisbane.
"They are not really concerned about these Christians because they are Sri Lankan Christians -- or Tamil Christians. That is the problem with this government and has been for quite a long time."
After arriving to Australia by boat in 2011, the family had their refugee status recognised in writing by Immigration Department, subject to health and security checks.
But their applications for permanent residency visa were left hanging -- unprocessed.
Letters received from the Immigration Department in October have left them wondering what their initial recognition as refugees meant.
Rebecca Lim is a migration agent dealing with their case.
"We've had no clarification from the (Immigration) department. We've asked the department for clarity regarding this particular group of people: [The Department is inviting them to] make an application for a three year temporary visa or a five year regional SHEV visa -- is it a matter of formality? Is it a matter of putting in an application and then they'll be granted a visa? Or is it a whole reassessment?"
Hundreds of refugees who arrived before August 2012 are caught in limbo between Gillard government era policies and a succession of legal changes since.
They are now part of a backlog of almost 30-thousand people the Immigration Department is trying to clear off its books.
The Refugee Council of Australia's senior policy officer Lucy Morgan says it is unusual for refugees to be re-assessed.
"If they had already been found to be a refugee -- they'd already gone through the process and been determined by Australia to be in need of protection -- we weren't of the understanding that they would be required to have their claims assessed again before they were granted that visa."
In response, the Immigration Department simply restated to SBS: "if they are found to engage Australia's protection obligations and meet all other criteria (such as health, security, character and identity requirements), will be granted a TPV".
It adds, "All valid applications for permanent Protection Visas lodged by IMAs that were not finalised by 16 December 2014 have been converted to be applications for Temporary Protection Visas."
The ambiguous statement upsets the Tamil family's migration agent Rebecca Lim.
"People who arrive by boat are being punished over and over and over again."
Lucy Morgan says the Refugee Council has become aware of similar cases.
"The situation of this group really points to how difficult and torturous Australia's processes for assessing refugee claims have become over the last few years. They were found to be refugees and are now being subject to policies in the name of deterrence that would not and could not have applied to them when they first arrived in Australia. The way they are being treated is purely punitive."
If the family fails to satisfy criteria set out by the Immigration Department they could be liable for deportation.
