Australia close to resettling 12,000 Syrian refugees
CANBERRA - Australia is close to resettling the 12,000 refugees from the war in Syria and Iraq it promised to urgently take more than a year ago, an official said Wednesday.
All 12,000 have been issued visas and more than 10,000 have already been brought from Middle Eastern refugee camps to Australia, Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said in a statement. The remainder will be resettled in the coming months, he said.
The refugees are in addition to the 13,750 refugees that Australia accepts each year.
