In the wake of a change in policy, the Department of Immigration & Citizenship, Australia has declared that about 33% of the seekers of refuge, turning up by boat, will stay in the community on bridging visas, during 2013. Courtesy the new development, Immigration Australia believes that it will make a saving of $400 million, by shifting the homeless people from the centres of detention to the society.

The involved body will make available bridging visas which will require the homeless people to find housing, and also search for jobs. Till now, just 257 bridging visas have been made available even as a concerned person was quoted as saying that nearly 6% of those keen on asylum will be offered the same during 2012.

He added that the administration was positive that by 2012-13, one-fifth of those interested in asylum would be at the community detention centre. There, the department would offer both accommodation and maintenance. Apart from this, 30% of the homeless individuals would be released on bridging visas which would make it possible for them to stay and also do a job in the society, even as this would see just 50% of the left boat arrivals availing of the normal kind of detention facilities.

The key dissimilarity between a community detention and a usual detention centre is that while the former enables the involved people to travel, without any restrictions, across the nation; the latter puts restrictions on the free movements of the people, especially those who could be high risk.