RACS Ambassador Zaki Can Finally Call Australia Home

It is with great joy (and relief!) that I am writing to you today. After more than 12 long years, there will be no more temporary visas and uncertainty for me. Finally, I have permanent protection in Australia! 

Finally, I can call Australia home.

Back in 2011, I escaped war-torn Afghanistan. As a member of the Hazara minority, I was a target for the Taliban regime. I arrived in Australia on a boat, as a teenager with very little English and no more than $100 to my name. 

But I was determined not to be still, not to be afraid. I fought for my future.

I studied hard to obtain a diploma and win a scholarship.

I committed my career to advancing the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum, it was important to me to support our community in any way I knew how.

I was able to do this because places like RACS and our communities walked with me.

All that time, I was never sure how long I would be allowed to remain in Australia, never sure how much of a future I could build for myself.

When the federal government announced the Resolution of Status (RoS) visa in February this year, I almost didn’t dare to believe that our collective advocacy had worked. There was now a new pathway to permanency for people seeking safety in Australia who were eligible to hold, or holding, a Temporary Protection Visa or Safe Haven Enterprise Visa - that was me! 

Since February, RACS has helped over 400 people (and counting) gain permanent protection through RoS visas. I am so grateful to be one of those people.  

This is why the legal services and advocacy that RACS provides are so essential. RACS helped make my future in Australia secure and I will always be grateful for this. 

So many of you have journeyed with me through the limbo created for me by the Australian immigration system. I thank you for standing in solidarity with me. You have kept me going all these years and energised me to keep fighting for others like me. 

I hope you will continue to support RACS and advocate for refugees and people seeking asylum, as I will. For the thousands still in limbo, the fight is not over, there are many of us who will keep fighting for you, too – myself and RACS included.

Thank you,

Zaki Haidari,
RACS Ambassador

P.S. Learn more about my story in this video. And if you're able, please consider supporting RACS financially so that they can extend their essential legal services to even more refugees and people seeking asylum.

Image © Abdul Karim Hekmat