A man in the UK says he was denied permission to visit Australia because of his place of birth.
35-year-old Aram Rawf was born in Iraq and later became a citizen of the United Kingdom after getting asylum in 1999.
An assistant manager at hotel in Kent, Rawf wanted to visit Australia with his seven friends and was due to take a flight to Sydney on February 3. While all his friends got their visas, his application was kept pending.
"I am a British citizen and have a British passport but I was born in Iraq and came to the UK as an asylum seeker. All the other people were granted their visas immediately. I was refused "pending further information,” he told Kent Live.
"I provided information about my job and who I was visiting and why. Friends here and in Australia wrote vouching for me. All to no avail,” he added.
He believes his application was declined because he was born in Iraq.
“It appears to me I've been a victim of discrimination because of my place of birth. Maybe Australia's policy on immigration is nearer to Donald Trump's than we thought."
A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection refused to comment on the case citing privacy reasons, but said the department was aware of the particular case.
"Austalia's immigration programme is administered on a global and non-discriminatory basis.
"Department officers apply the same legal criteria to all visa applications in accordance with the Migration Act 1958 and Migration Regulations 1994. There is no discretion for officers to depart from these requirements," a spokesperson for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection told SBS Punjabi.
He was hailed as a hero in the local media last year after he helped save a collapsed two-year-old boy.
Aram fled sought refuge in the UK when he fled Saddam Hussain's regime after being kidnapped and tortured at the age of 17.
