US officials in Australia for refugee deal

US Homeland Security officials are in Australia as part of the Australian government's one-off refugee resettlement deal with the Obama administration.

US Secretary of State John Kerry. The United States has agreed to resettle an unspecified number of refugees languishing in Pacific island camps. Source: AFP

US officials are in Australia ahead of their assessment of refugees detained on Manus Island and Nauru for resettlement.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed officials from Homeland Security had arrived and would be determining how soon asylum seekers would be resettled in the US.

"They will be going to Nauru shortly," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Lima on Friday (local time).

Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said Australia would lend a hand in assessments.

"America like everybody else has to go through the proper processes and we'll be doing whatever we can to facilitate and assist in that process," he told reporters in Darwin on Saturday.