Children of asylum seekers who have grown up in Australia fear that after 11 years they will be deported under proposed changes to immigration laws.

By Annika Burgess

ABC News Australia

* In short: Children of asylum seekers who grew up in Australia fear they will be deported under the government's proposed migration bill.

* Immigration lawyers say the cohort was failed by a broken and "cruel" system that has left them in more than a decade of limbo.

* What's next? The young people want their stories heard and to be shown compassion as the bill returns to the Senate for a vote this month.

Arad and Pouya arrived in Australia on the same boat in 2012, from the same country, fleeing the same dangers.

Yet, only one of them has been granted a permanent visa.

Arad's fate was finally secured in 2023, and the 46-year-old now owns a business in Hobart and is living "happy and safe".

But as Pouya approaches his 18th birthday, he still can't plan a future.

He remains on a bridging visa, unable to get excited about university or job prospects like his classmates.

"We're stateless right now ... We're trying to get a visa by the time I finish school so I can start working," he told the ABC.

Pouya left Iran aged five, and is among a cohort of young people calling themselves "the overlooked children of boat people".

They grew up in Australia as "fluent Aussies" surrounded by friends, family and community.

Now, under the government's new deportation bill, they fear they will be sent back to countries they've never known.

"Same boat should mean same outcome," the group says.

After spending most of their lives in uncertainty, they are calling for the government to listen to their stories and show "empathy, compassion, and understanding" >>>