An Afghan family are taking the Australian government to court, accusing it of taking too long to process their visa application.
If the case is successful, it could speed up thousands of similar requests from other asylum seekers trying to settle in Australia.
Abdullah and his wife Fatema fled Afghanistan, with their four children, after one of their daughters died in a missile attack in 2012.
Abdullah was able to get permanent refugee status in Australia.
Fatema and their children applied for a family visa to join him in 2017, but years later, they remain stateless in Pakistan waiting for a visa.
"The situation in Afghanistan is very difficult because of the Taliban. We were threatened by them, our house was hit by a [missile]," Fatema said.
The family is being represented by the Human Rights Law Centre, which has told the Federal Court that the Immigration Minister has "unreasonably delayed" their visa application.
"Abdullah and his wife and kids are eligible for a family visa," their lawyer Josephine Langbien said.
"Unfortunately, the kinds of delays that Abdullah and Fatema are experiencing are all too common.
"They are one of thousands of families who have spent years apart because the Australian government has failed to make a decision on their visa application."
A decade of limbo in Pakistan
Before the Taliban recaptured control of Afghanistan last August, there were more than 60,000 partner visas like Fatema and Abdullah's still pending.
"Over the last six months the situation has become more urgent since the Taliban seized power," Ms Langbien said.
"The Morrison government hasn't done anything to improve the pathways for reunions for families ... it hasn't fast-tracked visa applications."
Since the return of the Taliban, more than 145,000 Afghan people have applied for humanitarian visas in Australia.
Abdullah and Fatema's 19-year-old son Zamen and his three siblings cannot go to school in Pakistan as they are not recognised in the country as refugees.
"Our application [is] processing very slowly. We did not expect that from the Australian community. It's been a long time since it has been finalised," Zamen said.
"That's affecting our family so badly, we're facing a very tough situation right now."
'We're facing an unbearable situation'
The Human Rights Law Centre said partner visas for Afghan people take an average of 44 months, which is more than double how long it takes for the same applications from other countries.
"Delays of this magnitude are not down to bureaucratic inefficiency," Ms Langbien said.
"The government uses our family migration system as a tool to punish and deter people from seeking safety in Australia."
She said that if the family succeeded in their court action, it would require the government to act faster to process thousands of similar visa applications.
"If the court agrees that this family has been waiting too long, then it sends a message to the government that the way it's handled this application is unacceptable," she said.
"The silence, the lack of explanation, the refusal to give the family any answers that this is taking too long, we hope it'll send a really clear message that the government needs to genuinely reform our family migration system so people aren't waiting for years for no answers for the delay."
Zamen pleaded with the Australian government to accept his family.
"We're not leaving our country willingly, it's because we're facing an unbearable situation," he said.
"To the Australian government I want to say, why do you torture us so much? I hope they do something about it so we can achieve some life goals there."
In a statement, a Home Affairs Department spokesman said the time taken to process family visa applications could vary.
"Processing times are impacted by the complexity and completeness of applications, involving thorough assessments of relationship, character, identity, health and security criteria," he said.
"The department continues to give priority to Afghan nationals who have lodged family visa applications.
"In the first quarter of 2021-22, the department has set up a specialised team to progress this caseload."
The spokesman said more than 900 family visas had been given to Afghan people in the last year.
"The department is on track to deliver approximately 1,500 family visa grants to Afghan nationals in 2021-22, towards the minimum 5,000 grants to be provided over the next four years."
