Refugee advocates have welcomed changes to the country's visa laws allowing family members of asylum seekers who came by boat to be able to come to Australia.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has reversed coalition directions that family reunion application visas by refugees arrived by boat were given the lowest priority in processing.
The change has allowed for the visa applications of thousands of family members looking to come to Australia to be considered.
Advocacy director at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Jana Favero said refugees had been long calling for family reunions to be made a priority.
"We are overjoyed that finally an intentional and deliberate policy to keep refugees separated from their families has been abolished," she told AAP.
"There should not be any hold up in processing now the direction has been abolished."
The government has been aiming to clear a large backlog of visa applications as it pursues changes in the space.
It's expected families from countries such as Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka who have made visa applications will be among the groups most impacted by the changes,
However, Ms Favero said the government needed to expand the direction changes to those on temporary protection visas.
The direction changes will only extend to those on permanent protection visas.
Ms Favero said while the direction abolition was a good step, it highlighted the need for more people to be placed on permanent visas.
"This is the first step in humanity, it should be swiftly followed by granting a pathway to permanency," she said.
Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the change had made it easier for boat arrivals to come to Australia.
"Labor's decision has gifted the people smugglers a new marketing campaign, because they can now tell desperate people that if you reach Australia you will be allowed to settle here and your family will be allowed to join you," he said.
"Temporary protection visas were a key pillar of Operation Sovereign Borders that helped stop the boats and end the deaths at sea."
