Australian Immigration Daily News

The following is a personal account of Australian lawyer, Mr Rami Yousif, an Australian lawyer who has just applied to become a Registered Migration Agent:

"As I comfort and assure my son at the tall green gates leading him to his first day at Fairfield Primary School, a wave of nostalgia sweeps me and takes me back to my teary first day at Al-Awda Primary School in Nineveh, Iraq. I feel happiness and enjoyment as I remember the friends that I met at school. I tell myself that he will be okay.

I feel overwhelmed by how far we have come. From being the only Christian kid out of a thousand students and how hard it was to be accepted amongst a majority of Muslim and Kurdish kids. How lucky my son is to be in a country where everyone is equal and free!

My father’s retirement was the catalyst for the family leaving our home town of Tikrit and moving to Nineveh, the North of Iraq. It was a harsh decision that he made but perhaps it was the best thing we could do to start a new life and be closer to our extended family. This was not the sole reason for moving to the North of Iraq. Another reason was because of the war and how it was destroying our quality of life. Living in constant fear of death, our education and our social life were constantly disrupted.

2003 was a turning point for us and for everyone living in Iraq. The United States of America had declared war on Iraq to free the people from the ex-Iraqi Government. People were happy after the invasion. They felt more secure than before and people started managing their own businesses. However, this happiness was short-lived when Al-Qaeda appeared and declared their first attack on the Americans and on people who worked for them.

It was the beginning of September 2003. More than two months had passed since the American’s final confrontation with the Iraqi military troops. It was the chance, or perhaps, the dream for Iraqi interpreters to work for the Americans. My brother was selected to work for them because of his high qualifications in translation. However, this was to come at a great cost!

It was 7:30 am when I got up to dress for school. My brother and I left home together to drop me at school. In the crowded traffic, I noticed a car speeding on the opposite side of the road. The car spear-headed towards us like a bullet. As my brother changed lanes, the car was in front of us and now one of the men who were sitting in the back seat pulled out a shot gun and started firing on us.  For what felt like 10 minutes, we drove in a hail of bullets. I could hear the cracking sound of bullets shattering the windows of our car. To this day, it was the most terrifying experience for my brother and I. My brother had to stop driving as he was wounded in the gunfire. It was a miracle that we both escaped with our lives. That was not to say we escaped unscathed, one of the bullets penetrated the front door of the car and piercing my brother’s right thigh.

I remember the smoke rising from our car which now looked like a red piece of Swiss cheese. There was shattered metal and glass everywhere. I felt sorry for my brother and I wished he had listened to my parents’ advice and not worked for the Americans. I  was such a risky job but we respected him for trying to do great things.

This brush with death led our family to leave our new home once again. It was on the 12^th of June 2004 that when we fearfully left our country Iraq, and search for another country to call home. We decided to migrate to Syria as it was a safe country for all Iraqi migrants to live. I lived in Syria with my family for two years. My brothers and I spent our most of our time working in Syria. Our jobs were to keep the food on the table for us because living in Syria was very hard and expensive.

In recent years, over 100,000 Iraqi families have migrated to Australia. We were one of the lucky families who migrated to Australia after living in Syria for two years. I cannot describe how happy I was when I heard that we were going to migrate to Australia. I felt overwhelmed. Australia is often referred to as “the lucky country” with its spacious surroundings, high standards of living and excellent health and education systems. Australia attracts migrants from all over the world. Add to that, Australia has good political and economic stability. The Australian lifestyle is one to be envied. Finally we have a place to call home with a chance to live safely. Australia has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hard or any other human hand. It has given me the chance to pursue my dream career and continue my education. After arriving to Australia my dream was always to become a lawyer to be a voice for the voiceless and to fight for people’s civil rights.  Australia has given me the chance to be the person I have always wanted to be. After graduating from Fairfield High School, I attended Western Sydney University where I received my LL.B in 2014. I began practicing as a lawyer after graduating from law school.

What keeps me excited about Migration Law is that I want to change people’s lives. My passion and interest in Migration Law stems from my story about how I reached Australian shores from Iraq in the Spring of 2006 barely escaping the dragnet and persecution of Al-Qaeda. Since graduating from law school, I started volunteering at Legal Aid Commission to help people from war-torn countries, such as Iraq and Syria, file for asylum. Seeing the daily struggles of these refugees and listening to their harrowing stories have inspired me to become a Registered Migration Agent to assist people in obtaining immigrants’ rights. "

Rami Yousif has just started working with Liana Allan, Convenor of Migration Alliance whilst awaiting his registration with the Office of the MARA to be approved.  To contact Rami directly, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .