THE federal government has today announced a “one-off” deal with the US to resettle asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru.

Under the deal, which follows talks with the US, Canada, Malaysia and New Zealand, the US will take some asylum seekers found to be refugees.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning confirmed “that the government has reached a further third country resettlement arrangement for refugees presently in the regional processing centres”.

“It’s a one off,” Mr Turnbull said.

“The arrangements with the United States will offer the opportunity for refugees, both on Nauru and Manus, to be resettled but I should stress that the priority is very much on the most vulnerable which are family units and, of course, they are located on Nauru.

“This agreement is built on the security of our borders.”

The arrangement is supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Refugees will need to satisfy standard requirements for admission to the US, including passing health and security checks.

Mr Turnbull said “American officials from Homeland Security (will be) coming to Australia to begin the process in the next few days”.

“We’re not setting timelines,” he said.

US authorities will conduct their own assessment of refugees and decide which people are settled in the US.

Human rights groups said the resettlement deal announcement is full of holes.

Representatives from groups including the Human Rights Law Centre and Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce told reporters in Melbourne that the US resettlement of asylum seekers from Nauru and Manus Island was a government concession that the offshore centres were “dead ends”.

“This announcement is full of holes. No time frame, no numbers, no plan for what looks like the hundreds of people who will be left behind,” HRLC director of legal advocacy Daniel Webb said.

According to the government, settlement in Australia “will never be an option for those found to be refugees in regional processing centres nor for anyone who attempts to travel to Australia illegally by boat in the future”.

Immigration minister Peter Dutton said the government will “work hard to ... remove people back to their country of origin, or to send them to third countries, the United States”.

“I want to confirm there are other aspects to the announcement we make today,” he said.

Refugees who refuse offers of resettlement will remain in Nauru on a 20 year-visa.

“We are in final stages of negotiation with Nauru for a 20-year visa,” Mr Dutton said.

“People who are offered a settlement arrangement in the United States and refuse to take that arrangement, so this deal only applies to people who are on Nauru at the moment, prioritising women and children and family units.

“And with the prospect of providing assistance to others on Nauru and Manus and including those 370-odd people who have come from Nauru or Manus and are receiving medical attention in Australia at the moment with the intent of sending those people back to an RPC.

“That is the only application of this policy.”

He would not be drawn on how many refugees were likely to be resettled in the US.

“All I can say to you is that we have demonstrated, by the diligence and integrity of our response, we can secure Australia’s borders, we’ve demonstrated we can source and provide alternative resettlement options,” Mr Dutton said.

Mr Dutton said the agreement will “never ever apply to any prospective arrivals”. He said this was the latest step in Operation Sovereign Borders.

The announcement comes after US Secretary of State US John Kerry confirmed he has agreed to consider referrals from the UNHCR on refugees who are being detained in Australia’s offshore detention centres.

Mr Kerry told a press conference in Wellington the US was encouraging all countries to work with the UN to find a “durable solution” for the refugees. “We in the United States have agreed to consider referrals from UNHCR on refugees now residing in Nauru and in Papua New Guinea,” he said.

Mr Kerry said the issue had been a key focus of the leaders summit in New York in September.

“My sense is that we are reaching an understanding of how we may be able to deal with it,” he said.

He had been asked if the US was going to resettle refugees held in offshore detention centres, how many, whether the agreement would be conditional on Australia’s proposed lifetime ban on them ever entering Australia, and if an agreement could be overturned by President-elect Donald Trump. He said he could not answer all of those questions.

“I know the government of Australia has proposed some changes to its laws regarding this and I don’t want to comment on the specifics of the legislation at this point,” he said.

“It is for the government to figure out exactly what they intend to do.” Mr Kerry said the “guiding principles” were to remain focused on trying to save lives and provide timely humanitarian assistance.

He was speaking after holding talks with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.

Meanwhile, Labor is asking why such a deal has taken so long. Labor has given tentative support for the agreement, although has yet to see any detail on the deal which follows talks with the US, Canada, Malaysia and New Zealand.

“If this is what’s on the cards, obviously it’s welcome ... it absolutely begs the question as to why it’s taken so long and why this Government wasn’t doing this three years ago,” Labor frontbencher Richard Marles told ABC television on Sunday.

— with wires

megan.palin@news.com.au