Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has officially welcomed the first of 12,000 refugees chosen to resettle in Australia at a ceremony in Jordan.

Key points: Peter Dutton presents first of 12,000 refugees with Australian visas at ceremony in Jordan

Peter Dutton presents first of 12,000 refugees with Australian visas at ceremony in Jordan Recipients included four families from Syria, Iraq

Recipients included four families from Syria, Iraq Families look forward to "beautiful" Australian scenery, education

Families look forward to "beautiful" Australian scenery, education Dutton hopes they will arrive before Christmas

Thousands of refugees who have fled the ongoing wars in Syria and Iraq will be brought to Australia within the next 18 months.

At a ceremony in Jordan, where he has been visiting the UN's Zaatari refugee camp, Mr Dutton presented the first four families — including 12 children among them — with their visas for Australia.

The families included Sunni Muslim refugees from the war-torn city of Homs in Syria, and Assyrian Christians from the Islamic State-occupied city of Mosul in Iraq.

"We lived in fear," said Khawlah Al Ahdab, a 23-year-old mother from Homs.

"And we were afraid for our children. If they got sick we couldn't take them to doctors or hospitals. It became very difficult for us to live there. There were no schools for them to be educated."

She said she could not describe the feeling of being accepted into Australia.

"I hope my life is about to get better and I can find education for my children and for us. Thanks so much for accepting us," she said.

Bashar Abdul Kader Kujah, 30, a butcher from Homs, said he had looked up pictures of Australia on the internet and found it beautiful.

"Whatever they want from me, I will follow all the rules ... and anything that's asked of me I will be ready to do," he said.

"I will be so happy there. It [is] like out of misery I am being born again."

Dutton says he understands refugee's plight 'as a parent'

Officials from the immigration department watched tearfully as Mr Dutton shook hands with the families and said he was excited about their impending arrival in Australia.

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"We are very pleased that we will be able to welcome your family and we look forward to you starting your new life in Australia," he said.

He said he hoped the families would arrive in Australia by Christmas.

Asked if the trip had helped alter his mindset in regards to people fleeing war, he said he felt he understood them as a fellow parent.

"I know as a parent that I would do anything for my children and I know that circumstances that people may have experienced in Syria or Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever it may be ... that as a parent you would want to flee that circumstance to do whatever was necessary to put your kids in a better position," he said.

But when asked about the Government's border protection policies, he remained steadfast about the fate of Syrians in detention on Nauru and Manus Island.

"Because we don't want to see people smugglers recommence their business," he said.

Jordan is home to more than 600,000 Syrian refugees and some of the families in Zaatari have been living there for as long as four years.

But with no rights to work and food aid being cut by a cash-strapped UN, many are leaving Jordan for Europe as fast as they can, joining a record flow of people traipsing across the continent in search of safety.