The Turnbull government is keeping mum on reports it is considering sending refugees on Nauru and Manus Island to the distant central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan.

The government is searching for places that will agree to resettle more than 1500 asylum seekers currently living in the Australian detention facilities in the south Pacific.

Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton is visiting the Middle East.

The government's so-called Cambodian solution has been a failure, settling just a handful of refugees since the deal was inked last year. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed this month that the government has been seeking to negotiate deals with a number of other countries, including the Philippines.