Refugees to receive decisions from the US

After years of limbo on Manus Island and Nauru, refugees will learn from today whether they will be moving to the US to start a new life.

US authorities will begin handing out resettlement decisions from Wednesday and Thursday on both Pacific islands.

Some refugees received appointment slips on Tuesday afternoon.

"People are a bit surprised, some people had given up hope that it would happen," Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul told AAP.

"Right now they're experiencing anxiety and anticipation."

A document on a notice board on Manus Island warns refugees that every case is different and moves through the required process at different speeds.

"Please be patient," the US Resettlement Support Centre document says.

It says more decisions will be issued over coming months.

The Manus Island detention centre is slated for closure by the end of October.

A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton declined to comment, saying he would not be making a running media commentary about the US processes.

The agreement, struck with the Obama administration, involved the US accepting up to 1250 refugees in limbo in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, in return for Australia taking asylum seekers from Central America.

More than 1600 refugees have expressed interest in the US resettlement deal.

The agreement was the subject of a heated phone call between Donald Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in January where the new US president characterised the deal as dumb.

Mr Trump has since reluctantly agreed to honour it.