The first refugees on Nauru to have been granted visas have been released from Australian immigration detention on the island.

Thirteen asylum seekers have been given refugee protection, including an Iranian family and four single adult males.

They have been given a five-year visa and may be given the option of settling in Cambodia, if a resettlement deal between Australia and Cambodia is signed as expected.

Seven people received negative assessments, including four people in two families and three single adult men. They remain, for now, in detention.

The Iranian family was met by Save the Children staff at the Anibare Lodge family accommodation, while the single men are being housed at a separate site.

Nauru’s government says refugees that are resettled into the community are free to move around the island and seek employment.

The Nauruan government says the refugees will be supported by a “buddy system” to help them integrate into island life.

It says they are settling into temporary accommodation and will soon move to more permanent and more suitably located housing.

The Nauruan government is expecting to deliver another 21 refugee determinations this week.

The 1100 asylum seekers at the Australian-run immigration processing centre on Nauru have heard they will be sent to Cambodia if they are found to be refugees.

The information preempts the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Australia and Cambodia.

The resettlement advice has caused tension at the Nauru facility, with detainees understood to be hoping the deal will not go ahead.

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Asia, and relies heavily on foreign aid. In the 1970s and ‘80s, large numbers of its citizens fled war and starvation.

A statement from a Nauru government spokesperson said “asylum seekers have been told that if granted refugee status, they will be temporarily resettled on Nauru for up to five years, after which they will be settled in a third country”.

However, a spokesperson for the office of Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said no agreement has been reached with Cambodia.

“No such messaging has been provided by the Australian government to transferees at Nauru.”

“No one has been told that they will immediately be sent to a third country.”

Cambodia’s prime minister Hun Sen announced on Facebook this week that his nation will accept refugees processed on Nauru.

“The MoU with Australia will be signed soon to take refugees deemed to be genuine,” he said.

Hun Sen says those who are resettled will have the same opportunities to study and work like locals without discrimination.

Immigration Minister Morrison says Australia is not rushing the refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia.

He says there is more work to do on the deal.

“You would have heard the comment made by Hun Sen. I think the reaction has been very positive, but we still have details to work through and we are not rushing this.”

The Cambodian opposition has slammed the deal as a disgrace and unrealistic, saying the country is not equipped to take refugees.