Highlights
- Nearly 360,000 migrants on bridging visas in Australia as of 31 March
- Many bridging visa holders stranded offshore wait in anxiety as their visas expire
- Bridging visas cannot be extended or renewed offshore
Gurinder Singh is one of the 78,000 bridging visa holders of Indian origin in Australia waiting for the outcome of their substantive visa applications. The 36-year-old has been waiting for a decision on his permanent skilled visa for 14 months, a wait that has put his life in limbo, made worse by the current border restrictions.
According to government data, the number of bridging visa holder in March 2020 was 256,529. This year, this number has risen to 359,981 and is the highest that Australia has ever seen.
“I am living my life in uncertainty. I have the resources to buy a house but can’t because of my visa status. In the Budget, the government said that onshore skilled visa applicants will be given priority, but nothing has moved in my case,” the Melbourne-based migrant says.
Mr Singh says that the only respite he has is full working rights.
Why is the number of bridging visas soaring?
At the end of March, there were 34,000 more Indian migrants on bridging visas in Australia compared to the same period last year.
Bridging visas are temporary visas that are usually granted to migrants when one visa has expired while they wait for their substantive applications to be finalised.
These visas let a migrant stay in Australia lawfully while his/her immigration status is resolved. The type of bridging visa granted depends on the applicant’s circumstances.
A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson tells SBS Punjabi that the number of people holding a bridging visa in Australia is affected by seasonal variations and changes in visa policy and processing times. This queue has become longer due to the current COVID border restrictions.
Bridging visa is a temporary visa that lets people stay in Australia lawfully while their immigration status is resolved. Source: StockSnap from Pixabay
Overall numbers have risen above the expected seasonal increases as a result of COVID-19 impacts - Spokesperson, Department of Home Affairs
"People unable to depart Australia due to COVID-19 are applying for new substantive visas to remain in Australia. While these applications are being decided, the applicant will often be granted a bridging visa to enable them to remain lawfully in Australia," the spokesperson adds.
'High number of bridging visas indicate serious policy problems'
Former Deputy Secretary in the Department of Immigration Abul Rizvi, however, says this is an indicator of “serious policy and administrative problems”.
“Even prior to COVID, there were over 256,000 people in Australia on bridging visas. That reflects visa processing paralysis and is likely linked to a combination of inadequate resources devoted to visa processing and poor staff morale in the visa processing areas,” he says.
He adds that the surge in bridging visa numbers can also be attributed to the border closure in March 2020 that led many people on temporary entry visas to apply for new visas to prolong their stay in the country. They feared that returning home during the pandemic may block their re-entry into the country.
Offshore bridging visa holders
Deepak Sharma at his pizza and kebab joint in Melbourne. Source: Supplied by Deepak Sharma
There are thousands of migrants who had travelled outside the country just before the pandemic hit and now continue to remain stuck offshore due to the current border ban on temporary visa holders.
According to the Department of Home Affairs data, there are 7,315 former Bridging Visa B (BVB) holders (whose visas ceased between 1 Feb 2020 and 30 April 2021) who are currently offshore. This number includes 642 people who have lodged a visa application since leaving Australia.
One of them is Deepak Sharma, who invested thousands of dollars in his Australian degree and countless hours of hard work over the past 11 years to build a life for himself and his young family in Melbourne.
In February 2020, the businessman travelled to Amritsar, Punjab on a BVB with his wife and newborn daughter to meet their families, not knowing that they would be stuck there for more than a year.
“We have been stuck here for the past 14 months, but no one is thinking about us – neither the state nor the federal government. My visa expired many months ago and I now have no pathway to enter Australia,” he rues.
'Incurred over 100K loss in business'
Mr Sharma, who owns a pizza and kebab food joint in Melbourne’s north, says he has incurred a loss of over $100,000 ever since the pandemic disturbed their lives.
“It is not realistic to run a restaurant when you’re sitting thousands of miles away. I am losing money every single day, but the government isn’t doing anything to safeguard the interests of business owners stranded offshore,” he adds.
“People like me are job creators. The government should exempt us from the travel ban just like they have been making room for business visa holders and those with other critical skills,” says Mr Sharma who has applied for an inward travel exemption multiple times, only to be rejected each time.
Deepak Sharma's pizza and kebab joint in Melbourne. Source: Supplied by Deepak Sharma
Mark Glazbrook, the CEO of an Adelaide-based migration consultancy says that bridging visa holders whose visas have expired, can apply for a visitor visa when the government allows them to return.
“We are seeing a lot of BVB holders who are stuck outside the country while their application is under process onshore, their families and jobs are here. They have no choice but to apply for a visitor visa to be able to return to the country at some stage,” he had told SBS Punjabi in an interview last year.
Mr Rizvi, however, warns that even though the border ban is lifted, it could take the government a long time to clear the current backlog of applications. He says for this task alone, the Department of Home Affairs would need additional resources.
“[The] visa processing workload will rise significantly when borders open. COVID has significantly impacted offshore applications which will need to rise rapidly to deliver the Treasury forecast. I fear that without significant additional resources for visa processing (both onshore and offshore), the Department of Home Affairs will be caught out and visa processing times may blow out even further,” he warns.
Click on the player above to listen to the audio in Punjabi.
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