Jasvinder Singh* arrived in Australia in the year 2010 on a student visa with high hopes and dreams to settle down in the country he loved. He studied hard, worked harder and became a qualified chef with ample experience to lodge a permanent visa application.
Highlights:
- Many immigrants could not apply for the visas despite being nominated by the state.
- Section 48 of the Migration Act says if your visa has been refused or cancelled while in Australia, you cannot apply for another visa while in Australia.
- NSW has offered to re-nominate such applicants.
He received an invite from Queensland to apply for the regional 491 visa.
‘I received my invite in the first week of March. I was supposed to lodge my application off-shore,’ says Mr Singh.
Since Mr Singh’s application for 457 visa had been refused in the past, he falls under the condition of Section 48.
“Section 48 of the Migration Act says if your visa has been refused or cancelled while in Australia, you cannot apply for another visa while in Australia,” migration expert Suman Dua explains.
Mr Singh was supposed to fly out of Australia to file his application.
“I could not travel because of travel restrictions. I was supposed to go out only for a day, but I could not, and my invite expired,” says Mr Singh.
One gets 60 days to lodge the visa after receiving the invite. Mr Singh’s deadline was 11 May 2020, and he could not go out of Australia due to travel restrictions.
Australia imposed Coronavirus restrictions on international travel in the second week of March, and only citizens and permanent residents can return from overseas.
Police Officers patrolling in the Departures Hall of Sydney Domestic Airport. Source: AAP
Brisbane-based Suman Dua says this is the story of many migrants who received their invites during the Coronavirus pandemic.
“They have ceded 60 days, so their invites have expired. They could not travel due to travel restrictions.
“There are people who had been waiting for invites for many years. Finally, they had received their invites only to be expired without any fault of theirs.”
State governments are aware of the situation, but only NSW has taken a step in this direction so far, offering to re-nominate such applicants.
“If your visa application is affected by an s48 bar, meaning you must be off-shore to lodge a new visa application, NSW will re-nominate you once you are able to travel overseas. This will provide a further 60 days to submit your visa application to the Department of Home Affairs,” the department has said on its website.
Suman Dua hopes other states will come up with similar options. Meanwhile, Mr Singh is preparing to start the process again from scratch.
“I don’t know what will happen now. Nothing is clear at this moment,” he says.
*Name has been changed for privacy.
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