It has been a long and winding journey for Shweta Bhandari to obtain permanent residency in Australia.
After arriving on a student visa from India in 2009, she eventually built a life here in Australia with her partner and they had their first child in 2012.
But the past 12 years of applying for temporary visas with the aim of permanent residency has taken their toll.
"There have been very severe impacts. First of all, it has made me very depressed and stressed. Day by day, we are losing our hope," the 44-year-old told SBS News.
The visa processing backlog has seen her wait eight months for the processing of her 887 skilled regional visa, which would provide her with permanent residency.
That has involved relocating to a number of places around the country over the last 12 years, including Hobart and then Geelong, to meet the visa requirements.
"I mean, we spend a lot of money, we are staying here for the last many years. And we have done a lot of hard work by doing all kinds of odd jobs, studying and living in a regional area, which is very difficult. We fulfil all the criteria of the visa and everything. And still, we are suffering."
A public relations and business management graduate, Shweta has been unable to get a job in that field due to the temporary visa requirements and the preference of employers in her field to want citizens or permanent residents.
It is a similar situation for her husband, who graduated from Melbourne with a master's degree in accountancy and business administration.
The pandemic intensified their precarious financial situation - as they were not eligible for Centrelink benefits as temporary visa holders, nor are they able to buy a house.
Shweta works in childcare and her husband holds down two jobs - a chef by day in an aged care home and an UberEats delivery driver at night.
She hopes that can change with the outcome of the permanent residency application.
"We hope for a better future. I would like to utilise all my professional skills. And if residency would be granted, I can get a better job in all these fields where I am professionally qualified. My husband and I can get better jobs and we can help ease the worker shortages in Australia."
Despite the hardships, Shweta says the family still wants to fulfil the dream of staying in Australia.
But reflecting on where the last 12 years went, she isn’t certain she would make the same initial decision to come to Australia again.
"We don't want to leave now because we have struggled a lot in the last 10 to 12 years. If it was our intention (to leave) we would have been in Australia for one year only.
"I never thought that the permanent residency program would be so hard that particularly people who are already literate and qualified, they are struggling a lot because of the bad migration policy here. They are making it stricter day by day."
A new found that almost 80 per cent support a pathway to permanent residency for migrants who have lived and worked in Australia for several years.
The survey by the Human Rights Law Centre also found that 78 per cent of those polled believe that people who have migrated to Australia and have lived and worked here for several years should have stability so that they can plan for the life they want.
David Burke, legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the Australian migration system urgently needs to be reformed.
“As a country, we have absolutely lost our way when it comes to immigration. We have seen the highly publicised, toxic political rhetoric when it comes to refugees, but I don't think that there is the same level of public understanding about what is happening with our immigration policies as a whole,” he said.
“We need an immigration system that actually treats people as people, and that doesn't view them as simply tools for short-term labour and I think these results show that the Australian community agrees with that.”
There are 1.7 million temporary visa holders in Australia, according to Department of Home Affairs data.
in December last year found that on average, people must wait at least five years to achieve permanent residency, while for some, it has taken up to 13 years.
Following a freedom of information request, the Department of Home Affairs revealed it had granted a fraction of the 887 visa applications in the five months to 30 November 2021, compared to the previous two financial years.
There were 1,048 applications approved in the five months until 30 November 2021, compared to 6,721 in 2020-21 and 6,076 in 2019-20.
The Department of Home Affairs said processing times for the 887 visa applications have improved since January 2021 when they were as long as 26 months.
In a statement to SBS News, the Department said the longest waiting time had decreased to 22 months.
"The Department endeavours to finalise subclass 887 visa applications within reasonable timeframes, subject to the Government’s priorities, including those expressed in relevant Ministerial Directions, in relation to the skilled migration program," the statement said.
