A 102-day migration limbo has left Australian resident Lisa Rihani stranded overseas after a visa delay stopped her returning to Australia - where she has a home, a pharmacy job and an Australian husband of 26 years.
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Ms Rihani, who was visiting the United Kingdom to renew her British passport and see her elderly parents, says the department left her in the dark about if or when her Resident Return Visa would be granted.
"I felt extremely stressed and anxious, not knowing why the delay had occurred, how much longer the delay would be, whether I had answered a question on the Resident Return Visa incompletely or incorrectly, when I would see my husband again and when I would be able to return to work," she said.
"I lost a lot of sleep and a couple of kilos in weight over this and I know my husband was just as frustrated and concerned."
The Home Affairs Department delayed in granting her visa despite a shortage of pharmacists in Australia.
Immigration experts have said delays in Resident Return Visa approvals have arisen as the department deals with a backlog in other visa applications, a blockage that has prompted the federal government to pour $36 million into solving the problem as it lifts the migration intake by 35,000.
Ms Rihani, who works as a pharmacist in Jindabyne, left for the UK in July expecting her return visa to be granted before she was due to come home.
When she applied for the visa in May, the department advised applications were taking up to 75 days. She visited the UK to avoid delays in renewing her passport, nearing expiry, by mail - a process that could have taken months and left her unable to travel at short notice.
"I did not want to be in Australia without a passport for that long, in case anything happened with my parents and I needed to fly back to the UK urgently. So I felt a visit back to see family and friends while I renewed my passport was the best option," she said.
Ms Rihani said she was not able to find out the reason for the delay despite making multiple calls to the Home Affairs Department from the UK.
This begs the key question of how will Home Affairs possibly manage to process the proposed tens of thousands of skilled migrants when they cannot even process a straightforward Resident Return Visa.
- Lisa Rihani
When she spoke to a department staff member in late August, they told her the department could not help, would not take her name, and said they could not speak about individual cases.
She also contacted the department's Global Feedback Unit - which is meant to be a circuit breaker for delayed applications - but received no response.
"Had there been some simple system of progress update, much of this anxiety could have been alleviated," she said.
Ms Rihani was able to work as a relief pharmacist in England during the wait but had no indication when she could return home to her husband and her pharmacy job in Australia.
"I felt I was living in limbo, not knowing how far ahead I should accept relief pharmacist work in England to support myself while I waited, and not having an answer to give the owner of the pharmacy I work in as to when he could put me back on the roster for work," she said.
"This begs the key question of how will Home Affairs possibly manage to process the proposed tens of thousands of skilled migrants, who may arrive in Australia from next year, when they cannot even process a straightforward Resident Return Visa for someone who works in healthcare and is already a resident of Australia, in a timely manner."
The department granted her visa last week, soon after she wrote about her situation to Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, and Skills Minister Brendan O'Connor. Ms Rihani will fly back to Australia in early October.
'No accountability'
Her husband, Laurie Hain, said he and Ms Rihani had come to dread the yearly process of applying for her Resident Return Visa. She became ineligible for a five-year travel facility after she was stranded in the UK when Australia closed its borders due to the COVID pandemic in March 2020.
Mr Hain said while his wife's skills were in demand in Australia - including in regional areas - it was hard for her to re-enter the country.
"It's like the immigration department has tied themselves up in knots to the point that they're not efficient," he said.
"And on top of that, there's no accountability whatsoever. There's nobody you can speak to, there's no updates. There's no way to monitor or check on progress anywhere. There's no assistance when you do call them.
"She's got an Australian Business Number. She's a pharmacist, she has a job. She has a home, she has a husband of 26 years. And it's like, none of these add up to some kind of system whereby they can just simply say, 'you know what, why are we wasting all this time on this process when this woman is obviously useful and permanent here?'
"They should be welcoming Lisa, not making it hard for her to come over here."
Ms Rihani said having to apply for the Resident Return Visa every 12 months made it difficult to plan ahead for visits back to the UK.
'It shouldn't take that long'
A Home Affairs Department spokesperson said Resident Return Visa applications were generally processed quickly if applicants met a requirement of living in Australia two out of five years as a permanent resident immediately before applying.
Applications that did not meet that requirement took about 12 weeks to finalise, the spokesperson said.
"Applicants are advised on an acknowledgement of receipt of application letter to check the website which states current processing times," the spokesperson said.
Half of Resident Return Visas were processed in less than one day, while a further 25 per cent took about a day. However, about 10 per cent of the applications take more than three months.
The department has brought more than 180 new staff into visa processing roles since May, and staff are being seconded into visa processing.
Experts said Resident Return Visas should be easy to process. While most were granted very quickly, some were delayed due to the department's backlogs.
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Immigration policy expert Abul Rizvi said delays in processing Resident Return Visas were part of the Home Affairs Department's overall backlog in applications, but the department may be prioritising reducing delays in other visa types.
"There are many, many different backlogs in Home Affairs at the moment. It would appear RRVs are not the top of the pile," he said.
Migration law expert Ben Watt said that while visa applications needed scrutiny, the department should be "gentler" in how it dealt with permanent residents who had clear links to Australia, and to be clear about wait times.
It was difficult to communicate to the Home Affairs Department when a case was urgent, he said.
"You think that there would be some sort of ability to communicate to some sort of decision maker that could just make a logical decision to prioritise your application," Mr Watt said.
"And it really shouldn't take that long. It really should be something that the department should be able to do in less than three months."
Mr Watt said the department should hire more staff to process visa applications. The increased tax collection from returning permanent residents allowed to resume working in Australia would offset the staffing costs, he said.
"I can't see for the life of me why you wouldn't hire as many people as it takes to get the job done. Because it really isn't a good look and it really disrupts things," Mr Watt said.
"It's terrible when you don't know when you're going to be able to come in and you can't predict your life."
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