After 4 months in limbo about his refugee standing and closely in debt, Hung has some recommendation for anybody from Vietnam planning to work in Australia on a vacationer visa:
“In case you are eager on coming to Australia, you’d higher select a authorized means,” mentioned the part-time laborer from Hanoi, who was duped into paying an immigration service firm to use for an entry visa on his behalf.
“Arriving with a scholar or expert labor visa is OK, however you must assume twice about utilizing a vacationer visa,” he mentioned.
For years, Hung made ends meet in Hanoi on a month-to-month revenue of 10 million dong (US$400), however was unable to construct any financial savings because of the excessive price of residing in Vietnam’s capital.
After listening to tales of different Vietnamese touchdown good-paying jobs whereas visiting Australia, Hung, who spoke to RFA Vietnamese utilizing a pseudonym resulting from safety issues, determined to journey the 5,000-odd kilometers (3,100 miles) southeast to strive his luck.
He hoped to earn a greater wage Down Beneath – the place minimal wage employees earn AU$70,000 (US$48,000) a yr, or 14 instances the typical revenue in Vietnam – and lower your expenses to enhance his residing customary again house.
Vietnamese who’re unable to acquire work visas for Australia are eligible for a Work and Vacation Visa, which permits individuals to work whereas touring within the nation for as much as one yr.
Candidates have to be between the ages of 18 and 30, don’t have any prison report and supply proof that they’ve accomplished no less than two years of undergraduate examine. They have to additionally present that they will help themselves financially whereas in Australia and have attained a sure stage of English proficiency.
In debt and determined
Hung, who didn’t disclose his age, had no employer to sponsor a piece visa and was unable to satisfy both the schooling or English proficiency necessities for a Work and Vacation Visa. However a Vietnamese immigration providers firm advised him that he may legally work in Australia as a vacationer.
Australian vacationer visas have a considerably decrease barrier to acquire. They’re good for 3 months and may be prolonged to a full yr in particular circumstances. Nevertheless, entrants usually are not eligible to work throughout their go to.
Unfamiliar with the appliance course of, Hung took on debt to pay 100 million dong (US$4,000) – a considerable quantity for the typical Vietnamese laborer – to the immigration providers firm to deal with his visa, in addition to buy an airline ticket, and he flew to Australia in July 2023.
Hung had hoped to stay and work in Australia for as much as two years, to repay what he had borrowed in getting there and to construct wealth. As an alternative, by October, his vacationer visa was about to run out and he had solely accrued extra debt whereas supporting himself for 3 months in a nation with a vastly increased price of residing.
More and more determined, Hung sought assist from fellow Vietnamese by means of social media, and was suggested to use for an Australian Onshore Safety Visa (Subclass 866) as a political refugee, which might enable him to remain in Australia for longer and work legally.
He paid somebody AU$1,000 (US$650) to arrange his utility, went to the native immigration division to be fingerprinted, and was granted a bridging visa (BVE 050) that enables him to lawfully reside within the nation whereas awaiting a call on his standing.
Whereas Hung will probably be required to current proof of his asylum declare, it’s unclear when he will probably be referred to as for an interview, because of the giant backlog of purposes.
Topping the record for asylum seekers
In keeping with the Australian Division of House Affairs, 2,905 Vietnamese nationals utilized for the Australian Onshore Safety Visa in 2023, making them the most important ethnic group to take action and accounting for 12% of the full variety of candidates.
Vietnamese topped the record of asylum candidates in Australia, beating out Indians and Chinese language, in every of the final 5 months of 2023, and ranked second in three different months final yr.
A lot of them find yourself in conditions like Hung’s, nervously awaiting a verdict on their declare to be taught whether or not they are going to be granted residential standing or pressured to return house.
The bridging visa doesn’t expire and grants holders the precise to work and entry a nationwide medical health insurance help program in order that they will obtain medical care in Australia.
Nevertheless, if asylum standing is denied, the bridging visa will probably be mechanically canceled inside 28 days, and the holder will probably be required to go away the nation. These denied standing have the precise to enchantment the choice with an immigration court docket.
The probabilities of being awarded political asylum in Australia are pretty low. In 2023, the Australian Division of House Affairs processed almost 1,000 asylum purposes, of which solely 53, or 5.6%, had been permitted.
The stakes are significantly increased for candidates who’ve fled persecution in Vietnam, the place the one-party communist state brooks no dissent. Being pressured to return house can usually imply a jail sentence, or worse.
‘Extraordinary surge’ in purposes
Vietnamese-Australian immigration lawyer Le Duc Minh advised RFA that his legislation agency has helped many “real” Vietnamese political asylum seekers efficiently apply for standing in Australia.
However he acknowledged that he repeatedly hears tales like Hung’s from individuals who ended up in debt after making an attempt to work illegally within the nation.
“Some individuals merely ask me, ‘Please discover a means for me to remain longer to earn cash and repay my money owed. I borrowed lots of of thousands and thousands of dong in Vietnam to make this journey. I can not go house empty-handed,’” he mentioned.
Minh mentioned he was shocked by what he referred to as an “extraordinary surge” in purposes by Vietnamese for political asylum in Australia within the second half of 2023.
He mentioned that refugee purposes have a tendency to extend after political upheavals or authorities crackdowns on rights activists, however described final yr as “very politically steady” in Vietnam. There have been no mass demonstrations and many of the arrests had been solely of outstanding activists and outspoken people on social media.
As an alternative, Minh posited, final yr’s surge was doubtless the results of “large-scale fraudulent actions” in Vietnam, together with people and corporations offering false details about work alternatives for foreigners in Australia to be able to promote them solid paperwork and ineffective providers.
He cited an commercial from one firm claiming that candidates may benefit from a program in Australia that might enable them to “take agricultural jobs with none experience or English abilities.”
After arriving in Australia solely to be taught that they might be unable to work or repay their money owed, most really feel that they don’t have any different alternative however to double down, with making use of for political asylum as their solely possibility to remain within the nation.
Supporting reliable claims
Immigration lawyer Kate Hoang, the previous president of Australia’s Vietnamese neighborhood, confused that “not all asylum candidates [from Vietnam] are those that need to prolong their keep.”
Many, she mentioned, had been focused by Vietnam’s authorities for talking out about social injustices and had been fortunate simply to have been capable of journey to Australia to hunt asylum in any respect.
Hoang urged the Australian authorities to make modifications to the best way it processes asylum visas to stop these with out reliable claims from exploiting the system.
In the meantime, Hung’s future stays unsure as he awaits the ruling on his asylum utility, and he has come to remorse his journey to the southern continent.
“I paid an enormous amount of cash to come back right here, so I now don’t have any alternative however to work onerous to repay my money owed, and I’ll in all probability simply should return house with nothing to point out for it,” he mentioned. “If I may make the choice once more, I’d by no means have gone.”
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.