About 5,000 Afghans have been on temporary visas for almost a decade. They cannot sponsor family members, or even apply for a bank loan in Australia.
Dr Kenny said in the end there was nothing she and her colleagues could do to bring the Afghan family members to Australia, but they tried anyway.
"My wife got beaten by a belt, from one of them on the street, because it was a rampage and there was total chaos.Mr Askari had hoped the events in Afghanistan would prompt the Australian government to rethink its stance on allowing Afghans on temporary visas to transition to permanent status and permit them to bring family members to Australia.
"This upholds the Australian government's commitment to process and recognise the protection claims of people who have arrived illegally, while at the same time guaranteeing that people smugglers do not have a 'permanent protection visa product' to sell." But numbers released through a Freedom of Information request made to the Department of Home Affairs shows not one SHEV-holder had been granted a permanent visa between 2014, when the visa was created, and Sept.13, 2021. A total of 30 applications had been made, seven had been rejected.WA president of the Migration Institute of Australia, immigration lawyer Reuben Saul, said there were many barriers preventing SHEV-holders from meeting the requirements of a permanent visa.