From December 15, travel restrictions are set to ease for many temporary visa holders. 9News FULL STORY:
for six years, had been desperately hoping this Christmas would be the one where she was reunited with family and friends.
Ms Sawran-Smith is one of hundreds of thousands of people living in Australia who still need an exemption to leave and re-enter the country.– including those on working holiday, skilled and student visas.The change had been set to take place on December 1, but was delayed by two weeks because of uncertainty over the Omicron variant.
"We pay our taxes, we provide essential skills, received double vaccinations and contribute to the economy," the petition, started by bridging visa holder Jo Davis, states.Ms Sawran-Smith has lived in Australia on various types of visas over the years, including a working holiday visa and sponsorship visa. She is currently on a bridging visa B after applying to become a permanent resident in March.
"I have given blood, sweat and tears. There were wage cuts because of COVID, half of my work team got laid off," she said."I've had a family member die, my friend and I have not been able to be there for any of it. We have had to do funerals over Zoom.Ms Sawran-Smith said a lot of the frustration she and others felt stemmed from a lack of explanation from the government about why her visa class had been excluded.
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