Two young women I know need to leave the country soon and go home as a result of not being able to meet visa requirements. Both work, have well paid jobs and well educated. They came originally as backpackers and stayed on under the Covid rules for a few years and would love to stay permanently. Both speak good English, never broken the law, never had any government benefits and paid lots over the years in taxes. Both come from wealthy families and will abide by our laws to leave the country in the next few months. Why can't our country welcome them as permanent citizens instead of saying go home or be deported ? So sad to see how we have immigration compliant young people being treated as they have been told become a student to get a student visa as the way to stay here. Our migration system is a mess as they wait in limbo for many months to get a response to any representations they make to immigration due to the backlog of work they claim they are dealing with.
