Bridginge Visa News Today

Thanush Selvarasa is a Sri Lankan Tamil who spent eight years in detention. While he looks for a job he’s relying on charity. Photograph: Farhad Bandesh The last time Ebrahim Obeiszadeh had a job was in 2013, when he was working at a sugar factory in southern Iran. It was the first and only job he had before he embarked on a dangerous journey to Australia, where he hoped to be granted protection from the political persecution he says he suff...

Share on Twitter Ethiopian refugee Betelhem Tebubu has been living in Australia legally for four years but every six months she is forced to briefly revisit her experiences in immigration detention.  The 28-year-old dreads the twice-yearly calls she gets from immigration officials, who remind her of the limitations of her bridging visa. Before the pandemic shut down in-person services, she said she was forced to travel to the immigration office where she was detained for up to eig...

As of November last year, more than 12,000 refugees and asylum seekers who arrived in Australia illegally by boat were living in the community on short-term bridging visas, according to government figures.