Laws that forced visa applicants to take costly and risky trips abroad in the middle of a global pandemic are expected to face scrutiny from a new Senate inquiry.
The Greens and Labor will on Tuesday support setting up a broad-ranging inquiry into the “efficacy, fairness, timeliness and costs of the processing” of partner and family visas.
One area of focus for the inquiry will be the government’s handling of offshore granting requirements, which forced the applicants of some family visa types, including partner and parent visas, to travel abroad during the pandemic to have their visas granted.
The migration system requires that applicants for some permanent visa categories be outside Australia when their case is decided, necessitating a trip outside Australia for about three days or more, before a return. The motion to set up the inquiry was first moved by Greens senator Nick McKim in the legal and constitutional affairs committee and supported by Labor.
The law has been described as “madness” in the time of a pandemic and the government has moved to give temporary exemptions to a range of visa categories, which it says will take effect on 27 February.
Labor MP Julian Hill, who has campaigned against the offshore requirements, said the inquiry will also examine the broader “mess” of the family and partner visa program.
“Nearly 100,000 people are desperately waiting for a visa for their partner, many separated for years and no hope in sight,” Hill said.
“Scott Morrison pretends the delays are due to Covid but that’s nonsense, this mess has been years in the making. The system is broken.”
The Guardian revealed last month that the laws had sent British couple Julie and Ron Parsons applying for parent visas, both healthcare workers, on a nightmare trip back to the United Kingdom as it was gripped by the new mutant strain. The trip cost them $67,000 and forced them to spend six weeks abroad.
“They sent us into a biological minefield,” Julie said. “The new strain, the variant, was so contagious, we were going to get tests and we were too scared to touch doorways.”
In an effort to stop unnecessary travel, the government said it had been offering visa applicants time extensions to allow them to remain in Australia during the visa process.
But it conceded it had “inadvertently” sent the wrong advice to many, including the Parsons, which advised them to immediately make travel plans or risk losing their place in the visa queue.
Hill encouraged anyone caught up in the family and partner visa system to lodge a submission.
“This Labor-dominated Senate inquiry is a chance to shine light into Peter Dutton’s black hole, the Department of Home Affairs, and expose their illegal and cruel delays,” he said.
Immigration minister Alex Hawke was contacted for comment.
