Gurpreet Singh has lived and worked in Australia for 14 years.
Two of his three children with his wife, Jasbir, are Australian citizens and all three are enrolled in school.
But a visa processing delay led to Singh being classified as an unlawful migrant and losing his right to work. The family was left homeless, living out of a tent for almost a month. They are now surviving off charity.
“We came to Australia in 2009 with my wife and until February 2024 I have had full-time work rights with no issue,” Singh said. “All that time – 14 years.”
Singh said his visa was set to expire and he was required to submit an application to renew it, which he did before the due date. “On time – no issues,” he said.
But he said the immigration department did not process his application until two days later – after the due date. “So I was illegal for that period,” Singh said.
“We gave them the evidence. They agreed but said it was the system [and] they could not do much about it. So now I am on a bridging visa with no work rights.”
After he was denied working rights in February, Singh lost his job as a truck driver for a company in Mildura. As he was the sole bread winner for his family, they were evicted. They were forced to live in a tent.
Singh sold their belongings – a phone, a laptop and a car – and along with some money from the local Sikh community the family was able to pay for three months’ rent on a property in Caroline Springs in Melbourne’s west. He does not know what they will do in six weeks when the rent runs out.
Singh said he was paying off a fine he received for an issue with his truck logbook, as well as a buy now, pay later loan. The family was unable to pay some of their bills and now has debt collectors pursuing payment, but Singh cannot tell them when he will have work.
“It’s getting hard,” he said. “It’s no problem with the food. Food we are getting from Sikh community, but [we can’t afford] other stuff.
“With the kids, it’s hard to give them an answer every day – it’d be hard to explain to them.”
Carina Ford, an immigration lawyer, is representing Singh and said the case was now before the minister, which is the family’s last resort.
Ford said Singh lost his working rights because he was deemed to have had a “period of unlawfulness”.
“Not due to their fault – due to the department not processing the bridging visa on time,” she said. “As a result, they’ve been put on a bridging visa with no work rights.
“That’s because the legislation says you must not have a period of unlawfulness, even if it’s not your fault.”
Ford said the family had requested compensation, but it would not cover what was needed to continue paying rent and the family could be waiting months to hear back about their case.
“They can grant them a bridging visa under another ground, which would enable work rights, which is what they used to do in the past,” Ford said.
Ford said there were “systemic issues” with how long it took to grant bridging visas.
“We spend a lot of our time chasing up the department granting bridging visas, because they just can’t keep up with the processing.
“This is a pretty unfair result. The system is such that if you get strict interpretation, you’re left with issues like this.”
The Department of Home Affairs has not responded to Guardian Australia’s request for comment.
Singh said he had only $25 in his bank account and he was not sure what the family would do. They are worried they may have to leave Australia to go back to India, even though two of their children were born in Australia and became citizens after their 10th birthdays.
“We’re worried about leaving Australia because we have been living here 14 years. We have nothing back there,” he said. “Please, I just need my work rights back.”