Migrants mourn Australian dream

Some migrants are giving up on Australia after nearly two years of some of the world’s toughest border controls. When Chase Arnesen decided to migrate to Australia from Singapore in 2019, he was looking forward to living in a freer and more open society, even if it meant higher taxes. After nearly two years of experiencing the country’s extreme pandemic restrictions, the 32-year-old lawyer is on the verge of packing up and leaving.

Since Australia slammed its borders shut in March 2020, Chase, who is a Canadian citizen, has been unable to leave the country if he hopes to return, leaving him separated from friends and family with seemingly no end in sight.

“A life torn across borders is hell,” Arnesen, who came to Australia under a four-year work visa that offers a pathway to permanent residency, told Al Jazeera.

“Simply ‘leaving’ doesn’t just mean giving up my career and home here that I’ve built, but my partner and friends here. Yet staying means indefinite separation from family. I can’t justify not seeing my own parents as they age and nieces and nephews, some of whom I haven’t seen for half their lives. My life is ripped in half and it feels indefinitely suspended.”

While Arnesen accepted the initial border closures and “stuck it out” during 262 days of lockdown in Melbourne, he lost faith in the government when it began allowing citizens and permanent residents to holiday overseas before skilled visa holders could see their loved ones.

Arnesen is sceptical the borders will ease any time soon or that he would not face the risk of being stranded overseas even if they do.

After the emergence of the Omicron variant last month, the Australian government announced it would “pause” plans to welcome the return of skilled migrants and international students from December 1 by two weeks. The Prime Minister’s Office said the move would allow authorities to asses the variant and the government would continue to take “evidence based action” so the country could “open safely, and stay safely open as we learn to live with the virus.”

“What that means for me is that if we see further delays or future closures, especially disproportionate to what’s seen in other countries, I’ll have to leave,” Arnesen said. “Not out of rage, but simply because it’s unsustainable and inhumane. It’s also wrong, and that’s where I start questioning my commitment to this country more existentially.”

Tens of thousands of other migrants, graduates and international students cannot get into Australia in the first place despite spending thousands of dollars on visas, relocation costs and education fees.

In an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey carried out last December, one in five businesses reported having difficulty finding qualified staff.

The shortage of workers has led some business groups, including the Australian Chamber of Commerce, to call for an increase in the annual migrant intake after the borders reopen.

In October, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet proclaimed his belief in a “big NSW”, after a newspaper published leaked proposals from his office recommending Australia accept two million immigrants over the next five years.

Gabriela D’Souza, an economist at Monash University in Melbourne, told Al Jazeera it was difficult to say how much Australia could afford to alienate immigrants before the economy suffered catastrophic damage, but said the country’s policies were becoming “less and less defensible” as vaccination rates neared 80 per cent.

Aljazeera