When Anam Irshad travelled from Pakistan to Australia, she sacrificed the luggage space she had for clothing to make room for her pharmacy books.
The pharmacist had worked hard for her degree and wanted to make sure she had the books for when she returned to her profession in Australia.
Nine years later, she has not had an opportunity to use them.
"Sometimes I open them, I read them, [I think], OK, maybe in the future I will use them, but they are still with me," Ms Irshad said.
Ms Irshad is among a cohort of professional migrant women who have been unable to return to their careers in Australia because they are on bridging visas.
The overall number of people on bridging visas in Australia reached a record high of 370,000 in 2022.
In Perth, where Ms Irshad is based, paediatricians, nurses, engineers and lawyers are among the women who have been unable to rejoin the workforce despite skills shortages and calls for migrants to help address them.
This week at the national jobs summit, the federal government announced it would raise the permanent migration cap by 35,000 places in an effort to address a national worker shortage.
Visa restrictions stifle retraining efforts
But women on bridging visas who want to work or retrain to meet national standards are prevented from receiving the student allowances and childcare support available to Australian women.
They must also pay student fees up-front at international rates, which are thousands of dollars higher than those charged to Australian citizens.
Sobia Shah, who was a lawyer in Pakistan, set up the Professional Migrant Women's Network to help support affected women and create opportunities to help them requalify.
Since starting the network about two years ago, Ms Shah said she had become aware of at least 100 professional women on bridging visas who had been unable to return to their careers.
Ms Shah, who is also assisting Curtin University research through a scholarship, said creating the network had also exposed the extent of the mental health toll on the women.
"In our own country, we have identity … but here we are nothing," she said.
"When I came here, I was just sitting at home and mentally, it was torturing me.
"Like, what am I doing? I'm wasting myself?"
Ms Irshad said she sometimes felt like she had wasted the five years she spent earning her pharmacy degree.
"To miss out on all the family occasions, parties … everything just was studies," she said.
"And now when you introduce yourself [and say] I'm a pharmacist, [people ask] are you working?
"It's … like a pinch."
Local work opportunities hard to come by
Ms Irshad said she had submitted countless applications online and in person at pharmacies with no response.
She felt that employers were concerned about giving her a job without local work experience in her field.
She said a training course that would bolster her credentials would cost $16,000 — compared to about $1,000 for an Australian student.
To create local work opportunities, Ms Shah sourced funding to employ the women in a program that raises COVID-19 vaccine awareness in migrant communities.
The women were able to make connections with medical professionals such as GPs, who guided the program while filling gaps in vaccine education.
Ms Irshad said it helped her regain her identity and confidence and to feel more connected to her field.
"It was a big opportunity for me," she said.
"When we talked to the people, the response was very overwhelming.
"When we deliver in our local languages, it was a plus point for them to understand everything, and to open up and to ask questions to understand the whole procedure."
The creation of the Professional Migrant Women's Network has been supported by Lisa Hartley, co-director of the Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University in Perth.
WA Premier Mark McGowan has announced a range of incentives to attract skilled migrants and address critical skills shortages.
With the jobs and skills summit bringing politicians from across Australia together last week, Dr Hartley said policymakers should look to migrants on bridging visas to address job shortages.
Small changes could make big impact
"A really simple solution would be to enable them to have the right to work," she said.
"[Let them] actually contribute to the Australian economy because they're effectively sitting there and not able to even access social security supports or work."
Dr Hartley said creating training and upskilling opportunities and providing childcare subsidies like those offered to Australians would break down significant barriers to professional women who wanted to return to their careers.
Ms Shah is currently juggling motherhood and management of the network with her scholarship at Curtin University.
Having gained more experience through the university and the network, she is now preparing to apply for paralegal jobs as a step toward re-entering her field.
"Policymakers [should] think about having potential in your own communities," Ms Shah said.
"If you give them [migrants] a chance, just a small training, or just a small opportunity, they can serve a lot.
"Especially women because they have a hunger to do something."
