Arad Nik never imagined he would live somewhere as beautiful as Tasmania's Huon Valley. When he fled Iran in 2012, he thought he would eventually end up in one of Australia's urban centres.
However, like thousands of refugees around Australia, he took up the call to move to a regional area with the promise that one day he could be resettled permanently in Australia.
"It's hard to find a job. And a lot of refugees are stuck in this situation," he told 7.30. "It is hard for all of us."
Shortly after he arrived in Tasmania on Christmas Day in 2019, COVID-19 struck.
As lockdowns swept the nation, he ended up sleeping rough for about four months.
"I couldn't work. I couldn't find a job. I couldn't build my business. And I was stuck in that situation," he said.
"I was sleeping in my car [in] freezing weather."
He eventually found accommodation in a shed in Cygnet and slowly began to put his life back together. Inspired by his mother's cooking, he set up a business selling Iranian sweets.
The move to a regional area was a requirement for his temporary protection visa, known as a SHEV.
"A Safe Haven Enterprise Visa — or SHEV — is effectively a temporary protection visa for someone who has been found to be a refugee," human rights lawyer David Manne told ABC's 7.30.
Attached to the visa is an important promise that Mr Nik and thousands of refugees around the country have clung to as they've spread across regional areas in every state and territory: If you lived, worked or studied for three-and-a-half out of five years, then you would potentially qualify for permanent residence.
Mr Nik has been on a SHEV for almost five years. But, like many refugees, he's unsure what comes next. He's hoping to apply for a skilled visa.
"Maybe, [with] that skilled visa, I can become a permanent person in Australia," he said. "I think it's going to be very hard."
The odds are stacked against him. Mr Manne says most refugees are unable to meet the conditions required to become a permanent resident.
"We are working hard, paying tax, we try to grow in this community to support people, to support government, to support anyone," Mr Nik said.
"We are seeking asylum and freedom. We are not seeking Centrelink."
Crossbench deal forged SHEVs
SHEVs were created in 2014 as part of a deal struck between then-immigration minister Scott Morrison and one-time federal MP Clive Palmer.
At the time, Mr Morrison was attempting to pass legislation in the Senate that would re-introduce temporary protection visas. The previous Labor government had abolished them and Mr Morrison needed the support of some crossbenchers.
Mr Palmer agreed to support the government's legislation but with a number of conditions. One was the creation of a new class of visa that created an incentive for refugees to live in regional communities, along with the promise of potentially gaining a permanent visa.
When the deal was struck, Mr Morrison said at the time: "There is an opportunity here [to gain a permanent visa], but I think it is a very limited opportunity and we'll see how it works out."
Only a handful of permanent visas issued
Almost eight years on, the prospects of many refugees who've applied for SHEVs and moved to regional areas are fairly bleak.
ABC's 7.30 can reveal that just one refugee — out of more than 13,000 who were granted SHEVs since 2014 — has been granted a permanent visa through the SHEV pathway laid out by the government.
That refugee's three family members have each been granted a permanent visa.
A further 30 visas, which appear to be primarily partner visas, have been granted.
The Department of Home Affairs declined to provide any on-the-record breakdown of these figures.
Mr Manne says the rest of these refugees have effectively been left in limbo.
Their only option: apply for another three-year temporary protection visa.
The pathway is limited, he says, because few can meet the high bar required to transition onto another visa, such as a skilled visa.
"For almost all the people who have been granted SHEV visas, the skilled visas have such high levels of English proficiency and qualifications required that they simply cannot meet those requirements," Mr Manne said.
A spokesman for the Department of Home Affairs said "the SHEV pathway is designed to provide a limited opportunity to apply for prescribed visas, including certain permanent visas".
"SHEV holders who meet the SHEV pathway requirements will not automatically be granted one of the prescribed visas," the spokesman said.
"To be granted a visa under the SHEV pathway, applicants will need to apply for and meet the specific criteria of the chosen visa and the SHEV pathway requirements."
'Delay and dysfunction' for visa processing
A chance Facebook chat in 2013 led Rhohullah Hussaini to the city of Swan Hill, located in regional Victoria, alongside the Murray River. It's been his home ever since.
"Swan Hill is a beautiful place. And I love this town. I love the Swan Hill area. And I love Swan Hill people here. It helped me a lot," Mr Hussaini told ABC's 7.30.
Few could match Mr Hussaini's passion for his town and his great love for the community.
His full-time job is as a caretaker. His mornings start early, mowing and tending the council's vast number of parks and stadiums. They are spotless by the time he finishes.
He's also a volunteer for the local State Emergency Service, and is an allied health assistant for other Afghan men in Swan Hill.
"If anything has happened, we are ready to help, and that's why I joined the SES," he said.
"I love to help others. And this is the only way for me to give back to this beautiful country town."
Mr Hussaini is upbeat and hopeful, but behind his smile is a story of tragedy.
He arrived in Australia by boat in 2012, after fleeing persecution in Afghanistan. He has a two-year-old daughter in Afghanistan who he's never met. Four months ago, the Taliban shot one of his sisters.
Mr Hussaini faces another dilemma. He applied for a SHEV in 2019. But, three years on, his application still has not been considered.
Mr Manne says these kinds of delays have become far too common.
"The processing has been mired in such delay and dysfunction, that some people have actually waited years for processing of that visa," Mr Manne said.
Mr Hussaini says he cannot see why the government has made it hard for refugees who, like him, are eager to work, to settle. He says when jobs are advertised at the council he works for, sometimes it struggles to fill vacancies.
"This is the bloody workforce we need now, after all this pandemic."
A spokesman for the Department of Home Affairs said: "The Department aims to finalise SHEV applications as quickly [as] possible. This is a very complex process and can take some time."
Mr Hussaini's dream, like that of many Australians, is a simple one: He wants to buy his own house, a difficult feat for those on temporary protection visas.
And he hopes that, one day, he'll be able to reunite with his family in Australia.
"I'm just hoping I can have my family in this country. To keep them safe, as a brother, as a husband, as a father," he said. "And I wish and I hope I can hug my daughter."
It's a distant dream. But it's one that he's holding on to.
This story was completed with the assistance of a Michael Gordon Fellowship.
Watch this story on 7.30 tonight on ABC TV and ABC iview.
