A nurse in South Australia is facing deportation just as the country's hospital and aged care systems are complaining of a shortage of workers in the profession, especially in regional areas.
Clifford Chisengalumbwe is set to be deported at the end of next month if the federal government does not grant him, his wife and his daughter bridging visas or permanent residency to stay in Australia.
The family's current visas do not allow them to apply for permanent residency while in Australia.
Mr Chisengalumbwe has been working in aged care since 2012, and has been an enrolled nurse at the Lerwin Nursing Home in Murray Bridge since 2017.
He and his wife Ngoza first arrived in Australia from Zambia in 2005, and had their daughter Mckayla, in 2014.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation estimates that by 2025 South Australia will be short by 10,000–15,000 nurses and midwives.
There are calls for more nurses to come from overseas and for more Australians to study nursing at university.
The Jobs and Skills Summit that starts tomorrow will focus heavily on skills shortages, along with wages growth and bargaining.
Mr Chisengalumbwe, 43, urged federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to "help genuine people who are working doing their work that is recommended like myself" and allow him and his family to apply for permanent residency while staying in Australia.
"I don't have any criminal record — not even a parking ticket, no driving offences — because when we do get a job, when you need to go through the police clearance so it's a name check, background check and everything so you can't get employed if you've got a criminal record," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"So, I think if someone is genuine and working and contributing to the economy and helping people — like myself — and I'm not just saying that because it's me — there are other people as well who are working genuinely, the company wants them."
His wife Ngoza also works in the aged care sector.
Deportation would hurt community
Mark Glazbrook, a lawyer and the chief executive of Migration Solutions, who is representing the family, said the situation had been "very challenging".
He said he understood why the federal government tried to prevent people applying for various different visas to try to stay in Australia permanently.
"But with Clifford, it's a different story," Mr Glazbrook said.
"He meets the requirements to be given a skilled migration visa.
"That's the same visa that the federal government are talking about extending to attract more people to Australia, especially in critical sectors, to address skill shortages following the pandemic.
"So, yes, I see merit in stopping some people from being able to apply in Australia, but when's someone's a genuine skilled migrant and they meet the eligibility requirement for that visa to be approved, then that's a different story."
He said if the family left Australia, they could be in limbo for one or two years waiting for their new visas to be approved and, even then, some parts of the assessment came down to a "subjective assessment" that could go against them.
"So, their lives, their family, their friends, the role that they've got in the nursing home, that could all be impacted," he said.
"And when you have a look at the shortage of care workers, especially in regional areas, or enrolled nurses in this case, that would have a significant impact on the quality and continuity of care for those people that Clifford is supporting.
"And Clifford is also training and mentoring up-and-coming nurses as well, so he's providing a very valuable and important service not just to the residents and their family and his employer, but also younger people that are coming up through the nursing profession."
Concern from state government
Earlier this month, a Scottish family that was facing deportation was given a one-month reprieve after an appeal on their behalf by South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas to Mr Giles.
Mr Glazbrook said he had not involved any state-level politicians in the Chisengalumbwes' situation, instead hoping Mr Giles would grant them a new visa or permanent residency within the next four weeks.
South Australian Health Minister Chris Picton said he would see if there was any way the state government could advocate for the Chisengalumbwe family.
Mr Picton said it was "absolutely very frustrating to see somebody who's got training, working in South Australia in a much-needed profession now having visa difficulties".
"I don't know the full issues in terms of that visa application, but what I do know is there has been a significant backlog that we've seen of visas for healthcare workers across the board," he said.
"This is a frustration that myself, but also all of my state and territory colleagues have in terms of we need more health workers — we need to have more health workers trained in Australia — but likely in the short-term we are going to need to bring in appropriately skilled health workers from other countries who want to come here and contribute to South Australia and Australia, but there are significant barriers in doing so.
"I hope over the next couple of days as part of the skills summit in Canberra, that this focus in terms of the healthcare workers that we need will be in genuine focus because that is a significant issue for health care, for aged care, right across Australia."
Mr Giles's office was contacted for comment.
