Ten years after arriving in Australia from war-torn Sri Lanka, Tamil refugee Jaganthan Thankavel says the visa process means he and his family still can't properly settle and contribute to the regional NSW community they now call home.
Mr Thankavel, a painter in Sri Lanka, says he is trapped by a temporary bridging visa that prevents him finding a permanent job, while he has been inexplicably denied a visa designed to settle refugees in regional areas.
Refugee advocates say processing visa cases like the Thankavel family should be improved for the sake of refugees and regional economies.
In 2009, Mr Thankavel, his wife and their baby daughter fled for their lives after attempting to first "move to 50 different places" within their war-torn country to escape the Sri Lankan army.
"We lived underground in bunkers; after the army came we moved to another place and made a new bunker," he said.
But, for ethnic Tamils such as themselves, even the local refugee camps were not safe.
"Many people at that time were taken outside the camp; there was no reporting or anything, they just died."
An estimated 150,000 Tamils sought refuge in the camp; the number of people killed in them is unknown.
'We had one choice'
Mr Thankavel said he was able to get his family to India where they lived for three years, but a fear of ongoing discrimination and persecution forced his young family to travel more than 4,500 kilometres by boat to Australia's Christmas Island.
They barely survived the trip.
"It took us 18 days. After seven days the engine stopped, and after five days we had no food, only water," Mr Thankavel said.
Their boat was stopped by the Australian Navy, before they were transferred to a detention centre on Christmas Island.
"In Sri Lanka I slept with my head up, wondering which time my life would be taken, but on Christmas Island this was not a problem," Mr Thankavel said..
Visa holding him back
After spending seven months in offshore processing, Mr Thankavel's family arrived in Orange, in central west NSW, in 2012.
Over the last decade he has worked as a cleaner to support his family and plans to open a Sri Lankan food truck business in Bathurst in the near future.
But Mr Thankavel said his temporary bridging visa prevented him from finding permanent work.
"The immigration department says, 'You can do work,' but some companies just can't give the work because I have a bridging visa."
Visas for regional areas
The Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) is a pathway for refugees to achieve permanent residency in regional Australia.
Mr Thankavel's family has previously applied for a SHEV but was turned down for unknown reasons, despite meeting the criteria of living in a regional community and not receiving benefit payments.
In March of last year, he applied for the visa once again, but is still waiting for a response.
The National President of Rural Australians for Refugees, Louise Redmond said there were many cases of people meeting the SHEV criteria but not receiving permanent residency.
The chair of the Bathurst Refugee Support Group, Brian Mowbray said Jaganthan's case was an example of why the processing of SHEV applications must be improved.
"He has a good family, he's working — so why hasn't he been able to get a SHEV visa," Mr Mowbray said.
Ms Redmond said Mr Thankavel likely hasn't been approved for a SHEV because the federal government believed his family can return to Sri Lanka.
"The government has a stated position that if is safe for people to return to Sri Lanka and yet Tamils do not accept that," Mr Mowbray said.
Ms Redmond said delays in processing visa applications for regional areas was negatively impacting the economy.
"Our rural and regional areas desperately need this workforce, especially at this point in time now with our borders being closed," he said.
Asked to comment on the Thankavel case, a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said: "Each case is assessed on its merits and decisions, with the safety of particular countries being a factor of consideration."
This weekend marks the end of Harmony Week, which included March 21, the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
