Increasing waiting times for permanent residency visas are putting migrant workers in Australia at greater risk of exploitation and deportation, unions and migration agents say.
Migrants relying on an employer to sponsor them to gain permanent residency face up to two years in limbo while their visa applications are processed.
And that can be a long time in business.
“When businesses collapse - which is fairly frequent, particularly in some industries - they leave behind carnage and it’s particularly hard on workers on visas,” United Voice ACT secretary Lyndal Ryan said.
