Woman forced to leave Australia after eight years calling it 'home'
The 31-one year-old instantly felt at home after moving to Sydney in 2016. But failing to get her permanent residency, she's now forced to leave her life behind.
Australia has welcomed a record number of migrants in recent years, but 31-year-old Yassu Brandhorst said she's "very sad" not to be able to officially call Down Under home after eight years in the country.
The traveller left the Netherlands for Australia in 2016, but “never with the intention to stay". She was hoping to fill a gap year with travel before moving back. But shortly after arriving in Sydney "it instantly felt like home" — and it was until last month when she was forced to leave.
Yassu was just 22 when she first arrived on a working holiday visa as "a young, naive little girl," she told Yahoo News Australia. She began work as an au pair immediately before meeting her then-boyfriend three months in. An Irish national himself, he’d planned on doing farm work to gain his second-year visa – a plan she’d never before then considered.
After living and working in Mildura, picking fruit on a farm, she was granted a second-year working holiday visa before eventually switching to her boyfriend’s de-facto visa after he got sponsored through his job.
But when they broke up two years later she was left with few options. In a desperate bid to continue her life in Australia Yassu, then 24, applied for a student visa, allowing her to study and work in event management. But she lost her job when the Covid pandemic hit.
Even with “no money and no job” she wanted to stay, so her family back home supported her until she was able to find work once more.
Expat 'upset' over being made to leave Australia
Since then, the expat has been on a temporary Covid-19 visa which allows international travellers to stay in Australia to work if they are employed, or have an offer of employment in any sector of the economy. But with that now ending, Yassu was forced to leave behind the life she's known for eight years — one of the hardest things she's ever had to do, she told Yahoo.
"It is very depressing," the 31-year-old told Yahoo from her parents' home in the Netherlands. "It's been very, very hard being back. Especially because I feel it wasn't a decision I made. I feel like I was forced.
"After ten years of living on my own, it's hard to be back with my parents — it's a big change. But I don't have anywhere else to go.
"I just feel upset with the Australian Government because I feel like I’ve contributed, I felt like a good citizen. I paid everything I needed to pay and I really tried, it just didn't work out".
For most of her 20s, Yassu called Sydney home, living in Bondi, Coogee and Randwick. "I fell in love with the lifestyle," she said.
"The good weather and the beaches made me so happy because I had something to look forward to every morning.
"Living in Australia had a huge impact on my mental health, [it made me feel better]. When I left home I was depressed and very dependent on my family".
Traveller considering options to make Australia home again
Australia's migration intake continues to be a contentious political issue. The Labor government has long argued more workers are desperately needed while critics say the pressure on infrastructure and the housing market has become too much.
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Now, after leaving her friends and her life in Australia, Yassu is considering her options, hoping to find a way to continue her life in the country she calls home. She could study further which "costs a tonne of money" — but already she's spent thousands on Australian visas and moving.
"It's hard because my home is in Australia. My job, my friends, my routine. Also, my furniture is all still there in a storage unit," she said.
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Government's crackdown on migration and visas
While many workers like Yassu head Down Under on working holiday visas before seeking out sponsorship and permanent residency, the Australian government is tinkering with certain visa schemes and classifications of skilled workers.
In response to political pressure over high migration, a big crackdown on international students means that from Monday, July 1, those on temporary graduate, visitor, maritime crew and other visas will not be able to apply for a student visa while they are in Australia.
The change is aimed at clamping down on "visa hopping", which the department claims has contributed to a growing cohort of "permanently temporary" former international students in Australia.
After a record net overseas migration intake of 528,000 in 2022-23, Treasury is forecasting that figure will decline to 395,000 in 2023-24, before tapering off even further to 260,000 in the coming financial year.
The permanent migration program will be capped at 185,000 places in 2024-25, with 132,200 places allocated to the skill stream to “help address Australia’s long-term skill needs”. A new ballot process for the Work and Holiday visa program for China, Vietnam and India from the coming financial year, designed to better manage program demand.
with NCA Newswire
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