A British expat who was days away from being deported has been given a lifeline in his desperate bid to stay in Australia.
Jana Padfield arrived Down Under as an 18-year-old backpacker on a one-way ticket in 2013 and has called Airlie Beach in Queensland’s Whitsundays region home ever since.
After extending her stay through various working holiday, student and COVID visas, which cost almost $50,000 in fees, Ms Padfield’s options recently ran out.
The hospitality executive’s only hope was to get one of two skilled resident visas she expressed interest in six months ago. Both of these visas are issued in very limited numbers.
Her previous and current employers are primarily small businesses that are not in a financial position to sponsor her for another visa.
Desperate to secure permanent residency in Australia and no word on the skilled worker visas she expressed interest in applying for, she sought advice from an immigration agent, lobbied MPs and set up a change.org petition.
With her current visa expiring this month, Ms Padfield was days away from being deported when she received an expedited invitation to apply for a skilled work visa on her 29th birthday on Friday.
The lifeline comes after Liberal MP Andrew Willcox wrote to the Department of Immigration on her behalf.
British expat Jana Padfield (pictured) could be one step closer to getting permanent residence
Ms Padfield is now applying for a skilled worker visa in the hope that she can continue her ‘dream life’ in Australia.
She was forced to pay another $17,000 in her latest quest for permanent residency.
The prospect of being forced to leave broke her heart.
‘I have created such an amazing life in Airlie Beach for the last 10 years. My best friends are here. I have a dog. I have a full-time job. I pay my taxes. I have adequate health care,” Ms Padfield said Seven News last month.
‘It makes me cry and I get choked up every time I talk about it because I’ve built this life for myself.
Jana Padfield was weeks away from being deported when she received a fast-track invitation to apply for a skilled work visa
Jana (pictured) has called Airlie Beach home for the past 10 years
‘I’m walking out of my house now crying because I think I might lose all this and have to fly back to England where I have nothing.’
‘I have followed all the rules to stay here and I don’t know what else I can do.’
Originally from Glastonbury in England’s Somerset region, Ms Padfield hasn’t left Australia since she first arrived as a teenage backpacker on a tourist visa.
She started as a bartender and within two years had worked her way up to supervisor.
She has worked multiple jobs and applied for 10 visas to stay here in Australia over the past decade.
‘I’ve always worked in our community, lived through cyclones and a pandemic, I haven’t left Australia for many years and seen my family because of the constant hard work I’ve endured to afford my visa costs,’ she explained to her online petition.
Jana was devastated at the prospect of being forced to leave her idyllic life at Pentecost
‘I have studied two international student visas to gain more qualifications and worked hard over the last decade to build up the years of experience necessary to become eligible for permanent residency.
“I now tick all the immigration criteria boxes for both a 190/491 visa but I really don’t know what else to do as sponsorship opportunities have consistently fallen through.”
Her petition has attracted nearly 7,500 signatures.
“I am at breaking point because mentally and financially I cannot go through this process again,” Ms Padfield continued.
‘It really breaks my heart and is so soul destroying that someone can work so hard and pay so much money in visa fees with constant shocks, I really know in my heart that this country is where I want to be, this is my home, this is my life and I will continue to fight to the end to live in this beautiful country I call home!
Jana Padfield is desperate to stay in Australia 10 years after she first arrived as a backpacker