Forrest Prospect Fellow, Dr Catriona Stevens, and Professor Loretta Baldassar from UWA's Social Care and Ageing Living Lab discuss how COVID-19 is impacting essential workers who hold temporary visas.
Recent cases of Covid-19 that have emerged from Australia’s hotel quarantine have revealed the plight facing many of our essential workers.
Many of these essential workers are temporary visa holders, including students, graduates and working holiday makers who fill important front-line roles in sectors such as aged care, delivery driving, or – as the recent case 903 in Perth illustrates – hotel quarantine and other security services.
Although critical to Australia’s society and economy, they face multiple sources of stress and anxiety, particularly during Covid-19 and public policy needs to better acknowledge and mitigate the challenges they face.
Some of the stresses these essential workers face arise from their visa status and associated conditions, which can make their financial circumstances even more challenging than those of other workers in Australia.
Temporary visa holders are usually ineligible for many of the benefits afforded permanent residents and citizens, such as healthcare, fee-free primary and secondary education, and social security, including the Child Care Subsidy. Nor were they eligible for Job Keeper or Job Seeker payments during Covid-19 lockdowns.
As a result, temporary visa holders are burdened by expenses that other Australian workers don’t have to worry about. These include visa and broker fees, mandatory health insurance, and full childcare costs for those with children accompanying them to Australia. International students also pay much higher fees than domestic students.
Although temporary visa holders have higher living costs, their wages are rarely commensurate. Essential work is often lower paid and precarious, sometimes requiring people to hold multiple jobs. Case 903 has clearly demonstrated the high risks associated with such practices for essential workers at the frontline of the pandemic.
Many essential workers are also employed on casual contracts, with no entitlement to leave and, in particular, sick pay. Without access to sick leave, many workers cannot afford to stay home when they are unwell, increasing the risk of viral transmission.
Although essential workers in care or delivery sectors have not typically experienced a decline in employment during the pandemic, they often co-habit and share bills with other temporary visa holders who are employed in sectors that have been badly affected, such as hospitality. International students working in these roles have experienced significant hardship during Covid-19, with many turning to food banks and community support for their basic needs.
But it is important to note that international students must still be enrolled in a full-time course to maintain their visa status. This means they are under great pressure to complete their studies while also working long hours in essential roles.
Migrants working in essential roles may also be very worried about their families in their home country during the pandemic. Covid-19 and border closures have created emotional stress and anxiety for everybody who has loved ones living overseas.
These stresses are heightened for temporary visa holders whose social support networks tend to be based in their home country, unlike many other Australian citizens and residents.
Temporary visa holders, like other migrants, may send money to family members overseas. However, family financial pressures are likely to have increased during Covid-19, especially when family are in countries more severely affected by pandemic shutdowns.
It’s often the case that temporary visa holders have come to Australia on their own, leaving parents, partners, even children in the home country. These decisions are influenced by their ineligibility for government services or payments such as the childcare subsidy.
Families maintain connection across distance through phone messages and video calls, but regular visits are also important for strong relationships. When plans to visit are disrupted by border closures, indeterminate periods of separation can seriously affect the mental health and wellbeing of these workers.
Those on temporary visas and lower incomes, who cannot afford expensive flights and quarantine costs, are also disproportionately affected by border closures. While Australian citizens might risk overseas travel in exceptional circumstances, temporary visa holders will not be permitted to return if they leave.
If ‘vaccine passports’ become the norm, our essential workers will also face an additional barrier when it comes to travelling, reflecting existing patterns of inequality in mobility rights.
It’s heartening to see that new immigration rules have relaxed working hour restrictions for international students employed in industries central to Australia’s pandemic preparedness, including care and health sectors. This is a welcome change, and a clear policy recognition of the essential role these workers play.
Too much of the conversation about migrants working on the frontline of the Australian pandemic response has focussed on the risks they pose to the public. We need to remember the risks they face going to work every day. Many of these risks are created by their visa conditions and the knock-on effects of their temporary status.