When Thomas Niel stepped onto a flight to France after the death of his grandmother, he was hopeful he would be able to get back home to Cairns soon.
The French national had applied eight times to the Australian Border Force for a travel exemption to attend his grandmother's funeral in September last year and was rejected each time.
"My grandmother helped raise me and my sister. I consider her like a second mother, it was important for me to be there," Mr Niel said.
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Having lived and worked in far north Queensland for the past nine years, Mr Niel is currently on a bridging visa B, which – outside of the pandemic – normally allows travel overseas.
The restaurant manager has been living on a bridging visa while he waits for his permanent, work-sponsored Australian visa to be approved – a process which has so far taken five years.
Desperate, Mr Niel decided to take the risk and travel to France without an exemption to return home.
"I made that call myself, thinking my family really need me. I had a lot of hope that the borders would open up. Everyone thought this would happen within a few months," Mr Niel said.
However, the Department of Home Affairs is yet to change the rules for people on bridging visas, of which there are 360,000 in Australia.
This is despite removing requirements for a travel exemption to re-enter the country on most temporary visas – including working holiday, skilled and student visas – in December.
Trapped in France and with no way to return to his life and job in Australia, Mr Niel is one of thousands of bridging visa holders who have grown increasingly frustrated with the government's refusal to allow them to travel overseas and return home.
"I'm a worker. I work in hospitality in Far North Queensland, a region very impacted, by COVID and having a very hard time finding qualified staff in the region," Mr Niel said.
"I've been in Australia for nine years, and all I'm asking is to come back and work again.
"For me (the government's position) is not understandable, it's just weird."
Mr Niel said it was particularly frustrating to see Prime Minister Scott Morrison's announcement last month of a rebate scheme allowing visa fees to be refunded to backpackers and students in a bid to revive the economy and alleviate labour shortages.
Irish national Amy, who has been living and working in Sydney for almost five years, said she was one of many on bridging visas fed up with the situation and now considering leaving Australia for good.
"What do we do? Give up? Do we want to live in a country that treats people like this?" she said.
"Now, it's at the stage where people want to leave, people have left and will never return over the way people on temporary visas have been treated since the start of the pandemic.
"The government needs to wake up and realise what they are doing to people and their mental health and the reputation it's causing for Australia."
Amy, who holds a senior job in the finance industry, said she was sick of being discriminated against and being dismissed as a backpacker.
"I am not a backpacker. I have my own apartment. I have been paying taxes here. I don't go dressing like a backpacker and it's just highly insulting to be put in that category."
Being cut off from her family for two years with no end in sight had left her feeling trapped and miserable like many others, Amy said.
"I was stuck in isolation all Christmas on my own, my friends got COVID-19, and now it's the new year and I still have no hope of getting home."
"I missed many family occasions over the last two years including the birth of my first niece. I was devastated when I found out bridging visas were excluded from travel."
An online petition calling on the Federal Government to allow bridging visa holders to travel oversea and return home without an exemption has so far attracted more than 17,000 signatures.
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said remaining travel restrictions were needed to balance safely reopening the country with protecting Australian communities from COVID-19.
"These border policies have contributed to Australia having one of the lowest death rates from COVID-19, strongest economies and highest vaccination rates in the world," the spokesperson said.
"The key principles guiding Government decisions on visas while responding to COVID-19, are that our visa system must support public health measures and should not displace job opportunities for Australians."
