Geraldton visa holders set to permanently reside in WA after a long battle and ministerial intervention

A beloved local healthcare professional who was at risk of being deported due to government red tape has been allowed to stay in Geraldton at the eleventh hour. Zivile Juchneviciute is one of Geraldton Regional Hospital’s top nurses and she and her partner Peter Winsor had plans to settle in the Mid West city after moving from the UK in 2018. Ms Juchneviciute was initially told she could apply for permanent residency after two years full-time work with the hospital. But the Federal Government later changed the number of years she would have to work to apply for permanent residency, which would not have been a problem except for the fact she was due to turn 46 years old before her three years were up. Under strict immigration policy, a TSS visa holder “usually” has to be under 45 to apply for permanent residency through their employer. But former immigration minister Alex Hawke intervened days before the Coalition was booted from government, approving the couple’s permanent visas just one month before their temporary visas were due to expire. Mr Winsor said due to the length of the process, and the challenges faced, Ms Juchneviciute didn’t react after finally receiving the news. “She didn’t jump up and down with joy, and she was just sort of in a state of shock,” he said. The process of applying for ministerial intervention had been grueling, with Mr Winsor saying Mr Hawke could only complete his review if the couple did not have a current visa and were detained. “They pass you through two security doors, put you in a room no bigger than a prison cell, they lock you in there, and we were sat in that in that room for 2½ hours,” he said. Mr Winsor said there were thousands of visa holders in the same situation who are forced out of the country, and the system made it difficult for visa holders to become permanent residents. “I would like to say to this (Labor) government: can they look into this process, and get the immigration department as a whole to make a more common sense approach to it?” he said. Mr Winsor said Mr Hawke had recognised the importance of a skilled nurse like Ms Juchneviciute staying in Geraldton at a time when staffing shortages were at crisis point in regional WA. “(Their initial application for a permanent visa) just came back black and white, ‘your wife is now 46, tough luck’. Yet, when (Mr Hawke) actually deals with it, he looks at it and says, ‘oh, common sense, we need nurses’,” he said. While he and his partner were beyond relieved to be staying in Geraldton, Mr Winsor said there were thousands of visa holders who were less fortunate.