The coronavirus visa may assist some people unable to return to their home country due to international lockdowns. To be eligible for the 408 subclass visa, however, applicants need to work in areas such as public health, aged care, childcare and agriculture.

Those not eligible have been left stranded without jobs, money for rent, fees for education, and with their dreams crushed. For many Greeks, the current crisis is bringing back vivid memories of the recent debt crisis they had come to Australia to escape from.

Chef Fay Chiaki migrated in 2013 and arrived on a tourist visa before obtaining a student visa as she undertook studies in the culinary arts. Following her marriage with an Australian national, she obtained a partner visa and was a step before obtaining her permanent residency before coronavirus measures crushed her industry and saw her pay significantly reduced.

“I am among the lucky ones because I work at a Greek confectionary store in Sydney, and I am responsible for the store. Of course, my hours have been reduced and it is uncertain what will happen after Easter,” she told Neos Kosmos, feeling lucky she is no longer on a student visa where she was only allowed to work 20 hours a week while paying off fees of $3000 per trimester.

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“Every week we pay taxes and contribute towards superannuation just like every Australia, plus we pay for private Bupa insurance, and now, because we weren’t born here, the Australian state will not help us. If I had a child, what would happen? Why should it starve?” she said.

Like Fay, Panos Iliopoulos had acquired a student visa, and currently works at a histology lab at a Melbourne hospital. He, too, is one of the lucky ones who can work full-time as his work is considered “essential”.

“Of course, work has declined because (unnecessary) surgical operations have dropped as Covid-19 patients are given priority, and perhaps employees may need to be reduced in my sector so as to ensure social distancing in the lab,” he said.

The most vulnerable are students forced to take on work in industries, such as the hospitality industry, where there is wage theft. Their income has disappeared overnight.

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Nicholas, who asked for his name to be withheld, arrived in Sydney on 28 January from Rhodes to visit his cousins. He changed his flight from 26 April to 2 April, however all flights were cancelled. “My visa expires on 26 April, as does my travel insurance. What will I do?” he asked, stating that he is in dire straits. “I don’t want to stay illegally, I changed my flight to leave on 2 April. I now have an open ticket until the 30 June, and I don’t have money to buy a new ticket. It is expensive.”

The Greek Embassy in Australia was not helpful and merely directed him to contact the Immigration Department, despite his poor English.