A Brief Conversation

Kathryn Viegas is the Director of Nomos Legal and is an Accredited Specialist in Immigration Law, an accreditation which only 41 immigration lawyers hold in New South Wales. A migrant herself, Kathryn’s immense passion for advocating for the rights of the most disenfranchised has allowed her to encounter individuals in their most vulnerable states. Boasting a wide portfolio, Kathryn balances her passion for her practice with other noble pursuits including holding positions as the President of the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre, as well as Secretary of Diverse Women in Law. I spoke to Kathryn about her encounters of resilience and the challenges of working in immigration law post COVID-19. I am truly honoured to have had the chance to speak to Kathryn whose commitment to social justice has never wavered. The Brief would like to thank her for her time and incredible insight into the ever-changing landscape of immigration law.

with Kathryn Viegas

Brindha Srinivas

Throughout your career you have advocated for the rights of the most marginalised within Australia’s immigration program, including asylum seekers and people living with

HIV and other medical conditions. How have you personally seen acts of resilience from individuals and/or communities?

What does resilience mean to you?

In my work as an immigration lawyer anyone I encounter who is going through some form of migration process, whether that be applying for a temporary visa, permanent residency or pursing judicial review, all of them are required to demonstrate some form of resilience. It is a daunting process which is amplified for those who are asylum seekers or people with medical conditions. One of the things I learnt pretty early on in my career when I worked at the HIV/Aids Legal Centre was that these particular cohorts of clients have additional barriers to face when applying for a visa. For them, the process is more stressful and takes longer.

There is an element of resilience required for anybody who is looking to migrate but particularly so where there is a complication in their case. I have had clients who have been physically tortured and are survivors of trauma. One client in particular faced a 10year process before he finally got his visa. When compounded with all of his physical and medical conditions there was that continual sense that this could be the day that the Department or Minister would tell him that he would have to pack up and go. Every time I think of clients like him, I have tremendous respect and admiration for their resilience.

Towards the end of last year, we saw that France rewarded

COVID-19 frontline immigrant workers for their service to the country with fast-track citizenship. Australia has also flagged temporary concessions for those who are not able to travel offshore to be granted visas due to COVID-19 related border closures. In your opinion how has the Australian government supported or not supported visa applicants and the greater immigrant community during the COVID-19 period?

The French decision to reward frontline workers was a fabulous one. Here was a country in a desperate situation who acknowledged the role that visa holders and migrants played in working towards resolving the pandemic and what better way to reward them than with the stamp of approval for citizenship. I thought it was a really generous and welcoming gesture.

Australia's response has been a little bit different. There have certainly been some attempts to try and make things more straightforward for visa applicants. With the uncertainty of the pandemic, we are sitting here 12 months later almost in the same position as we were in March of last year. I can appreciate that for the government it is very hard to make effective decisions when you have no end in sight. A lot of the decisions that were made early last year I imagine were made with the view of the pandemic lasting for maybe six months and then we would perhaps go back to normalcy. Now that we're 12 months down the track the reality of how the pandemic has actually affected people is starting to hit home and the government is having to deal with questions that perhaps they haven't thought about in March of last year.

As advisers we have struggled with trying to navigate this system. There is a great deal of uncertainty and coupled with this is trying to reassure a client who is already stressed and anxious. I am glad to see that finally we have some sort of movement in terms of concessions for people experiencing COVID-related complications that perhaps we could not have foreseen last year. One example is changes to where you have to be to be granted a visa. We are starting to see some practical steps to tackle this such as allowing a certain cohort of people to be able to be granted their visas onshore. It might not have been timely enough for some people, but it is progress.

The other aspect of how visa holders have been treated through the pandemic are issues to do with JobKeeper and JobSeeker. We have all seen the coverage where temporary visa holders were denied access to JobKeeper. This has not only impacted the visa holder but their employers.

It has been a mixed bag for visa holders through the pandemic, but I am glad that we are seeing a bit of reason and some practical strategies to try and at least help people who are stuck in limbo trying resolve their status.

I definitely support how France has smoothly handled their frontline immigrant workers. What are some difficulties/challenges that come with working in immigration law?

In terms of the legal issues, the Migration Act 1958 is a massive piece of legislation and it has associated regulations, policies and instruments that you have to be familiar with in order to properly advise clients. Immigration law is also a quickly changing environment. Sometimes the changes are unexpected and other times we are given some warning in order to prepare clients. For example, in 2017 when Prime Minister Turnbull made the announcement that they were going to abolish the Subclass 457 Visa, the work visa that most foreign nationals used to come and work in Australia, the timing of that announcement took us all by surprise. Many people only became aware of it via a Facebook post. Within half an hour of the announcement being made we had phone calls and were scrambling for information to assist our clients.

In the last few years, we've had a lot of information being disseminated to us and the public by way of media release or announcement and then quite often

the substantial law comes afterwards, so staying on top of these is vital. The rapid changes in this environment are difficult to keep on top of but in many ways, I enjoy that challenge.

Another difficulty is the fact that the cause is politicised quite often, and it can be hard to reconcile yourself as a practitioner to some of the laws and policies that are being enacted. For me, this has been particularly relevant in the asylum seeker space where questions about the government's policy on offshore detention and how we treat asylum seekers is prevalent. I try and bring myself back to the client’s experience and I focus on tangible steps I can take to assist them, because I think that's ultimately what my purpose is.

The other thing that sometimes makes it challenging, certainly when I first started and in fact was the very thing that attracted me to immigration law was that it is entirely based around people. Everything that you do is related to one individual, a family group or sometimes a business. This can sometimes also be draining when you're really passionate about their case. It can be difficult to maintain a professional boundary. In that way it is hard to navigate your own resilience.

I wanted to be able to help people through my law degree and it's lovely to sometimes get an email from somebody who I haven't seen in 10 years, but they just wanted to tell me that they were thinking of me. Moments like that remind me of the power that we can have in somebody else’s life and I think that is a true privilege.

I understand that you are also the President of the Immigration Advice and Rights

Centre, which is a community legal centre that provides free information, legal advice and representation to vulnerable migrants. I note that IARC is actively involved in policy development and law reform, having made submissions on temporary migration, family, domestic and sexual violence as well as the

Migration Amendment (Prohibited Items in

Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2020.

Why is law reform integral to immigration law?

Law reform is pertinent in this area because we're talking about the administration of government power. I think it is really important for organisations such as IARC to be involved in the process of making submissions as the staff are on the frontline of dealing with the reality of people in vulnerable positions. It is critical for us to be making submissions as there is often a gap between theory and practice. What we often find in many of the committee hearings is that solicitors will speak about the issues that they've raised in their submissions and a Senator for example might not have heard of that sort of experience. They might not have turned their minds to a particular issue because they are operating at a completely different level, the theoretical level. They understand the law, but they cannot always foresee the impact of that law on the community. For this reason, I believe that making policy submissions and being a voice for a number of people who may otherwise be voiceless is one of the most important things IARC does.

What advice would you give to students who have a particular interest in immigration law and pro-bono work? How can they get involved?

If a student is definite that immigration law is an area that they want to pursue I would suggest contacting immigration law firms and asking for opportunities whether that be through placements, internships, legal assistant or paralegal roles. Now, with LinkedIn as a platform it becomes much easier to connect to people and I think that it is an excellent way of being proactive and trying to put yourself in that space if that is your area of preference. Additionally, getting involved with organisations such as Diverse Women in Law (DWL) where we have a mentoring program allows individuals to network with professionals who may be in the field that they are interested in or to have a discussion about career progression. Another great starting point would be to contact community legal centres (CLC) if you’re keen on pro bono work and see if they are running their volunteer programs. That’s what I did, I made a list of accessible CLCs and asked if I could do my PLT with one of them and was fortunate enough to be offered 2 different placements. I learnt more in those roles than I would ever have imagined in terms of the different clients and their stories. We all get letters of rejection or silence, but I think simply putting yourself out there can sometimes open up a door that you might otherwise not expect.