Long time Airlie Beach resident gets last minute visa invite

A hard-working British backpacker turned 10-year Airlie Beach resident is now officially a local after an 11th hour birthday surprise stopped her from having to leave the country.

Jana Padfield says she has two months left on her visa and that her only option left is to get a visa that's given to too little applicants. Picture: Contributed

Jana Padfield has always called Airlie Beach home since she came here 10 years ago.

Like many other backpackers, she had come on her first working holiday visa in search of adventure and a better life.

Since that time, she has done everything she can to stay in her new ‘home’, studying here twice and working for many different businesses in the Whitsundays.

For Jana, Airlie Beach became a home that she never wanted to leave.

Since 2013, she has gone through two working holidays visas, two student visas and two Covid visas, but she had come to the end of her options last year, when she learned she was not eligible for a graduate visa and not able to secure a sponsorship.

And as she thought all hope was lost to finding a new way to stay in the country, Jana received the response she had been waiting for only a few weeks before her last visa expired.

Her last two options were special visas granted in very limited numbers, the Queensland Government Skilled Work Regional Visa, and the Skilled Residency Visa.

After sending through expressions of interest, she worriedly saw time fly and no invitations to apply come through.

A petition started that gathered over 7000 signatures, meetings with Whitsundays local MPs and several interviews later seemed to have been a waste of time, until Jana received a fast-track invitation to apply for a skilled work visa on her birthday last Friday.

It was only a few weeks before her last visa would expire.

Federal MP Andrew Willcox said after Jana had reached out to him over a month ago, he wrote to the department of Immigration to advocate on her behalf.

It is not clear whether Jana’s invitation was sent because of this, all we know is that this publication had also contacted Mr Dawson’s office about it when Jana reached out to them.

“This is great outcome for Jana, and we wish her all the best with her visa application and her future here in the beautiful Whitsundays,” Mr Dawson’s concluded.

Jana is now in the middle of the process to apply for this skilled worker visa.