Vicky was in the middle of planning her wedding in the Hunter Valley last year when she found out her parents' application for a visa to visit from Myanmar had been knocked back.

After coming to Australia as a student, she had not seen them for about three years because of the pandemic, and was devastated. 

"It took an emotional toll on the entire family," said Vicky, who asked to use a pseudonym to protect her relatives back in Myanmar from being targeted by the country's military government. 

The Department of Home Affairs official who assessed the application said in the rejection letter they were not satisfied that her parents "genuinely intend to visit Australia temporarily".

Davin Hartanto, a partner at Sydney immigration law firm Albert Arthur Lawyers, told the ABC that ever since the coup two years ago people from Myanmar had been having a tough time getting visitor visas.

"While we appreciate that the government acknowledges the dire situation in Myanmar, and is helping Myanmar people in Australia, it is incorrect for case officers to have a bias or assumption that visitor visa applicants from Myanmar intend to apply for permanent protection visa in Australia," Mr Hartanto said.

Myanmar's military junta overthrew the elected government in February 2021, plunging the South-East Asia country into chaos.

Most of the rejections cite the "political and economic situation" as a reason why applicants would not want to return to Myanmar. 

However, Vicky said her parents had no intention of abandoning their life there to stay in Australia.

Her father was a company director, she said, and her parents had assets including three houses, two cars and significant savings in Myanmar.

Meanwhile, her parents' siblings are still in Myanmar — including Vicky's aunt who has health problems and lives with them.

"Their entire lives are built and set in Myanmar," she said.

 

Myanmar was plunged into chaos after the military junta overthrew the democratically elected government in 2021. (AP: Nava Sangthong)

The only incentive the rejection letter cited for her parents to stay in Australia was that Vicky and her brother had both settled here. 

"It felt like the decision-maker was not being entirely transparent with their decision as it was clear that their decision was significantly influenced by the political movements in Myanmar, but the decision record did not once refer to the refusal being related to political instability," she said.

Now an Australian permanent resident, Vicky and her partner ended up cancelling the Hunter Valley wedding and getting married in Bangkok instead, wasting more than $5,000 they had already spent.  

Applying for visas like 'buying a lottery ticket'

Mr Hartanto said his Myanmar clients and their family in Australia felt they were being treated unfairly.

While there were some people who applied for visitor visas with the intention of seeking asylum when they arrived, he said, others genuinely just wanted to see their loved ones for significant milestones like weddings or graduations and then return home.

He said for them, applying for a visitor visa was like "buying a lottery ticket".

Of the applications that had come through his office this year only two or three had been approved out of about 20, he said.

"Eight out of 10 times you will get refused, but one or two times you get an approval as well." 

 

Davin Hartanto says Myanmar nationals applying for temporary visas to Australia are being treated unfairly. (Supplied)

Mr Hartanto said the application process seemed arbitrary for many applicants who felt they had provided significant evidence showing an incentive to return to Myanmar that was not being given proper consideration.

Assets like property and businesses were disregarded because they could potentially be rented or sold off, he said.

"Some families have built up businesses over so many years, and it's not like they're just going to one day sell off everything and just move," he said.

While some visa applicants had the right to appeal a rejection, the process was expensive and time-consuming, he said.

Mr Hartanto also pointed out that relatively few people from Myanmar were applying for protection visas onshore in Australia.

According to figures on the Department of Home Affairs website, of the 6,109 people that made a lodgement for a protection visa onshore between June to September only 129 were from Myanmar.

The ABC sent a series of questions to the Department of Home Affairs but did not receive a response.  

'A waste of time and money'

Anne, another Myanmar national who also asked to use a pseudonym, had her application for a visitor visa to attend her niece's wedding in Australia rejected last month for the same reason as Vicky's parents.

Her rejection letter did cite the "political and current economic circumstances" in Myanmar.

However, Anne had already come to Australia on visitor visas and returned home to Myanmar twice since the 2021 coup.

"The Australian government should have taken into consideration my clean immigration record and my strong ties to Myanmar, as evidenced by the supporting documents I provided," she told the ABC.

Anne said she believed immigration officers were rejecting visas without thoroughly reviewing the documentation provided to them.

Her rejection letter said she had provided no evidence of her savings, even though she had attached all of her savings and deposit books, she said.

"If immigration officers are instructed to reject visitor visas from Myanmar, the Australian government should pause the new visitor visa applications altogether," she said.

"Otherwise, it is a waste of time and money for applicants who apply in good faith."

Mr Hartanto said the government should be more transparent about why applications were being rejected and take more care to ensure that all evidence was properly considered.

The government could also take measures to ensure applicants complied with their visa conditions, such as imposing monetary bonds, he added.

"While I acknowledge that the situation in Myanmar is challenging, I believe it shouldn't impede individuals, especially those with family ties in Australia, from temporarily visiting," he said.