ZHANG JIN came to Australia from China’s Guangdong province in 2008 to study translating and interpreting. Already fluent in English, his skills were listed as “in demand” by the federal government and he anticipated that once he had completed his master’s degree at RMIT University he would easily qualify for permanent residence in Australia. But after studying hard for two years – and paying $42,000 in tuition fees – he emerged from his course to find that the rules had changed.

It is not that Australia has rejected Zhang. His migration application remains valid, but – like tens of thousands of others – it is stuck in the system. So far he has waited sixteen months for his application to be processed. Others in his situation have waited more than two years and there is no end in sight…