Temporary work,permanent visas and circular dreams: Temporal disjunctures and precarity among Chinese migrants to Australia

Abstract

This article considers the disjunctures that exist between the temporalities of legal status and those of migrants’ lived experiences, and explores the relationship between precarity and temporality. Ethnographic research conducted among recent migrants from China living in Perth, Western Australia with a focus on migrants who have been sponsored by employers to work and remain in Australia, demonstrates that while migrants may hold temporary or permanent visas, their migration objectives and settlement processes do not necessarily accord with their formal status. Many individuals who arrived in Australia with the intention of quickly attaining permanent residency find their plans are stymied by shifting circumstances and changes to migration legislation. They instead continue to experience the precarious employment, liminality and family disruption that come with a prolonged and indeterminate temporariness. Meanwhile others have become permanent residents despite arriving as self-imagined sojourners, employment in Australia very often only the next step in a series of temporary labour migrations. Even after many years of permanent status, however, these migrants commonly experience a limited sense of belonging and imagine futures that entail circular patterns of on-migration. The case studies presented disrupt the sense of permanence that is implied in secure legal statuses, and provide evidence of the lasting impact of precarious temporalities.