Argentinian Sergio Rivas Gutiérrez has been in Australia for almost eight years after arriving in the country on a tourist visa.
However, after applying for another type of visa, as a student, and renewing that time and time again, he said he had not managed to find a path that would lead him to fulfill his goal to stay and live in Australia... until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
After just over five years of living in London, Mr Rivas said he had travelled to Sydney to visit a friend.
His idea was to return to Europe after a few months, but the Australian climate and lifestyle convinced him to extend his stay in Australia a little longer, he said.
When his tourist visa expired, Mr Rivas said he had applied for a student visa and started some tourism courses in Sydney.
Chef Sergio Rivas Gutiérrez was determined to stay in Australia. Source: Supplied
Language was not a problem for him and neither was work as he soon got a job in the hospitality sector, he said.
For the next five years, Mr Rivas said he had dedicated himself to work and study amid constant pressure to renew his visa and pay for new courses to extend his stay in Australia.
First, he did the tourism courses for a couple of years. Then, he learned about marketing and later he took classes to consolidate his English.
For the entire period, he had lived in Sydney, where he never lacked employment in the restaurant and bar sector, he said.
"I have a lot of experience in hospitality,” Mr Rivas told SBS Spanish.
“From the age of 18, I started working in this sector so that opened many doors around the world for me.”
But despite having everyday life and work organised, Mr Rivas said his visa situation had continued to be a bugbear.
One more course to ensure a future in Australia
Faced with this scenario, Mr Rivas said he decided that it was a time to invest in something more solid and enrolled in a course to officially become a qualified chef.
“I ended up studying a commercial cookery course,” he said.
“I knew I had all the skills to work in the kitchen. In fact, I had already worked in other countries, such as Barcelona, and that helped me extend my time in Australia.”
With this additional qualification coupled with his work experience, Mr Rivas found work even easier than before.
Soon he was a chef in a restaurant and his desire to stay and live in Australia grew more intense as he had made the decision not to return to Argentina, he said.
I have been living abroad for thirteen years and I still don't really feel like living in Argentina again. For many reasons: the economy, there is a lot of violence in South America... and that makes me fight hard not to return to Argentina.
He said he hadn’t wanted to return to Argentina and he didn’t want to continue staying in Australia under a student visa but at nearly 40, he felt his chances of staying in Australia were slipping away.
The pandemic arrived causing the closure of restaurants
Unfortunately for him, when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit Australia, he lost his job in the restaurant.
Gradually, COVID-19 restrictions began to seriously affect the hospitality sector.
Dozens of restaurants decided to close their doors, because not only could they not accommodate a large number of diners because of restrictions around social distancing but there was a nationwide staff shortage in the sector.
A few months after the closure of Australia's international borders, things became even more complicated, Mr Rivas said.
International students, people with temporary work permits or other types of visas with labour rights – who are usually employed in the hospitality sector – had left or could not enter the country, and it was very difficult to convince local people to take these types of jobs, especially because of the instability caused by restrictions and constant lockdowns.
In this context of labour shortages, his personal situation was good, he said.
Three months after the end of the first lockdown, Mr Rivas said he found a new job as a chef.
However, he said there was something that worried him: time was passing and the situation in Australia and the rest of the world was one of crisis. So how could he stay in Australia?
Argentine Sergio Rivas Gutiérrez now runs a cafe restaurant in Wollongong. Source: Supplied
The second long lockdown in Sydney was a moment of clarity, he said. During those days, he began to analyse what was happening in the country and what his personal situation was.
By then his new boss had already proposed that Mr Rivas take over another restaurant on the outskirts of Sydney.
"After a month of starting to work with them at a bistro hotel, my boss and his wife offered me the job of running a cafe in the Wollongong area," he said.
Turning point in residency journey
During the second lockdown, Mr Rivas said he began to connect the dots: if things continued like this, and the borders remained closed, this was the opportunity he had been waiting for.
I knew very well that there would be no workers. Most had left. I silently analysed it and said to myself: it's now or never!
He said he knew from his experience in Europe, that the number of immigrants would begin to decrease and with that, there would be more opportunities for those who had stayed on in Australia, like himself.
"In London, when Brexit happened, there was a lack of manpower because many immigrants went back to their countries. I compared that to what was going to happen in Australia,” he said.
"Then I said: I have the experience at work, I can run a business, there are no workers, airports are closed. It's now or never. This is my last chance to be able to apply for [a sponsorship].”
The pandemic and lockdowns led to a shortage of staff in the hospitality sector. Source: Getty Images
The cafe’s owner, Adam Bolton, said he had weighed things up and realised that he wanted to keep Mr Rivas so he accepted his request for sponsorship.
"[The lack of workers] was one of the main reasons and also because he's an amazing guy,” Mr Bolton said.
The way he works is really rare to find in local people.
“You know, I don't know if it comes from his heritage or where he comes from (but) his vision of life, respect for work is a hard thing to find.”
Hard work and 5am starts no problem for chef
As part of the negotiation, Mr Rivas said he promised to throw his efforts into the restaurant one hundred per cent and often started work at 5am even though the cafe didn't open until 8am.
He said he was determined to increase sales and improve the performance of the eatery.
In exchange, he said his boss would sponsor a visa, which allowed a worker, appointed by his employer, to live and work in Australia.
He said for him, the pandemic had created the opportunity he needed to reap everything sown over the past seven years.
Other bilingual content:
Meet Asriel, the little boy who learned to speak Spanish from watching cartoons
