Their willingness to help comes as Australia faces a shortfall of around 26,000 workers over the peak harvest season, due to the closure of international borders as a result of coronavirus restrictions.
As the , a proposal put forward by the to offer 17,000 people in Australia - on two classes of refugee visas - an easier path to residency in exchange for helping out for a year, is gaining momentum.
It’s a proposal the industry “could consider further,” Farmers Federation Australia told 
It’s a proposal that “helps both parties”, according to Syrian refugee Dr Ayman Abu Dakka, who holds a temporary visa after fleeing his country's civil war in 2012.
Fruit pickers are needed across the country for the upcoming harvest seasons. Source: Getty
Arabic24's October 1 feature highlighting Dr Dakka’s plight sparked a wave of support for the Refugee Council proposal on this station's talkback programs.
A number of refugees have endorsed the proposal, including 62-years-old Iraqi Adam Al Ahmad, who came to Australia by boat in 2011.
He has been "in limbo" ever since.
Following his arrival, Al Ahmad was placed in detention for six months and later released with a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV).
Adam Al Ahmad: "I feel tired and defeated. Every day I feel like I live in a tragedy, there is not a single day that passes when I am at ease.” Source: Supplied
He then received a Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV), which encourages holders to live in regional areas.
“If they agree to this [fruit picking] proposal, and I wish they do, I am willing to go,” he said.
I am 62, and I have ongoing health issues, but I am willing to go because I am tired and sick of waiting.
He said his wife and three children continue to live in "unstable conditions" in Iraq and becoming a permanent resident would allow him to travel to see them.
“Last time I met up with them was in 2017 when we met in Iran for three months, but it was a very brief visit.”
Al Ahmad’s current visa stops him from bringing his family to Australia, and he is only permitted to meet them in a third country for a fixed period of time each year.
“I am willing to work hard for residency because if I don’t have it, there is no hope for me to ever be settled.”
‘Only hope’ for a stateless man
Temporary visa holder Danial Al Ganaby, 33, said he immediately contacted immigration officials about his options to pick fruit after hearing the Refugee Council's proposal.
"I will be the first one to sign up for such a scheme, as it is our only hope to settle in Australia," he said.
Al Ganaby is married to an Australian citizen and has two children who hold citizenship, but he has been unable to secure permanent residency because he’s considered stateless.
He was born in Iran into an expelled 10-person Iraqi family, who held neither Iraqi nor Iranian documents.
“I lived in Iran for 22 years, with no documents or the right to work or study or anything.”
As a stateless person, he was unable to travel through regular channels and only managed to reach Iraq through a people smuggler.
He arrived in Australia by boat in 2010, along with his sister and her family of four, after 12 days at sea, before they were transferred into detention.
He recalls that their applications for protection were initially rejected before they were released into community detention.
Danial Al Ganaby with his daughter. Source: Supplied
In 2011, immigration officials interviewed the family and granted Al Ganaby's sister and her family with permanent residency, but his application was rejected.
“What is a law that allows one member of the same family, from the same father and mother, the same blood, to be rejected and the other gets the visa?”
Furthermore, tragedy struck in 2011 when two of his siblings and their two children, aged four and one, drowned along with 237 people when their boat capsized near Java.
“If I had a document and I could have lived in Iran, I would be insane to risk my life by boat.
“I have arrived, but my siblings didn’t.”
A 2012 order to leave Australia saw all government avenues of assistance cut off.
He lived off charity aid until a church group helped him secure another interview with immigration officials in 2014.
“Before this, I hit rock bottom, I went to the Iraqi embassy and asked them to take me back, but they said they can’t because I don’t have a document that proves I am Iraqi.”
When all seemed lost, he was finally granted refugee status and received his first TPV following the 2014 interview.
“I married in 2017, and I have two kids, but I can’t get a partner visa because I have to leave the country first and apply again, and there is no country that will allow me to enter because I’m stateless.
I went through tough times and had many challenges, but in Iran, I didn’t see a good day in 22 years.
“I thank god a thousand times a day because this life is better than what I had in Iran.”
Family separation
Sydney man Mohamed Omar is an Egyptian asylum seeker who has held a TPV for the past five years.
The worst part of not being able to secure residency, he said, is not being able to travel abroad to see his family.
“I haven’t seen my daughter in five years, she going to school next year, and I haven't seen her at all.
“I want to get residency so I can be reunited with my daughter. I am willing to work in fruit picking if there would be a pathway to residency.
“I have worked for years and paid taxes, and I don’t mind doing hard labour, I have been doing this for years.”
Mohamed Omar is an asylum seeker from Egypt. Source: Supplied
Refugee Council’s two-pathway proposal
The Department of Home Affairs previously told SBS Arabic24 that an incentive for refugees to work in regional Australia is already provided through the SHEV pathway.
"The SHEV is a temporary protection visa available to refugees who were unlawful arrivals who intend to work or study in a regional area,” a spokesperson said.
"SHEV holders who have worked without accessing special benefits and/or studied full time, or a combination of both, in a specified regional area for a period totalling 42 months, are eligible to apply for other visas, including prescribed permanent visas."
But, the Refugee Council's Senior Policy Officer Asher Hirsch believes: “The problem is that this [pathway] is not really an incentive, because the subsequent visas that people can apply for, such as a skilled visa, are out of reach for most people.
“They require very high qualifications and skills. They are often very expensive and sometimes you need an employer to sponsor you,” he added.
“Many of these things are difficult to reach so that even if a person does move to a regional area, and about 30 per cent of people on a SHEV have moved to a regional area, it's very unlikely that they are going to be able to apply for and get another subsequent visa.
After that, it means they are going to be stuck on a SHEV for years.
Mr Hirsch said the council’s proposal, which has been submitted to a parliamentary inquiry into the working holidaymaker program, pushes for a change to the pathway so that temporary visa holders are eligible for a permanent visa after one year.
“Our proposal has two pathways. One is to work in a regional area for one year, including in fruit picking, but also in other farm work or agricultural work, or any other area in regional Australia.
"But also to work in critical industries, essential services that face a lot of labour shortages due to the border closures. Even if they are outside of regional Australia.
“With that permanent visa, [temporary visa holders] can include their family members as part of their application, for their family members to be able to get a permanent visa at the same time and be able to join them in Australia.”
