Immigrants wary of becoming political fodder as migration debate heats up

Barbara Dervodel is grateful for every single day she has lived in Australia.

Ten years ago, she and her husband, Jure, migrated from their native Slovenia.

Settling in Mandurah, a coastal community 70 kilometres south of Perth in Western Australia, the now 34-year-old said the migration process was challenging "but worth every difficult moment".

The couple came to Australia in 2017 after completing their Masters degrees in science. They spent a year on working holiday visas, fell in love with the country and after five years got permanent residency.

"We are proud Australians now," Ms Dervodel said. So too is their two-year-old daughter.

She is not alone. Many migrants, who contacted the ABC's Your Say project, feel the same.

They do not want to become political fodder as the two major parties and One Nation squabble over migration numbers.

Annaliese Claydon was born in America. After 14 years and a long, emotional journey, she became an Australian citizen on Australia Day this year.

"I am an American by birth and an Australian by choice and I would like to do anything I could to help my beloved adopted country avoid sinking into the mire of right-wing nonsense that is tearing my original country apart," she said.

"If people knew more about how hard it is to get a visa, how migrants are forced to be separated from their families and elderly parents and how petrifying it is to ask for help when you are on a temporary or a permanent visa, they might think differently about their support for One Nation."

Ms Claydon now lives in Hobart and is a historian and adjunct researcher at the University of Tasmania.

She first came to Australia in 2011 to attend a conference in Sydney, tacked on a side research trip to Hobart and met her now husband there.

Originally from Alaska, she moved to Australia in 2012, applied for a partner visa, married, had a baby and finally, after 14 years, was granted citizenship.

It was, she said, a torturous process during which she endured postpartum depression, struggled without her family but was too scared to ask for help for fear that her visa and residency would be jeopardised.