Single mum to be deported unless she can find $75,000 for visa

[Guest The Pom Queen]

What if the father refused her leave to remove the child? What happens then? 

 

A SYDNEY mum says her one-year-old baby will be "torn apart" from his Australian family in less than two months' time unless she is able to raise $75,000 to prevent being deported to the Czech Republic.

Alenka S, who asked not to use her full surname, said she had exhausted all of her options to stay in the country with her son Oliver after a work visa sponsorship fell through, with the "last resort" being a costly parent visa.

She now has around 40 days before her current student visa expires and she is forced to return home, separating Oliver from his father, grandparents and great-grandparents.

"Our family is desperate," said the 37-year-old, who has been in the country for the five years and currently works as a pilates teacher and fitness trainer.

"If I have to leave most likely I will have to take Oliver with me. This could traumatise him for the rest of his life. Our family will be torn apart, we won't know when we are going to see each other again. Oliver will lose a parent and potentially a whole family."

According to a breakdown of costs from Alenka's immigration lawyer, she would need to apply for first a temporary parent visa and then a permanent parent visa for a total of $51,420 - not including legal fees.

Because Alenka has separated from Oliver's father, she is unable to apply for the much cheaper partner visa, which costs around $7000.

But as the process can take up to three years, she would first need to go the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to seek an extension of her current visa, at a cost of $10,291.

The total cost for the entire process is estimated at $74,711, including $16,000 in legal fees, according to a YouCaring fundraising page set up by one of Alenka's friends.

 

Alenka will be forced to leave the country in just over a month.

"When I contacted my [immigration] agent, he said you can't apply for another student visa because you've been in Australia for quite a long time and they've made the rules really strict, and because you have a child most likely they wouldn't agree to extend for another one-and-a-half years," she said.

Having a child who is an Australian citizen "unfortunately doesn't give me the right to stay", she added. "I respect that, because otherwise there would probably be lots of people coming in and having a baby here," she said.

"I respect the law in Australia, I'm not trying to say it's too hard or there should be a change or anything, we just unfortunately don't have that big amount of money which is required. We are all average working people."

Alenka said Oliver's Australian family was "counting down the days" until separation. "They all love him, but if we have to leave it would be really difficult for us to see them," she said.

"I would have to return back to my country and start a new life there. He's only one year old so travelling for him would be really difficult. His father is working hard so for him it's also difficult, it's so far away."

Alenka said if she ended up raising more money than necessary, she would donate it to an "organisation that helps other Aussie kids in a similar situation". "I really like people in Australia, I met lots of great friends here and people who are willing to help, they are very nice. I like to be part of the community," she said.

Immigration lawyer Erskine Rodan OAM, chairman of the Law Council of Australia's Migration Law Committee, said the costs seemed about right. "The father doesn't want to lodge an application for a partner visa, [so] there's no immediate visa available to her," he said, describing Alenka's situation as unusual.

"In the olden days before 1989 you had a visa that would let someone stay on compassionate grounds. There is no actual visa for this situation, that's why it's such a spiderweb.

"There is a parent visa for younger people but you have to be overseas when you apply, [there is another for which] you can be here [when you apply] but you have to have some other visa allowing you to stay here."

Mr Rodan said the large processing fees were brought in 15 years ago under then Attorney-General Philip Ruddock as a way of ensuring contributed to their Medicare costs. "The government gets about $3 billion a year from application fees," he said. "That'll go up."

[Nemesis]

1 hour ago, The Pom Queen said:

What if the father refused her leave to remove the child? What happens then? 

 

 

 

 

And I thought the child had to be 18 or over in order to be able to sponsor a parent? (willing to be corrected, that's just what I believe!)

[VERYSTORMY]

Very little of this sounds correct. 

[Parley]

Yes the father should refuse permission for his child to leave the country.

Then there is no way the mother would be deported.

[Nemesis]

2 hours ago, Parley said:

Yes the father should refuse permission for his child to leave the country.

Then there is no way the mother would be deported.

Not sure that is true actually.

[Samson]

I myself am in a similar situation, However I am the male. If the father refused permission for the child to leave,  the mother would be deported(Eventually) and the child would have to stay with the father, this could take years and years and the only way it wouldn't happen is if it attracted huge media attention and Mr Duttons arsehole started twitching.  Read similar stories on the Austil site..

Australia needs a compassionate visa for cases like this, they need to be very strict and follow guideline... For example, this woman will soon have to take her Australian Citizen child to live in another country, however the father could refuse, then she will have the  child taken from her? Surely that's a human right violation there? I read today on the Austil site, someone had a visa cancelled for Substantial Criminal history, Armed robbery being one of the things. However at the AAT the visa cancellation was revoked, all because it would impact the life of his 6 year old daughter.. 

If AAT put such high weight on Best interests of Minor children when deciding visa appeals, then surely a Compassionate visa could be used in such circumstances. 

 

 

[Tulip1]

11 hours ago, Samson said:

I myself am in a similar situation, However I am the male. If the father refused permission for the child to leave,  the mother would be deported(Eventually) and the child would have to stay with the father, this could take years and years and the only way it wouldn't happen is if it attracted huge media attention and Mr Duttons arsehole started twitching.  Read similar stories on the Austil site..

Australia needs a compassionate visa for cases like this, they need to be very strict and follow guideline... For example, this woman will soon have to take her Australian Citizen child to live in another country, however the father could refuse, then she will have the  child taken from her? Surely that's a human right violation there? I read today on the Austil site, someone had a visa cancelled for Substantial Criminal history, Armed robbery being one of the things. However at the AAT the visa cancellation was revoked, all because it would impact the life of his 6 year old daughter.. 

If AAT put such high weight on Best interests of Minor children when deciding visa appeals, then surely a Compassionate visa could be used in such circumstances. 

 

 

The problem with this would be a lot of people would be knocking out a kid as an easy way to live in Oz.  I do empathise with genuine situations but the easiest way to ensure these problems don't arise is do not have a child until you know you have PR. That way these horrible situations wouldn't exist.  

[Samson]

I am just upset that my Sperm became an Aussie Citizen before me ;-)

[starlight7]

I am probably cynical but I am wondering if this is a money raising rort. It all sounds a bit suss to me , especially the bit about the 'fundraising page'.  Not a charity I would support, personally- she is not a cancer victim or someone who has had a disaster in her life  .  If it is true it is very sad, of course, but to ask strangers for money??

[can1983]

On ‎12‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 01:31, Samson said:

I am just upset that my Sperm became an Aussie Citizen before me ;-)

just spat out my lunch with laughter!

I too have two of my sperm which were deemed Australian citizens when I'm not

surely this is a simple case. Dad refuses child to leave which he has the right to do, mother cannot be forced to part from her child so must be allowed to stay its her human right unless the state determine she is unfit to parent

 

[Marisawright]

23 minutes ago, can1983 said:

surely this is a simple case. Dad refuses child to leave which he has the right to do, mother cannot be forced to part from her child so must be allowed to stay its her human right unless the state determine she is unfit to parent

 

Not really.  There is no law that says a mother cannot be separated from her child. It happens all the time when children are taken into care, or when a marriage breaks up and custody is given to the father.  

As has been stated, if the law said a woman couldn't be deported if she had a child by an Australian citizen, then we'd have couples having a child to get around migration laws. 

I would be more sympathetic to this woman if she were still with her partner.  But the fact is, they've separated and it's not at all unusual for a woman to go back to her own family in her home country once her Australian relationship breaks up.  We see it here all the time, don't we?   As for the poor one year old being traumatised - he won't even know.

[can1983]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

Not really.  There is no law that says a mother cannot be separated from her child. It happens all the time when children are taken into care, or when a marriage breaks up and custody is given to the father.  

As has been stated, if the law said a woman couldn't be deported if she had a child by an Australian citizen, then we'd have couples having a child to get around migration laws. 

I would be more sympathetic to this woman if she were still with her partner.  But the fact is, they've separated and it's not at all unusual for a woman to go back to her own family in her home country once her Australian relationship breaks up.  We see it here all the time, don't we?   As for the poor one year old being traumatised - he won't even know.

Well I do agree the child would never know, my son has seemingly forgotten everything about his first year in the UK, certainly not traumatised

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, can1983 said:

Well I do agree the child would never know, my son has seemingly forgotten everything about his first year in the UK, certainly not traumatised

Of course, it's sad that the child won't be close to his father and grandparents, but she's not saying they'll never see each other again.  In that sense, this child is no different to the child of any migrant, there are planes.....

[Croft]

3 hours ago, can1983 said:

Well I do agree the child would never know, my son has seemingly forgotten everything about his first year in the UK, certainly not traumatised

We thought that about our 3 year old (3 years 2 months to be exact).  Were we wrong.  Tooks months for him to settle into kindy, and 3 years before he considered Australia home (after a month long trip to the UK incidentally).

Edited April 16, 2018 by Croft

[Marisawright]

4 minutes ago, Croft said:

We thought that about our 3 year old (3 years 2 months to be exact).  Were we wrong.  Tooks months for him to settle into kindy, and 3 years before he considered Australia home (after a month long trip to the UK incidentally).

There's a big difference in the awareness of a 3 year old vs a 1 year old

[governedby nutters]

There is no Security in Australia anymore ,for any dual citizen, now that Turnbull 's new laws are in . You get ill ,and are deemed a burden on the Australian Health service you are deported back to your country of origin. And your Australian citizenship is cancelled. If you break the the Law,depending on your crime,same  result. No matter how long you have lived and worked in Australia. 

[Nemesis]

25 minutes ago, governedby nutters said:

There is no Security in Australia anymore ,for any dual citizen, now that Turnbull 's new laws are in . You get ill ,and are deemed a burden on the Australian Health service you are deported back to your country of origin. And your Australian citizenship is cancelled. If you break the the Law,depending on your crime,same  result. No matter how long you have lived and worked in Australia. 

Somebody else came out with this rubbish a few weeks back. Australia does NOT rescind citizenship and deport you just because you need health care. 

Breaking the law is a whole different ballgame, but the healthcare thing is not correct. If you need healthcare, you get treatment. 

[Marisawright]

42 minutes ago, governedby nutters said:

There is no Security in Australia anymore ,for any dual citizen, now that Turnbull 's new laws are in . You get ill ,and are deemed a burden on the Australian Health service you are deported back to your country of origin. And your Australian citizenship is cancelled. If you break the the Law,depending on your crime,same  result. No matter how long you have lived and worked in Australia. 

Utter rubbish, not true at all.  If you have evidence, post a link.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Marisawright

[governedby nutters]

Check it out then ,phone or Write to Peter Dutton's office .Get the facts. You know it All? . And post Dutton's immigration office's reply. Read the newspapers and and watch current affair Shows .And get up to date .Some have already been deported . Or is that all rubbish and not true?.

[Toots]

32 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

Somebody else came out with this rubbish a few weeks back. Australia does NOT rescind citizenship and deport you just because you need health care. 

Breaking the law is a whole different ballgame, but the healthcare thing is not correct. If you need healthcare, you get treatment. 

It's the same person using a different name.  

[Nemesis]

10 minutes ago, governedby nutters said:

Check it out then ,phone or Write to Peter Dutton's office .Get the facts. You know it All? . And post Dutton's immigration office's reply. Read the newspapers and and watch current affair Shows .And get up to date .Some have already been deported . Or is that all rubbish and not true?.

Post a link then to a case where someone has had tehir citizenship rescinded purely because they need healthcare.

The original post was by Zack, are you the same poster using a second username, your style seems as familiar as your stupid rumour.............

[Toots]

13 minutes ago, governedby nutters said:

Check it out then ,phone or Write to Peter Dutton's office .Get the facts. You know it All? . And post Dutton's immigration office's reply. Read the newspapers and and watch current affair Shows .And get up to date .Some have already been deported . Or is that all rubbish and not true?.

Yes it's rubbish.  

[amibovered]

Sorry to bring facts into this

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-03/bradley-how-can-you-lose-your-citizenship/6996496

[Toots]

8 minutes ago, amibovered said:

Sorry to bring facts into this

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-03/bradley-how-can-you-lose-your-citizenship/6996496

I liked the comments after the article.  It is more than 2 years old.

[Toots]

52 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

Somebody else came out with this rubbish a few weeks back. Australia does NOT rescind citizenship and deport you just because you need health care. 

Breaking the law is a whole different ballgame, but the healthcare thing is not correct. If you need healthcare, you get treatment. 

Of course you aren't deported to your country of origin if you are ill as 'governedbynutters' states.  Utter bollox.

http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/4356/can-you-ever-lose-your-australian-citizenship-stat.aspx