Sunbury mother Sukhdeep Kaur has decided to surrender her recently granted visitor visa and go into immigration detention, placing her fate in the hands of the federal government.
As reported by Star Weekly, Sunbury parents Sukhdeep Kaur and Jaswinder Singh and their two children arrived in Australia in 2015.
Both parents applied for ministerial intervention in June 2023 seeking permanent Australian residency after Sukhdeep’s employer failed to lodge a permanent residency application on her behalf.
Since that time they have received multiple visa extensions but their long-term fate remained uncertain.
Jaswinder is currently in India and is reluctant to return to Sunbury with the visa situation so uncertain.
He left Melbourne in early October to see a severely ill family member, despite an exemption to travel claim not being processed at the time of his departure and risking a three-year ban on returning to Australia.
The family member died during his visit.
Sukhdeep said that on October 10, she and her husband were notified their bid for permanent residency had failed and they were instead granted visitor visas allowing them to stay in Australia until April 10, 2025. They were also given the option of applying for a contributory parent visa or an aged parent visa.
Mrs Kaur said applying for a parent visa would be costly and would require both parents to return to India.
Daughter Ravneet said a contributory parent visa costs $48,495 with a processing time of about 14 years, while the aged parent visa costs $5100, with a 31-year wait time.
“Why do we deserve to pay the government? We worked hard, we came here legally, we gave 10 years of life to this country. Why have they ignored our hard work and 10 years of our life?” Mrs Kaur said.
“We are hard workers. We are good people. We love to live here.“
While the recently granted visitor visa would allow Sukhdeep to return to India and visit her mother, who has breast cancer, she decided that it would be too difficult under the circumstances.
“It’s better I go to the detention centre and follow their decision if they give me justice or not … then I will decide,” she said.
“The government has sent me again in limbo … it’s really really stressful, I can’t explain in words … What is the reason? Where is our fault?”
She said she has packed up most of her belongings, is investigating how to rehome her dog, and is mentally preparing to go to a detention centre in the next few weeks.
Ravneet said politicians including Hawke MP Sam Rae, a Greens senator, and a Liberal MP wrote letters of support for the family.
A spokesperson for Home Affairs said the department cannot comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.
The spokesperson said that once a minister grants a visa, their ‘ministerial intervention’ is finalised and they can’t intervene any further.
Mr Rae was contacted for comment.
