by Cam Lucadou-Wells
Advocates are calling out a “discriminatory” crackdown against overseas relatives who are being refused visas to visit Australia.
Refugee advocate Wicki Wickiramasingham says “everybody is surprised” that immigration authorities are rejecting visitors en masse from attending family reunions, special birthdays, weddings, religious ceremonies, pregnancies and funerals for up to 3-12 months.
The reason given is that they’re being a perceived risk of over-staying in Australia.
Many applicants are from Sri Lanka who intended to visit citizens or permanent residents from the Tamil community, Mr Wickiramasingham said.
Their hopes to attend were shattered, with a review at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal costing more than $3500 and can take up to 12 months – too expensive and too late for many, Mr Wickiramasingham says.
Local residents’ pasts as asylum seekers arriving by boat 15 years ago are being unfairly weighed against them, he says.
“These ‘boat people’ – you have detained them, released them, given them permanent protection, they become citizens and now you stop their family visiting.
“They are being discriminated against, even though they are Australian citizens.
“If they still don’t have equal rights as others, then what’s the point (of being citizens)?”
Dandenong-based migration agent Thayhorn Yim agreed that it seemed discriminatory.
Authorities have been particularly harsh against overseas visitors from refugee hot spots like Afghanistan, Cambodia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in recent months, he says..
And it’s a simpler, less expensive process for visitors from countries such as the UK.
“They should be allowed to come here provided there’s no adverse information against them.
“But the department looks at the history of the family who arrived here for protection as refugees. That history shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing.
“Particularly for a visitor visa, they shouldn’t be applying the policy so strictly.
“It’s causing a lot of grief in the community. Especially after Covid-19 they want to reunite with their families.”
Last year, Star News reported Mr Yim’s desperate fight for a Cambodian teenager’s visa to attend his late father’s funeral in the South East.
He had been initially refused because he didn’t have “strong employment or financial incentives” to return to Cambodia.
“I note the applicant has other relatives residing in Australia, which would further act as an encouragement for the applicant to remain in Australia,” a Home Affairs delegate stated at the time.
It took months of multiple applications, a letter from a senior Buddhist monk in Springvale South to the Immigration Minister and media coverage before Home Affairs relented.
your arrival by boat shouldn’t be relevant for these cases,”
A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said that a key requirement is that the visitor visa applicant “genuinely intends to stay temporarily in Australia”.
“This involves an assessment of the applicant’s personal circumstances, incentive to return home, financial situation and ability to support themselves in Australia.
“Each application is assessed on its individual merits, taking into account any factors relevant to the applicant.
“The decision maker is unable to grant the visa if they are not satisfied that the applicant intends a genuine temporary stay in Australia.”
