Couple dreading the road to exile

[Migration Help]

17 Feb 10 by Michael Howard

http://images.whereilive.com.au/images/uploads/2010/02/16/68316a9ffc05f37a2e041ca85d64a85b_resized.JPG

Edward Joseph's 92-year-old mother Irene will have to leave Australia with her son.

HIGH-POWERED pleas for compassion have failed to save Irene and Edward Joseph, with the latter forced to leave Australia in eight days.

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart and Chisholm federal Labor MP Anna Burke have called on Immigration Minister Chris Evans to reconsider Mr Joseph’s visa application, but the Minister is unwavering and has demanded his deportation.

Archbishop Hart said he “was moved to write to the Minister out of compassion for the heart-rending situation involving devoted Catholics”.

Mr Joseph says he feels like he is on death row as he desperately waits for a reprieve.

He must show immigration officials his plane ticket to war-torn Sri Lanka by Saturday, February 20 and is expected to fly-out on February 25.

His mother, a permanent resident of Australia, will fly with him despite grave fears for her health because he is her only carer.

Mrs Joseph was first awarded a permanent Australian visa in 1979, but departed the country when her husband became ill.

She returned in 1996 with Edward, but because of an error didn’t have her visa reinstated until December 2009.

Mr Joseph spent the intermittent years unsuccessfully fighting for bridging visas and a refugee visa, but was repeatedly refused.

A spokesman for the Immigration Minister Chris Evans said Mr Joseph had repeatedly been found to have “no lawful basis to remain in Australia” since he was first refused a visa in 1997, a finding he said was established by the Immigration Department, the previous Immigration Minister and the High Court.

But in a letter to the Minister Ms Burke supported claims by the Joseph camp that Irene’s reinstatement as a permanent resident should enable Mr Joseph to be awarded a carers visa.

Ms Burke said this was “a significant change in circumstances”.

“Failure to recognise these strong compassionate circumstances could result in irreparable harm and continuing hardship to an Australian permanent resident,” Ms Burke wrote in a letter seen by the Leader.

It has also emerged that Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner campaigned for Mr Joseph when the Labor Party was in Opposition.

In a letter in May 2006 Mr Tanner called on then Immigration Minister Andrew Robb to show compassion to Mr Joseph’s visa application, writing he and his Mum would otherwise face “an unsafe and uncertain future in Sri Lanka”.

Mr Tanner’s office failed to respond to the Leader’s questions this week.

SOURCE - the Whitehorse Leader

MH

[Silent Observer]

The imminent forced departure of Edward Joseph and his mother Irene shows the inflexibility of the Immigration Department and (to a lesser extent) the Immigration Act. When Mrs Joseph returned to Australia with her son in 1996 and her visa was not reinstated, the department should have discovered and ratified the error. Instead, it did not reinstate Mrs Joseph’s visa until 13 years later and continuously refused applications from Edward for a bridging visa during the period. If they return to Sri Lanka they won’t be able to apply to migrate to Australia because I am sure Mrs Joseph won’t fit the criteria. Who knows a situation like this won’t happen in the future? The entire Immigration Act must be reviewed and those who dealt with the Josephs’ visa applications be sacked.

[Migration Help]

Minister's statement

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, has released the following statement about the case:

"Mr Edward Joseph is a Sri Lankan national who has repeatedly been found to have no lawful basis to remain in Australia.

"Despite having exhausted all avenues of review, Mr Joseph has refused to leave Australia.

"Although Mr Joseph has asserted that he is the sole carer for his mother, Mrs Joseph has other children who are resident in Australia and, as an Australian permanent resident, she is entitled to Medicare and other assistance.

"It is also open for Mrs Joseph to return to Sri Lanka if she would like to continue residing with her son, Edward.

"It is worth noting that Mrs Joseph was originally sponsored for a parent visa to Australia by one of her other children.

"As part of that application, an undertaking was given to Centrelink to provide financial support for Mrs Joseph.

"Mr Joseph originally arrived in Australia in 1996 on a tourist visa which was valid for 12 months.

"He subsequently lodged a protection visa application which was refused in August 1997.

"He has made numerous unsuccessful legal appeals, including to the High Court, and all have determined that Mr Joseph has no grounds to remain in Australia.

"Eight Ministerial Intervention requests have also been rejected under the current and previous government."


Immigration Department

A spokesman for the Immigration Department said, "Mrs Joseph lost her permanent resisidency status due to her absence from Australia for 12 years from 1984 to 1996.

"In 1996 Mrs Joseph returned to Australia as the holder of a tourist visa then in 1997 she applied for permanent residence as an aged parent.

"The granting of permanent residency to Mrs Joseph in 2009 was a generous decision of the departmet in resolving her immigration status, given the decision by her former Australian citizen son to retire overseas."


SOURCE (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/04/2837071.htm)

MH