The Tamil family at the centre of a four-year immigration battle have received permanent visas, ending a community-driven campaign against their deportation.
Key points:
- Department of Home Affairs officials visited the Nadesalingams today granting them permanent visas
- Campaigner and family friend Angela Fredericks says the news was met with tears and jubilation
- The family had been in immigration detention since 2018
Priya Nadaraja, Nades Murugappan and their daughters Kopika and Tharnicaa have been living in Biloela in regional Queensland since June, after the new Labor government granted them bridging visas.
The family had spent four years in immigration detention after their visas expired in 2018.
The ABC has confirmed the family was visited by the Department of Home Affairs team at their Biloela home today and told they had been granted permanent visas.
Family friend and "Home to Bilo" campaigner Angela Fredericks was with the family when officials visited.
"They let us know the news the minister was deciding to intervene and use his powers to grant all four family members permanent visas," Ms Fredericks said.
"It was a very tense day as we knew they were coming but had no idea what for.
"So when they said the words 'permanent', there were just immediate tears and just such excitement and jubilation.
"To get to say to the girls 'you get to stay in Australia forever', there was just a big yay from Kopika."
The family was taken into immigration detention in 2018 after the parents' bridging visas expired.
They were found by the Coalition government not to meet Australia's refugee requirements and were kept in detention in Melbourne and Christmas Island, and in community detention in Perth.
Prior to the election, former prime minister Scott Morrison said there was "no protection owed" to the family as claims for protection had been rejected.
Soon after the election, the Labor government intervened in the case, allowing the family to return to Biloela on bridging visas.
It was the first time the youngest daughter Tharnicaa had been granted a visa.
They were welcomed home with a weekend of celebrations in June, including a special ceremony at a multicultural festival, and a birthday celebration in the park for Tharnicaa, her first outside of immigration detention.
They also met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on June 15 on the sidelines of a Federal Cabinet meeting in Gladstone.
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2022-08-05 06:36:01Z
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