Siyat Abdi had been living in Australia for more than 10 years when he was told he had 28 days to leave the country.
Because he is blind, Dr Abdi had not passed the government’s immigration health criteria, which dictates that an applicant for permanent residency must be free from a disease or condition which “would be likely to require health care or community services".
“I had a very bad experience with the health criteria regulations,” Dr Abdi, who is originally from Kenya, told SBS News.
“If you have a physical disability and you fail the health criteria then you are equal to a passenger who has a communicable disease such as tuberculosis. Which is not a fair assessment of the individual.”
