An Indian couple claiming protection in Australia is pinning hopes of a life in Australia on their daughter who has been granted Australian citizenship.
Eleven-year-old Diya was born in Australia in 2008 when her mother was studying hospitality at a Melbourne college. However, subsequent visa refusal and a series of what the family claimed were back-to-back debacles in the migration tribunal and the court derailed her family’s dream of a life in Australia.
Currently living in regional Victoria on a bridging visa and with no work rights, her parents are waiting for an outcome of their protection visa application.
“We just want to live in Australia so that my family is safe and my children are brought up in a healthy environment,” Diya’s father told SBS Punjabi.
After Diya’s citizenship, he is hoping the family will be allowed to stay in Australia to be with her.
Source: SBS Punjabi
“As parents, we are in the best position to raise her and she has the right to be with her younger brother. I’m hoping her right to be with her family will be respected,” her father said.
Accidental citizenship
Diya was granted Australian citizenship in August 2019. But her parents wouldn’t even have applied for it had it not been for a hurdle in getting her Indian passport renewed.
“We were just looking for help after the Indian consulate refused to renew her passport because we had applied for asylum and we were told Diya could actually become an Australian citizen,” her mother said.
Sunny Chandra, a migration agent in Melbourne, argued the case for Diya on the basis that she was born in Australia and had lived here for ten years.
“It’s given in the citizenship law that if a child born in Australia has been a resident of the country for ten years, that child can get the citizenship,” says Mr Chandra.
However, he doesn’t believe this has improved the chances of Diya’s parents being able to stay in Australia purely based on her citizenship status.
“Their protection visa application is a separate matter and it will be decided based on the validity of the claims made in it. But if they don’t get it, then they would have to rely on Diya sponsoring them which, honestly, looks onerous at best,” Mr Chandra told SBS Punjabi.
