A community organisation is seeking legal assistance to challenge the immigration department after it rejected the visa application of a Pakistani woman whose husband’s body has been resting in an Australian morgue for nearly two months.
Hazara Shamama Association, which represents the broader Hazaran community in Australia with members hailing mainly from Pakistan and Afghanistan, feels disappointed that the wife and child of Asghar Ali, who died on April 16 at La Trobe Regional Hospital, are not allowed to see him “one last time”.
Mr Ali, a refugee from Pakistan, was an Australian permanent resident, but his wife is not.
We told the immigration department that we were willing to take care of her financial needs so economic circumstances should not be a reason for refusal
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The Department of Immigration and Border Protection did not find her visa application genuine.
“I am not satisfied that your personal and economic circumstances in Pakistan would provide you with incentive to return and your expressed intention only to stay temporarily in Australia is genuine,” the immigration official wrote in the rejection letter, according to .
She does not want to come here and not go back. All we are hoping is for her to be able to come here for just one week so Mr Ali’s burial can be organised
However, Mr Salehi disputes this assessment.
“We told the immigration department that we were willing to take care of her financial needs so economic circumstances should not be a reason for refusal,” Mr Salehi explains.
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“As far as incentive is concerned, she has three kids and when she comes here two of them would still be in Pakistan, what other incentive does one need to return?”
Mr Ali’s wife applied for a tourist visa on April 23 and the application was refused five weeks later, on May 30.
“She does not want to come here and not go back. All we are hoping is for her to be able to come here for just one week so Mr Ali’s burial can be organised,” Mr Salehi says.
“It’s her as well as Mr Ali’s right.”
Source: Supplied
Mr Ali worked as a chef at a local restaurant and had been dealing with some health issues prior to his death.
He has no family in Australia.
Hazara Shamama Association is now looking for a lawyer who can help them in this matter.
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