A Cairns family facing deportation after their son was diagnosed with autism has been given fresh hope with Immigration Minister Andrew Giles now considering whether to intervene in their case.
The family have been locked in a battle to stay in Australia after their application for permanent skilled visas was rejected because of seven-year-old Seongjae Lim’s autism.
Seongjae was born in Australia but has been deemed a burden on the taxpayer because of his condition.
The family’s only hope is for Giles to use his ministerial powers to grant them permanent residency, after their appeal at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was rejected in July this year.
While the minister has declined to publicly comment on the Lim family’s situation, 9news.com.au understands their case has passed a significant hurdle, having been assessed by the Department of Home Affairs as meeting the criteria for a possible ministerial intervention.
The case will now be put before the minister to make a final decision.
The move comes after Liberal MP for Leichhardt Warren Entsch met with the Lim family last week.
Entsch said the case was a “no brainer” and he had personally called the minister to make an appeal on the family’s behalf.
“I rang the minister and I said, ‘Look, this is a no brainer, they are a good family.’ He was very sympathetic to it,” Entsch said.
Entsch said he was confident Giles would see how strong the family’s case was and grant them permanent residency.
“The family have got themselves a fabulous little business here,” Entsch said.
Read Related Also: Former Miss America Vanessa Williams’ beauty secret at 60: ‘Knowing where to get good Botox’
“The child was actually born in Australia, they have been here for 10 years, both of the kids are embedded in the local school community.
“They are very good, community-oriented people. These are people we need in Australia, and they would get residency and citizenship under normal circumstances.”
Seongjae’s mum Yoojin said she was grateful to the minister for taking the time to review their case.
Yoojin previously told 9news.com.au that Seongjae was diagnosed with autism at the age of three.
Doctors initially told her that her son may never learn to talk, however her son had made huge developmental progress over the years, Yoojin said.
“He is improving very quickly, and his language skills are improving at an amazing rate,” she said, adding he would be transitioning to some mainstream classes at his local primary school next year.
Yoojin said she was extremely worried about how Seongjae and the whole family would cope if they had to move back to Korea.
“Seongjae’s main language is English, but many Koreans don’t speak English very well,” she said.
“I am worried because we won’t have a job or any income if we need to go back to Korea.
“We would have to start all over again.”
An online petition calling on Giles to allow the family to stay has so far attracted more than 26,000 signatures.
Australia’s autism community have also thrown their support behind the family, expressing their outrage at the decision to deny them visas based solely on Seongjae’s condition.
