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For more than a decade, Reyna Nangan has been weaving dreams for her family in Australia. Her deepest wish is for her eight-year-old daughter, Kaia, to have the opportunity to call this country home.
“Kaia has had a wealth of opportunities here in Australia,” Reyna shared with SBS News. “She’s really thrived in this environment.”
“It’s crucial for me that these opportunities aren’t stripped away from her. I truly believe she has the potential to achieve great things in the future,” Reyna added, emphasizing her hopes for her daughter’s future.
Reyna and her partner, Karin Yechoku, originally from the Philippines and Thailand, have been residing in Australia for over 14 years. They have established roots in Toowoomba, operating a restaurant and raising their daughter, who was born and has grown up entirely in Australia.
However, the family now faces an uncertain future, as they confront the looming threat of deportation.
‘It’s not Australia that doesn’t want you’
Reyna said their bid for permanent residency fell through after a past employer failed to follow through on a visa application, leaving them in bureaucratic limbo.
“A lot of times I questioned myself, why? Why even I’m here if Australia doesn’t want me?” she said.
“But then … I correct myself, ‘it’s not Australia that doesn’t want you, okay? It’s just the system … and especially it’s not the people of Australia that [don’t] want you. You are loved by them.’”
The family’s application for ministerial intervention was denied at the end of last year, when it was found not to be a substantiative public interest case.
While the Department of Home Affairs said it cannot comment on individual cases for privacy reasons, a spokesperson said in a statement that “Visa applicants remain legally responsible for meeting visa criteria even where they suffer disadvantage due to employer misconduct, negligence, or failure”.
The minister does not generally intervene to “fix” individual visa outcomes, except in very limited, exceptional circumstances, the spokesperson said.
Reyna, however, has not given up and has filed a second request with the immigration minister for consideration. The family has been approved for a bridging visa while they await a decision.
“I’m the one in the family making sure that this fight will carry through,” she said.
‘They are just so kind to us’
Reyna and her family are not alone in the fight, with community members who greet them at their restaurant with a smile and a hug telling them they support them.
Almost 4,000 people signed a petition calling for the immigration minister to intervene in the case and allow the family to stay in Australia
Dale Hockey, a customer of their restaurant for many years, said he was “heartbroken” when he heard about the family’s visa situation.
“It broke my heart, it really did. They are just so kind to us … I’ll do anything I can for them,” he told SBS News.
“They’ve always been the genuine kind people that they have been … They treat you like family, and I do feel like they are family.”
Toowoomba has a diverse community, according to the last census, with about 14 per cent of residents here born overseas, and many proud of the area’s rich mix of cultures.
Jane Schuller, another customer of the family’s restaurant, said the family “deserves to be Australian”.
“They’re to me what Australia wants … These are good-hearted, honest, hardworking people and I know that they’ve worked all the time since they’ve been here,” she told SBS News.
‘Finally called home’
Garth Hamilton, the local Federal MP of Groom, has also joined calls for the family to be allowed to stay.
“The amount of people in my community who have reached out and said, ‘We have to do something about this, this can’t be right.’ It’s been across the board, from some of our most prominent business people to people passing me in the street,” he told SBS News.
“I am gonna be as optimistic as possible all the way through, and I think that’s what they need around them.
“Anyone in this situation needs people just to consider no other option, but that they’re gonna stay and continue to contribute, be a part of our community.”
Hamilton said his team is engaged with Home Affairs and they are “working through it”.
Despite the anxious wait, Reyna has been overwhelmed with the support she’s received.
“I’m grateful to all of them … We are far away from our families, but then God make sure that we have families here, too,” she said.
She also has a message for Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
“We are a family that just wanted what is good for our child,” she said.
“We just want … Australia to be finally called our home, [so] that we don’t have to think of our visa all the time.”
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