A Bendigo emergency nurse facing deportation within weeks has made an emotional plea to the Australian government to allow her family to stay, after their permanent residency application was refused because of their six-year-old son’s developmental condition.
Christin Das and her husband Jineesh Joseph say they are running out of time, with the family’s bridging visas set to expire on May 29.
The family of four, who moved to regional Victoria from Ireland in 2023, have launched a public campaign and online petition calling for ministerial intervention after Australian authorities rejected their employer-sponsored permanent residency application.
Das, a registered nurse working in the emergency department at Bendigo Health, said the decision was based on the projected future care costs associated with their son Jaziel’s developmental delay.
“Our children are growing up here. This is their home,” Das wrote in the family’s petition appeal.
“It really breaks my heart because when I am taking care of people, my own son is denied care from the government.”
Their son, six-year-old Jaziel, lives with corpus callosum thinning, a neurological condition affecting communication between the two sides of the brain. He currently attends a specialist school in Bendigo and receives allied health support.
According to documents cited in the family’s case, a Commonwealth medical officer estimated Jaziel’s future care and support costs could exceed $1.2 million, including disability services, education support and potential NDIS assistance.
Australia’s migration laws allow visa applications to be refused if a person is considered likely to impose a “significant cost” on the community through future healthcare or support needs.
Das argues the family was fully transparent about Jaziel’s condition when they first applied for visas to move from Ireland, where they had been living before relocating to Australia.
“If our visa had been refused at that time, we would have continued our life in Ireland without any issue,” she said.
“But now, after building our life here, we are in a situation where we cannot stay in Australia, and we cannot return to the life we once had.”
The family says Jaziel has shown major developmental progress since arriving in Australia and fears his support network and educational progress could collapse if they are forced to leave.
Jineesh Joseph currently works as a chef in Bendigo, another sector facing ongoing workforce shortages across regional Australia.
The case has reignited debate around Australia’s migration health requirements and whether exemptions should apply for skilled workers in critical industries such as healthcare and hospitality.
An online petition supporting the family has gathered thousands of signatures, while Bendigo Health publicly acknowledged Das’s contribution to the local community and emergency department.
“The matter is now following due process with federal authorities, and we sincerely hope for a positive outcome for Christin and her family,” the health service said in a statement to ABC.
Das has now appealed directly to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to personally intervene before the family’s visas expire later this month.
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