Highlights
- After six years of visa battle, the Jestingor family received their permanent residency visa grants on Thursday, 10 February.
- Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews reviewed the family’s appeal and intervened.
- Joey, Rezy, and their children Ysabella, Phoenix and Patricia can now live without the fear of being deported and continue to be active members of the Queanbeyan community.
The family lodged their permanent residency application in 2015 but was denied in 2016 due to her youngest daughter Patricia’s medical condition. She has autism and is blind.
The family lodged their permanent residency application in 2015 but was denied in 2016 due to her youngest daughter Patricia’s medical condition. She has autism and is blind.
Health grounds are among a number of reasons why visa applications are rejected in Australia, and often, applications may be denied due to the potential treatment costs incurred on the medical system.
But they carried on with their visa application, and with the help of their immigration solicitors, the family filed an appeal to the Administrative Appeal Tribunal, who brought their case up to Minister Andrews’s office for ministerial intervention, hoping to overturn the decision.
It took six years for the Queanbeyan-based family to receive the news they know would forever change their lives.
How the family’s case progressed since the AAT appeal was lodged
After their church pastor in Queanbeyan launched an online campaign on Change.org to gather support for the family, many groups and random people approached them and offered assistance with their appeal.
“The online campaign reached the right people who helped us. We began to believe again,” Joey shared.
The Home Affairs office finally contacted them through their solicitors after a couple of months since the appeal was lodged. The office requested for the family to undergo another medical examination and provide police clearances where each of the family members resided in the last 10 years.
It took a while for the Jestingor family to schedule a medical appointment because most accredited facilities were shut due to the Omicron surge late last year.
Besides the challenge of securing medicals, Joey also had to wait for his police clearance to arrive from overseas.
“When the letter finally arrived in the mail before Christmas last year, we completed all the requirements asked from us by the Home Affairs office. From then, we were only thinking of two plausible scenarios, either the office asks for more requirements or we get a verdict,” Joey recalled.
On the day of the permanent visa grant
The family’s solicitor called Joey to inform him, with advice from the Australian Border Force (ABF) office, that Minister Karen Andrews has decided to grant the family with 151 visas, the permanent residency visa which will allow each member of the family including Patricia to stay indefinitely in Australia.
Joey, Rezy and their children were very excited, overjoyed with the news.
The family was asked to present themselves at the ABF office in Molonglo Valley, ACT the following day because as part of the process the family will have to be in custody for administrative purposes while their 482 visas are transitioned into 151 visas.
“We were told that we have to be in custody because during the period of transitioning, we were technically in Australia illegally without valid visas until the Home Affairs Minister officially signs and grants us with our permanent residency visas,” Joey recounted.
At about 5pm, the paperwork had come through and they became officially permanent residents of Australia.
The family left the ABF office feeling hopeful of their future and had a simple dinner to celebrate the monumental event.
Patricia and mum Rezy on the afternoon their family’s permanent visas were granted, in front of the Australian Border Force office at Molonglo Drive, ACT Source: Rezy Jestingor
Moving forward with their lives
Joey said the battle was all worth it.
There was an outpouring of support from the community, including his work colleagues, churchmates and random people who expressed their messages of hope and concern to the family.
“I thank everyone who supported us including our local MP Kristy McBain and our immigration solicitors Nadine Elhage and Marina Oriehova Zhang. We could have not done it without everyone’s help and prayers,” Joey shared.
“They stood with us throughout this whole journey.”
Joey and Rezy’s children, who also had their fair share of struggles during the visa battle, are now brimming with hope with a more secured future.
Ysabella and Phoenix are now planning their next steps.
“Ysabella is about to complete her Biomedical degree and Phoenix is planning to study either engineering or architecture in university. We are happy that they can now realise their dreams,” Joey said.
Also, although Patricia doesn’t comprehend the situation, she can sense the excitement and sheer happiness that her entire family felt after the grant.
The Jestingor family can now go on with their lives without the fear of being ejected from Australia. They are currently saving to build a house that will become their permanent home – a testament to a brighter future soon to eventuate.
