Mr Jaspal Singh has a wife and child in Australia. He is on a bridging visa which has certain conditions attached to it, one being that, if he leaves the country, he may not be allowed back in.
Jaspal came to Australia as a student and was waiting for his parents to arrive at Melbourne airport when, upon arrival, his father collapsed at the arrival gate of a suspected heart attack. He could not be saved despite the best attempts of the paramedics.
The funeral arrangements are being made by the family now which will be held back in India.
Mr Singh's wife is pregnant with their second child and the family is very distressed especially due to the visa conditions on Mr Jaspal Singh. Due to his bridging visa, there is no surety that Mr Singh will be allowed back in the country if he decides to escort his father's body to India.
Mr Singh's wife Mandeep Kaur told ABC, "I am 12 weeks pregnant, I have an 11-month-old baby and my baby is suffering from kidney problems and I'm going to regular appointment with the doctor, and I can't stay overseas with the baby".
An migration lawyer Siran Nyabally is dealing with the case, and said the family was "devastated".
"Jaspal is between a rock and a hard place," she said.
"On the one hand his family is telling him that he needs to go back to India, he's obliged as the only son in Australia to be with his mother".
"But on the other hand, if Jaspal leaves Australia, he's going to be leaving a pregnant wife, who has suffered a miscarriage recently, and a young son who has suffered from kidney complications and is being referred to the Royal Children's Hospital, indefinitely, with no guarantee that he will be allowed to come back to Australia."
Complicated visa status
Mr Singh's visa had expired when he separated from his previous partner.
After getting married again, he applied for visa the second time which can only be approved by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
Ms Nyabally said Mr Dutton has the power to allow Mr Singh to return to Australia.
"What we're asking for is for Mr Dutton to apply his own policies and consider intervening in this very, very unusual matter, where an Australian family unit would be ripped apart, were he not to act."
Department of Immigration and Border Protection is now looking into the problem.
Minister Dutton has in the past granted visas to the mother and brother a Pakistani student in Melbourne who was terminally ill, after an appeal from the public.
Ms Kaur has requested the minister to help them in this case as well.
"I just want to impress on the Minister, please, as a human, please think about the matter."
"We're all very upset, all the family, me, my mother-in-law, Jaspal."
