Immigration officials vow to help Scots grandmother over visa wrangle
Immigration officials in Australia have said they are “happy to work” with relatives of a Scots grandmother with dementia who fears being deported amid a row over her visa status.
Christina Grant, 96, moved to New South Wales to live with her son, Allan, following the death of her other son, Robert, who cared for her at her home in Grantown-onspey. Mrs Grant, who is partially sighted, has been living in Australia since 2015, with Allan and his wife, Diane.
She and her relatives believed that by taking a South Pacific cruise, she complied with the terms of her visa, which stipulates that she must leave the country once a year.
However, her family have been told her visa will expire later this month, a move they say leaves them with no option but to book her a flight back to the UK. Diane Grant said the immigration department had “kept themselves and us very busy” by “filling in endless forms,” and accused them of offering “nothing in the way of help or advice”.
However, a spokesman for the country’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection said yesterday that it was looking to work with the Grant family to resolve the situation. Although Mrs Grant is technically an unlawful citizen, the spokesman said it hoped she would submit a new application.
He said: “We have no plans to remove christina grant and we are willing to resolve her situation. She needs to put a visa application in so that we can consider all of her circumstances. It’s true that she has been told she can’t remain in Australia on her current expired visa but we are happy to work with her and her family.
“The family is understandably confused in their thinking because they are speaking through the media instead of directly to us. One option could be that she applies for a visa and we can then grant her a bridging visa that will keep her lawful whilst her visa application is being considered.
“There are no plans to de port her and it’s incorrect to say she will be refused a visa because of her health.”