Family stranded after visa glitch

A family of five, that was living in a tent with no capacity to work or afford essential medicine, is facing a dire future over what the family claim is a government department processing error.

Gurpreet Singh, the family's sole breadwinner, is waiting for the go-ahead to resume working as a truck driver after he said a bureaucratic error revoked his right to work in Australia in February.

He's put on a brave face for his wife Jasbir and their three children, aged 6, 11 and 13, but Mr Singh is concerned for the family's future. They are now living in a home funded by Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara in Craigieburn, Melbourne.

The couple has lived in Australia for 15 years and two of their children are Australian citizens. In March they had used the last of their savings and were evicted from their home.

Since then Mr Singh said they had been surviving on the kindness of their community, which is providing interim accommodation and support, as well as help from generous social workers.

One social worker helped the family buy $70 worth of insulin needed for their daughter but Mr Singh was not sure where they would find the money to pay for her ongoing care.

"We really can't provide our kids with any further reassurance as we don't know how long we will be in this situation," he said.

Despite "following all the rules" of the immigration system, the Singh family has been marked as unlawful, the family's lawyer Carina Ford said.

"They lodged [their visa application] on time and then the department didn't process it prior to it expiring," she said.

Mr Singh said "in January 2023, we lodged a Bridging Visa A application on time in association with our court application however the Department of Home Affairs failed to process it in time".

"It was not granted until several days later which has now caused a two-day period of unlawfulness to appear in the department's system," he said.

"Generally the department backdate these grants, particularly in cases where the applications have been lodged in time to avoid this issue, however this two-day period of unlawfulness now means we are not entitled to work rights on our current bridging visa," he said.

The Department of Home Affairs said it "does not comment on individual cases".

"The conditions imposed on bridging visas are applied in accordance with the regulations," a spokesperson said.

Their lawyer said the family was waiting on a special dispensation from the Department of Home Affairs for Mr Singh to resume working.

There is no indication of when, or if, this will happen, Ms Ford said.

"I just think the concept of putting people on 'no work rights' visas in the circumstances, where the cost of living has gotten much higher, just seems ludicrous," she said.

"It just doesn't make sense."

A fundraiser has been established to support the family until their working rights are restored.