Murray Bridge mum pleads for help as she faces deportation

This story was contributed by Jack Kelly of the Manly Observer, and is free to read. Help Murray Bridge News tell more stories like this by subscribing today.

A Murray Bridge mother of three is desperately turning to the community for help as she faces deportation in two weeks over historic issues with her visa.

Ying-Hsi Chou spent Saturday pleading for signatures on a petition outside Murray Bridge Marketplace as part of a last-ditch effort to convince the Department of Home Affairs to allow her to stay in the country with her family.

She was joined by her husband Ben Cox and three Australian-born sons, Jacob, eight, Tony, six, and Ryan, five, who have all resided in the town for 12 years.

Mrs Chou came over from Taiwan to work at a local meat processing facility in 2016, where she later met and married her husband and settled into community life.

However, authorities have determined that she provided incorrect information on her visa application over a decade ago, after failing to declare a previous visit to Australia made under her Burmese name.

The government says she intentionally misled the department, and the visa breach means they will remove her from the country within 28 days, sending her back to Taiwan while her husband and Australian-born children remain behind.

“My family is here,” Mrs Chou told Murray Bridge News, holding back tears.

“I just want to stay with my family.

“I don't know where I (will) go, if I go.

“They need a mother to take care.

“If I bring in my sons, they only know English – they cannot, they cannot talk Mandarin, how do they live in Taiwan?

“My husband also, how (will) he find a job? He also cannot talk in Mandarin.

“If I leave, they stay here; I (will) go by myself.

“This is family, my sons ... How can I do, how can I go?”

The family not only worries that moving would prove difficult due to assimilation concerns, but they further fear for the welfare of their children.

Mrs Chou says she has no family or friends in Taiwan and grew up in poverty, stating that employment, education and medical assistance and opportunities in the country were next to nothing, relative to her current home.

Mr Cox said the situation would be impossible for him to continue his employment, pay off their mortgage, and look after his family, as his wife was the full-time caregiver of the children.

The Murray Bridge local works in wastewater management and has provided crucial services to the hospital and other local organisations.

Despite the visa breach, the Department of Home Affairs can grant a partnership visa on compassionate or compelling circumstances.

It says her case does not meet these conditions.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was also considered, stating a child should not be separated from their parents unless it’s in the child’s best interest.

The department said Mr Cox could travel with the family to visit his wife in Taiwan and she could re-apply for a visa.

It is a three-year waiting process, just to apply, with no guarantee of being accepted. 

The family’s lawyer, Gordon Cheng, commented on the issue, stating this was a sad story he had seen all too often.

“We are not asking for citizenship or whatever,” Mr Cheng said.

“We are just asking for a partnership visa so that the mother can stay to look after the three young kids, and then the father can continue to work as a wastewater management specialist.

“As far as I'm concerned, Home Affairs are not sentimental anyway … We asked her to have the support of the community so that we can have some names in our petition.

“It is a very sad story.”

Outside the shopping centre, the family stood for hours, gathering almost 100 signatures in an attempt to convince Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to use his ministerial powers to grant a partnership visa.

Online, the movement has also gained momentum.

A local resident, touched by Ying-Hsi’s story, created a Change.org petition pleading with other residents to show their support for a family that has long been an integral part of their community.

For now, this is Ying-Hsi’s last hope of not being torn apart from her home and her family.

“We've got a 50-50 chance of keeping her in Australia,” Mr Cox pleaded.

“Please help us sign and get our names out there.”

“I just want to stay with my sons, with my husband,” Mrs Chou said.

“If you let me go, I don't know where I can go.

“If I go, my family is broken.”

• Sign the petition: www.change.org.