A young woman facing deportation after spending half her life in Australia has issued a desperate plea to Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to intervene in her case and allow her to stay in the country.
Maria Duminica settled in Australia from Romania when she was 10-years-old with her mother and stepfather, who is an Australian citizen.
The European national and her mother arrived in Sydney on tourist visas, with her mother then marrying her stepfather a few months later.
Ms Duminica was named a secondary applicant on their visa application and while the couple were awaiting approval for their permanent visa they were granted continuous temporary bridging visas.
However, in a shock twist, Ms Duminica’s mother removed her daughter’s name from her application as a dependent, seven years into waiting for her partner visa to be approved, amid a rocky relationship between the pair.
The 20-year-old’s bridging visa was therefore cancelled weeks out from her 18th birthday and amid crucial HSC trial exams.
She did not know her visa was cancelled for one whole month and upon discovering the shock news she was thrown into turmoil while living in accommodation, called Stepping Stone House, for homeless and at-risk youth in Sydney’s inner west.
Speaking to 9News on Tuesday, Ms Duminica said she was “scared” when she was notified of her visa cancellation through her lawyer and not by the federal government.
“The department didn’t even notify me, it was my solicitor at the time, she did a visa check,” she said.
“I was very scared. I was kind of in shock as well because I didn’t know what steps I could take to fix that.”
The young woman has since been living month-to-month on a bridging visa which has granted her working rights in Australia, but Ms Duminica’s future still sits in the balance.
She has not been able to obtain a study visa as it would need to be lodged offshore.
“There are things I can’t even plan for, like getting a car. If I spend the money on a car, and I get sent back, that’s money gone,” she said.
“I was looking at living with a friend, but I’m scared to get a place and sign a six-month contract.”
She said she does not accept Romania as her “home country” as she doesn’t “know anyone” in the nation bordering Ukraine, has no connections there and cannot speak the language.
“If I do have to go back, I will be a young woman on the streets. I will be homeless,” she said.
In a desperate bid on her behalf, Ms Duminica’s solicitor applied for a protection visa, but it was refused in September 2022 – as was an unsuccessful attempt to appeal the decision at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
Under rare circumstance, the tribunal member overseeing Ms Duminica’s appeal decided it met the unique conditions required for ministerial intervention, and her case was referred to Mr Giles’ office in June 2023.
But the 20-year-old, who has moved out of Stepping Stone House and is now living independently, has been waiting for almost one year to hear if Mr Giles will intervene and grant her permanent rights to live in Australia.
Staff at Stepping Stone House have now taken matters into their own hands and launched an online petition via Change.org to call on the Department of Home Affairs to take action and let Ms Duminica stay.
“Due to family breakdown Maria left her family home at 16 and sought refuge from Stepping Stone House in Dulwich Hill where she lived for over 2 years. Subsequently, Maria was removed from her parents’ visa and has been dealing with visa issues since,” the petition reads.
It has more than 11,000 signatures at the time of writing with about 400 more needed achieve the next goal of 15,000 signatures.
Signatories of the petition note the Romanian national who has “been living in Australia for half her life” should be “allowed to stay and apply to become an Australian citizen” after this “young woman’s mother has failed her”.
Ms Duminica’s immigration lawyer, Sally Jackson from Crossing Borders, told 9News although her client’s case was “unusual” she would not be “the first person in this situation”.
“What I want to bring to the attention of the minister is that her case is unusual,” Ms Jackson said.
“When you’re a child, your whole family unit is what supports you, and she didn’t have that.”
A spokesman for Mr Giles’ office said the department was aware of Ms Duminica’s case and was looking into the matter.