One last chance for grandma on the brink of deportation
Mary Ellis, 74, who has lived in Australia for the last 40 years and is facing deportation, has made a last-ditch bid to stay Down Under.
The grandmother recently appeared on A Current Affair and begged the Department of Home Affairs to let her stay in the country.
At the time, she refuted the Home Affairs' claim that she had misrepresented her continuous residence in the country, after they alleged that she left Australia three times under an alias between 1983 and 1986, and that her late husband Martin Ellis was actually called Trevor Warren.
The crucial qualification for an absorbed citizenship is that she would only be eligible if she was in Australia from April 2, 1984, and had not left the country since.
The grandmother claimed that she arrived in Australia in December 1981, and hasn't left since, saying that she had also paid taxes in Australia, held a Medicare card, pension card and an Australian driver's licence.
She was also nominated for the NSW Volunteer of the Year award last year, for her charitable acts.
The DailyMail reports that there are no "compassionate grounds" on which the Immigration Minister could intervene in her bid to attain an absorbed citizenship.
However, under the Migration Act, the minister could decide to intervene in Ellis' case if he thinks "it is in the public interest."
Now, Ellis and her migration agent Schneider have requested in writing for the minister to intervene.
Requests for Federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to intervene must address specific grounds in doing so, and state why her staying would be in the public interest.
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