Family seeks temporary visa for their Pisey

Pisey wants to come home.

August 26th, 2011
Geelong Advertiser (Australia)

A TORQUAY family trying desperately to get their little girl home from Cambodia are keeping their fingers crossed that the Federal Government will let their daughter visit while they fight for a permanent visa.

Meagan and Michael Paterson's request for a visa for Pisey was officially knocked back by the Australian Government after the family found themselves trapped in a legal loophole.

The family is now hoping they will be able to secure a temporary visit visa for Pisey which will allow her to come to Australia while the family waits to have their case heard at a Migration Review Tribunal which could take up to 18 months.

Mr and Mrs Paterson are also pleading with the Attorney General to give Pisey a permanent visa.

Their request comes after Minister for Immigration Chris Bowen reviewed the case and ordered a change to inter-country adoption law that will assist other families in the same situation in the future, but not the Patersons.

The Patersons returned to Australia before they applied for the visa that would allow Pisey to join them here.

They acted after the Australian Embassy in Cambodia informed them they could receive a visa on compassionate grounds, as they were forced to return home due to family illness, before Pisey's adoption was complete.

When they returned to Australia, Pisey's visa was refused and the little girl is living in a rape crisis centre while her family wait for the case to be heard.

Mrs Paterson said the wait was heartbreaking.

"We are hoping the Attorney General will listen to our case and apply a discretionary decision now the law that is keeping Pisey from us is to be changed," she said.

The rape crisis centre Pisey is living in is set to close.

Her grandfather Bill Welsh is in Cambodia trying to find alternate accommodation.