A single mother is at risk of her non-verbal autistic son being deported due to an immigration issue with his uninvolved father.
Seven-year-old Dishon Warnakulasooriya was born at Monash Hospital in Melbourne while his parents were on bridging visas, awaiting permanent residency.
Dishon’s mother, Janatha Purushuthaman, is Malaysian and came to Australia on a protection visa, while his father, a Sri Lankan citizen, entered the country illegally.
Because both parents were temporary visa holders, Dishon was not automatically granted Australian citizenship.
Instead, he was given the same visa as his father, classifying him as an “illegal non-citizen.”
Although his mother later became an Australian citizen after divorcing his father, Dishon still holds Sri Lankan citizenship.
Dishon currently holds a Class E bridging visa, which allows him to legally reside in Australia while his case is assessed.
However, this visa limits his access to essential services such as Medicare and the NDIS, which are crucial to managing his learning disabilities.
Hardworking Australian single mother Janatha Purushuthaman struggles to care for her autistic son Dishon (both pictured) while on an illegal immigrant bridging visa
Immigration lawyers have told Ms Purushuthaman that she will have to wait for a decision or until Dishon turns 10 years old before his situation can be resolved.
However, Mrs Purushuthaman fears that by then it will be too late and her son is already missing through the NDIS for essential after-school care because her visa status had not been granted to him.
“Dishon has missed crucial early interventions due to our current visa difficulties, and I fear his potential for a better life is being jeopardized by these circumstances.
“I once had a dream to continue my studies, but this situation makes me put all my dreams aside and work hard to provide for myself and my son.”
“For the past seven years I have fed him with my own money, he is my blood and I have served him,” she said.
“It’s not fair, he was born here and it’s really not fair that other people from other countries can be seen as human beings and get a good visa.”
She said Dishon should not be punished for his father’s actions, saying he is “just a kid, an Australian kid.”
Dishon was given the visa because his absent father arrived in Australia illegally from Sri Lanka, meaning he cannot get the Medicare or NDIS support he so desperately needs
“He should be treated as an Australian and not discriminated against as a ‘boat’ (illegal) arrival – he was born here,” Ms Purushuthaman said.
To support Dishon as a single mother, Ms Purushuthaman is forced to work night shifts.
“If I don’t work the night shift, the pay will be much lower, and it won’t be enough for me and my son to live on,” she explained.
The frustrated mother has even started writing letters to her local MP and even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to help speed up the issue.
But she has only been told to wait for the Home Office to make a decision, which has led to her becoming a petition drum up support.
“For privacy reasons, the Department is unable to comment on individual cases,” a Department of Home Affairs spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.
‘All visa applicants must meet the requirements of migration legislation.
‘Permanent visa assessments often cannot be completed quickly, due to the need to assess the visa application against a range of criteria, such as family relationships, health, character, guardianship, the interests of any dependents and identity criteria, before issuing a visa can be granted.’