Englishwoman Belinda Checkley facing deportation after 11 years in Australia given last-minute visa

A British woman facing deportation after living in Australia for 11 years has been granted a last-minute extension just hours before she was due to board a plane.

Belinda Checkley, 36, first came to Down Under as a backpacker in 2012 and spent more than a decade in Byron Bay, but her visa was rejected when her employer sold the company she works for.

The cafe worker was told she would have to leave the country on Tuesday.

On Monday, however, she was issued a three-month bridging visa to apply for long-term residence.

Now she faces another battle to stay in Australia, where she has found love and built a life, with more than 35,000 people signing a petition urging Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to step in and have her let stay.

“I got a great result after pushing hard in the last two weeks. I am so, so grateful that I am not packing my bags to leave tomorrow: I have been granted a bridging visa for another three months,” she wrote on her Change.org petition.

“While I pray for a good outcome and other opportunities to take shape, I am quite nervous that I may have to say goodbye to my home, my life, in the coming months.”

Ms Checkley first came to Australia on a working holiday visa and ‘immediately’ fell in love with Byron Bay.

After working on a farm for three months, she studied hospitality management before getting a job in the New South Wales tourist town and working her way up to cafe manager.

But in 2018, the cafe changed hands and her visa was revoked.

She says she has built a “beautiful life” in Byron Bay and has “no life” in the UK.

‘I worked hard to build a secure future and my goal was to get permanent residency.

“It has been a long journey – one filled with countless personal, emotional and financial sacrifices – to work within the Australian immigration system,” her petition on change.org explains.

After living happily in Australia for six years, she was told in 2018 that her visa had been rejected. She later discovered that her migration lawyer had submitted the application on her behalf and had not completed the paperwork correctly.

She found a new lawyer and appealed to the Appeals Board (AAT).

At the same time, Mrs. Checkley was beset by personal tragedy when her partner committed suicide.

“This was an incredibly painful experience and it’s something that will stay with me forever,” she explained.

“The magnitude of the love and support I received from my incredible friends and members of the local community was a clear testament to the fact that this beautiful city is truly my home.”

While processing her grief, Checkley faced another setback when her employers sold the cafe where she worked.

This led to the immediate revocation of her visa.

“I appealed to the Immigration Department on this unique set of circumstances,” she explained.

My case rose to the level of ministerial intervention – to be judged personally by the immigration minister himself.

“So for another two full years — during the pandemic — I lived, worked hard, and anxiously waited for an outcome.

“And last Christmas I got one: my appeal was also rejected by the Department of Immigration without further review.

‘I was told there was no option to apply for an alternative visa while still living in Australia.

“And I had three months to prepare my deportation. Once outside the Australian borders, I would not be allowed to enter the country again for the next three years.’

Having successfully secured a last-minute bridging visa, Ms Checkley is now appealing for public support to stay, with many Byron Bay residents speaking out for her place in the community.

“I gave 11 years of my life to this country. It’s surreal and unfathomable to rebuild my life after years of hard work and dedication,” she explained.

‘I am a hard-working, law-abiding and productive member of Australian society. I work in an industry that is desperate for talented and reliable employees.

“I have proven myself time and time again and sacrificed so much to call this place my home. My only crime is that I was not born here.

‘I came, like so many of us still in Byron Bay, as a backpacker in my twenties. I loved it and never left. I am now 36 years old, settled and trying to start my own family with my partner who grew up here.

‘I have no life in the UK. It’s a cold and distant memory.’

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Traci Yan Yan Chen, lead lawyer at Maison Chen Law Group, which specializes in Australian immigration, said cases like Ms Checkley’s are “unfortunately common”.

‘A refusal of an application greatly limits the options on land,’ she explains.

‘The process takes quite a long time and of course the minister does not have to intervene, especially if an offshore visa application can be submitted.

“Before seeking ministerial intervention, applicants should carefully consider their options as they must apply for a Bridging E-visa to legally remain on land while their case is pending.”

She added that the best way to avoid situations like this is to “get the right advice.”

‘You have to have confidence in the expert you choose to avoid easily avoidable mistakes. However, for some applications, the departmental file handler still has the freedom to refuse the application for a visa or employer appointment.’

Her case parallels that of the Murugappan family of Sri Lanka, who received the support of the Biloela township, and the Green family of Scotland, who had also been in Australia for 10 years but were denied a visa due to changes in employer.

In both cases, significant media coverage allowed those families to stay.