Perth family facing deportation after 14-year battle to stay in Australia

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At 22 years old, Rahma Aldeiri should have everything going for her.

The Perth scholarship student is on track to finish their nursing degree at Curtin University in a few months' time.

But her aspirations to become a critical care nurse and travel across Australia to help out in disadvantaged areas are being jeopardised by her family's visa issues.

The Aldeiri family migrated to Australia 14 years ago and have been experiencing a lengthy and difficult struggle to secure their visa and remain in the country ever since.

For over a decade, the family has been living on bridging visas, constantly unsure of what the future holds beyond just a few months.

Rahma was only eight years old, and her two little sisters, who were twins, were five years old when they moved to Sydney from Jordan.

The family was originally visiting Rahma's grandmother - an Aussie citizen who had migrated to this country as a refugee from Iraq.

However, while they were in Sydney, Rahma's parents lodged visa applications for protection.

The Aldeiri family settled into life in Australia, despite having an uncertain future, with Sultan finding work as a carpet layer and Reem, a qualified teacher from Jordan, getting a job as a learning support worker at a primary school.

The family's protection visa applications were ultimately rejected, with the case eventually making it all the way to the Federal Court.

Simon Jeans, the Aldeiri's immigration lawyer, then lodged applications for child visas for Rahma and her sisters, which were also knocked back.

In 2020, the family received a deportation order. They packed up their Sydney residence, and purchased air tickets to Jordan.

While visiting family in Perth, just before they were due to leave, the pandemic hit and the borders shut down.

In a desperate bid to remain, applications have been lodged for a ministerial intervention into child visa and protection visa matters.

The Jeans family got caught up in a major Immigration Department stuff-up twice, when their requests for the Minister to look into their case were knocked back - without even being given a chance to be heard by the Minister.

"This ended up being against the law, because in April 2023, the High Court made a ruling that said these cases have to go to the minister in some way or another, the department can't just block everything," Jeans said.

The bloke, Jeans, reckons it wasn't until last December that the Immigration Department finally acknowledged the High Court's decision and that the Aldeiri family still had valid applications for ministerial intervention on the go.

Rahma said she and her family had done their best to keep moving forward with their lives, despite their uncertain visa situation.

With the family still living in Perth, Sultan continues to work as a carpet layer, while Reem works as a support staff member for students with special needs.

Rahma's sisters, Mesk and Hareer, finished high school last year.

"Mesk's dream is to become an engineer, and Hareer's really passionate about teaching," Rahma said.

However, as international students, the university fees are too expensive for them.

They're stuck, they're genuinely on hold for everything.

While the time was approaching for her to apply for graduate nursing programs at local public hospitals, Rahma admitted she wasn't sure if she'd get accepted because of her visa situation.

The family is also caring for Rahma's grandmother, who has Parkinson's disease.

as a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

Now, Rahma is using her petition again to make a heartfelt appeal to have her family granted permanent residency.

Rahma said there was no way she and her family would be able to return to Jordan, a country she could hardly recall.

"It's not something we'd want to think about," she said.

It just doesn't add up for us to head back, we've got nothing there. This is where we belong, so why would we give up our home?

Jeans said that, despite having plenty of things going in their favour, the family had "fallen through just about every crack in the system", adding that their case for a ministerial intervention was as strong as you could get.

Fair dinkum, I've seen some terrible injustices, and I've been working on cases like this since '93.

These are the people who'll shape Australia's future. These young people are the country's future. It's in our national interest to allow them to stay.

Do you have a yarn? Get in touch with reporter Emily McPherson at emcpherson@nine.com.au