▲Krishna Anish's family


An Indian family whose 10-year-old son was ordered deported from Australia because he has Down syndrome has obtained Australian permanent residency at the discretion of the Minister of Immigration.

On the 10th local time, ABC broadcast the story of the family of Krishna Anish, an Indian who lives in Perth, Australia, and works as a cybersecurity expert for a mining company.

Krishna Anish has been living in Perth, Australia for seven years with her husband, young daughter and son, who work for a telecommunications company.

The family applied for permanent residency to continue living in Australia, but Australian immigration authorities withdrew Anish's 7-year-old son from permanent residency because he had "Down syndrome" and ordered him to "leave Australia within 10 days."

According to Australian immigration law, a country can refuse permanent residency if it is determined that the cost to the country for social security outweighs the benefits that the permanent resident applicant will bring to Australia.

The provision has been criticised for unfairly discriminating against people with disabilities, but it continues to be a burden on Australian taxpayers.

As a last resort, Mr. Anish then sent a letter to Australian Immigration Minister Andrew Giles asking him to "allow permanent residency at the discretion of the Minister".

This is also guaranteed by Australian immigration law, and if an applicant for permanent residency petitions the Minister of Immigration and the Minister deems it in the public interest, he or she can overturn the decision of the Administrative Tribunal at his or her discretion.

It is known that it takes a long time or is rare for permanent residency to be granted through a general ministerial petition.

However, when their stories were featured on ABC, public opinion was formed in Australia that they should be "rescued," and Australian Immigration Minister Giles sent a letter to Anish's family on Jan. 35, informing them that they had been granted permanent residency, saying they had "decided to exercise their public interest authority."

Mr. Anish said, "I am happy to continue to live in this society and provide a good environment for my children. Everyone around us was supporting us," he said, adding, "I don't know who to thank for. I want to thank everyone."

"We don't want this society to discriminate against children with disabilities. We hope that the rules will be changed so that there are no cases like ours who are denied permanent residency because of their disability."

Dr Jan Gotthard, a disability expert and immigration agent, said: "While we are delighted that the Minister has taken this decision, there are many cases where visas are denied for health reasons, and the work of Mr. Anish's family is just the tip of the iceberg."

Dr Jan Gotthard said: "Between 8 and 2021, there were about 2022,1 people who did not meet the health requirements and were unable to obtain visas, and immigration laws should be governed by disability discrimination like other Australian laws."

(Photo=ABC, Yonhap News)