Escaping Immigration Detention
My family was taken into immigration detention in April 2017. Once my family and I were taken into immigration detention, the removals officer immediately engaged the removals process to remove our family back to Malaysia. They were eager to send us back because my son would be turning 10 very soon.
Through a friend’s recommendation, we immediately contacted Agape for help. It was very difficult because over the last few years we engaged a ‘friend’ to help us with our immigration matters and we had very complex and messy cases. We had no idea what our ‘friend’ had done for us so we couldn’t give Agape much information. Agape tried very hard to contact my ‘friend’ but he had disappeared and was not able to help.
We were affected by section 48 bar, section 48A bar, and also only had a few days to lodge a substantive visa application whilst we were in immigration detention. We lost all hope because we were stuck in detention and were restricted with our communication. We couldn’t get hold of our ‘friend’ to tell Agape about our whole immigration history. On the last day allowed for us to lodge a valid application, we were told that if we didn’t lodge any application, we would be sent back to Malaysia the next day. We lost all hope already.
Luckily, on that night, Agape found a way. They worked until very late that night going back and forth with us as we were required to sign the visa application forms they prepared urgently, and making sure a valid application was lodged before midnight. The next day, we were told that the removals process was aborted.
We were shortly granted Bridging Visas and released despite our previous poor immigration history. All of this happened within a week or so.
We had never met Agape before but we fully trusted them because they tried so hard with our cases. They cost a fortune but I am very glad that I ended up spending my money because otherwise my family would be back in Malaysia and never be able to return to Australia.
Shortly after our release, my son who was born in Australia turned 10 years of age and we are currently applying for Australian citizenship for him. We would fully recommend Jason, Adele and the team at Agape. They really try their best to help us immigrants.
-Chee Hoong CHEONG
我的家人于2017年4月被移民拘留。一旦我和我的家人被移民拘留，移民官员立即采取遣返程序将我家人带回马来西亚。他们急于把我们送回去，因为我的儿子很快就会满10岁。
通过朋友的推荐，我们立即联系Agape寻求帮助。这是非常困难的，因为在过去的几年里，我们聘请了一位“朋友”来帮助我们解决移民事务，我们遇到了非常复杂和混乱的案件。我们不知道我们的“朋友”为我们做了什么，所以我们无法向Agape提供更多信息。 Agape非常努力地联系我的“朋友”，但他已经失踪并无法提供帮助。
我们受到第48条第48A条的影响，在我们被移民拘留期间，我们也只有几天时间提出签证申请。我们失去了所有的希望，因为我们被拘留我们的沟通也被限制。我们无法联系我们的“朋友”来告诉Agape我们的整个移民历史。在允许我们提交有效申请的最后一天，我们被告知，如果我们没有提出任何申请，我们将在第二天被送回马来西亚。我们已经失去了所有希望，准备要回去马来西亚。
幸运的是，那天晚上，Agape找到了一条路。他们那天晚上工作到很晚，因为我们需要签署他们紧急准备的签证申请表，并确保在午夜之前递交有效的申请表。第二天，我们被告知遣返过程中止。
尽管我们之前的移民历史不佳，我们很快获得过桥签证并获释。所有这一切都发生在一周左右。
我们以前从未见过Agape，但我们完全信任他们，因为他们对我们的案件非常努力。他们的费用很贵，但我很庆幸我最终花了我的钱，因为否则我的家人现在会在马来西亚，永远无法返回澳大利亚。
在我们被释放后不久，我在澳大利亚出生的儿子年满10岁，我们正在为他申请澳大利亚公民身份。我们会完全推荐Jason，Adele和Agape的团队。他们真的尽力帮助我们的移民事情。