Melbourne Family Facing Deportation to South Korea Due to Visa Issue

Exclusive: Sophia Lee and her family are stuck in a nightmare limbo. The 20-year-old has lived in Melbourne for 17 years, is studying to become a nurse on a scholarship, and her younger siblings have never known life outside of this country. But Sophia, her parents, brother, and sister all face the possibility of being deported to South Korea over a 'misunderstanding' and have waited for nearly three years with no answers.

Sophia Lee is studying to become a nurse but has been forced to pause her studies over this ongoing visa issue. 'Not only have I lived in Australia for 17 years, I grew up with Australian values and culture and I feel like I belong in Australia,' Sophia told 9news.com.au. 'It's really difficult to have to go back and start everything from scratch. I'd have to learn the language… I can't even study in a Korean school because I don't know the language. I had planned out everything that I wanted to do with my life here in Australia.'

The Lee-Park family were first denied Skilled Regional Visa (Subclass 887) visas in 2019 over a 'misunderstanding' while trying to prove Sumni, Sophia's mother, had been working full-time in a regional area. The 887 visa is a permanent residence visa for skilled provisional visa holders who have lived for at least two years and gained at least 12 months of employment in the specified regional area of Australia.

Their visa officer never provided a copy of the written refusal decision, Sophia said, leaving the family confused and unsure why they were denied. Sophia has since requested audio of the oral decision. However, she believes miscommunication and an error in documentation meant officials didn't believe her mother was under full-time employment.

Sumni and her husband Eun Kyo Lee run an end-of-lease cleaning business in Melbourne. Sophia said her mother Sumni kept full-time hours in accordance with her visa conditions. 'Mum did fulfil that prerequisite and we had evidence to back it up,' Sophia said. 'So now, we're just kind of stuck in limbo.' Sophia said language barriers and poor translation meant her parents couldn't properly resolve the issue. The family claim they provided additional records proving they met the requirements for the visa but their case was not successful. Their appeal has been rejected by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) several times.

Documentation cited by this masthead shows the AAT last upheld its decision to refuse their visa on August 11, 2022. A written confirmation of the refusal has not been given to the family due to 'member availability'. They have been on bridging visas for three years as they await the final decision. The family are now desperately seeking a ministerial review.

Now faced with the possibility of having to drag their family – including 11-year-old Yesol and 17-year-old Sehun – to South Korea, Sophia said her parents are terrified. They are carers for Eun Kyo's elderly parents, who have permanent residency in Australia. The couple also support their sister's two children with autism, both of whom are Australian citizens. The Park-Lee family are pleading with Immigration and Home Affairs minister Tony Burke to review their visa denial and grant permanent residency under compassionate grounds.

'They've invested so much here,' Sophia said. 'My dad is really close with my grandparents, and if he has to go back… he can't take care of them or visit them anymore. They'd be so heartbroken to see us go.' 'After living in Australia for so many years, we are hoping for compassion and fairness so that we can continue our lives here,' Sumni added. Sophia has been forced to pause her studies and is worried her dream of becoming a nurse is slipping away. Suekjin Park, a family friend and immigration lawyer, said the Park-Lee family's visa refusal could have been avoided if a simple miscommunication around documents hadn't taken place.

'The family's visa refusal appears to center on Public Interest Criterion 4020, specifically concerning ambiguity in the evidence of full-time work required for a Subclass 887 visa,' Park said in a statement to 9news.com.au. 'Importantly, this does not involve any finding of deliberate fraud, but rather a misunderstanding or lack of clarity in documentation – a distinction that is often crucial in PIC 4020 assessments. The applicants later supplied additional records and invoices which, if considered earlier, may have led to a different outcome.' Park said she believes the Park-Lee family deserve ministerial consideration under Section 351 of the Migration Act. This grants the Australian Immigration Minister the power to substitute a decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) with a more favorable one. The family have also started a Change.org petition to issue a direct plea to Burke to grant their visas.

9News.com.au has contacted the Department of Immigration for comment.