Danielle May with her mother and her first child, now four years old.(ABC: Supplied)
The decision to classify the parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents as immediate family, opening the door for them to travel into the country, has been met with relief, excitement and some trepidation.
Key points:
Since Australia’s international borders shut in March 2020, only immediate family members were able to get exemptions to visit
But parents were excluded from this classification, leading to a campaign for change
The federal government has changed this interpretation, but some are worried state border restrictions will still prevent their parents from coming
Nearly half of all Australians were either born overseas or had at least one parent who was.
Yet until now, foreign-born parents were ineligible to apply for a COVID-19 exemption to travel into Australia because they were not considered immediate family.
For Harjot Singh, news that a family reunion would soon be possible came a year after he started campaigning for the federal government to change the definition.
The Indian-born Australian citizen has lived in Australia for almost 20 years, residing in Melbourne with his wife and six-year-old son.
Harjot Singh with his wife Misha and son Kiaan.(ABC: Supplied)
When his mother died suddenly in India in 2020, his father was left alone with no other family in the country while battling cancer.
Although he managed to get to India to spend several months with his sick father, having to leave him alone while he was still recovering caused the whole family deep anguish.
Harjot Singh and family with his father, Jastinder Pal Singh.(ABC: Supplied)
“Both my sister and I live here in Melbourne, we are all Australian citizens,” he said.
