By Casey Neill
A Dandenong charity is offering free help to asylum seekers who need to apply for a visa.
Illegal maritime arrivals (IMA) must lodge an application for a three-year Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) or a five-year Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) before 1 October.
Those who miss the deadline will have their income support cut off, will not have another chance to lodge an application and will be subject to the lengthy deportation process.
Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre (SMRC) board member Wicki Wickiramasingham came up with the idea to help.
“We want to appoint two migration agents and we want to serve these people who are having difficulty getting legal assistance,” he said.
“We are going to do it freely.”
Asylum seekers can drop into SMRC at 39 Clow Street, Dandenong, and register for the service.
They’ll be given a time to return for a consultation to fill out the necessary forms.
“These people are not entitled to any funding from the government, so they have no facility, they have no income, so they can’t go to a lawyer to apply for a visa,” Mr Wickiramasingham.
He estimated there were nearly 125 people in the area in this position.
In June the Journal reported that Greater Dandenong Council would write to the state and federal governments and local MPs to advocate for increased support for asylum seekers following the Federal Government’s announcement of the deadline on 21 May.
Tim Dark told the council’s June meeting that “lodge or leave” was about illegal maritime arrivals proving they were genuine and owed protection by Australia.
He said those affected had refused or failed to present a case for asylum, and many had been in the country for five years.
“The first thing you would do is complete the paperwork,” he said.
Cr Heang Tak, an immigration lawyer, hit back.
“These people have fled by boat,” he said at the time.
“You expect people to bring passport and birth certificates with them?
“That is out of touch.”
