By JOLENE OGLE
DOONAN business owners Anders Lind and Camilla Hansen have been told they must depart the country in seven months – leaving behind their established business and pet dog, Ziggy.
The Swedish couple dreamed of moving to Noosa since they were in high school, with visions of palm trees and hot summers bringing them to Australia five years ago.
Since then the high school sweethearts have established a business in Doonan, bought land in Eumundi and Anders has worked as an electrician, even completing two years’ rural placement, but the couple’s dream life is about to be torn from them following the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s refusal of their visa application.
Camilla and Anders said they were devastated at the refusal of their application on 1 September this year and blamed the Immigration Department for a lack of clear communication.
Anders currently holds a full Australian electrical licence, has a skills assessment by Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) and has completed a practical assessment in wiring skills, but according to the visa refusal letter from the Immigration Department Anders doesn’t have the correct skills assessment paperwork.
“According to the refusal letter Anders needs a different skills assessment than the one he holds, issued by the same authority (TRA),” Camilla said.
“This was never explained to us although we asked on several occasions if there was anything else needed in order to prove Anders’ skills.
“Instead, we were told over the phone the case officer simply had not seen the assessment we had uploaded and that everything was in order. That there had been a mistake on the Department of Immigration’s behalf.”
A frustrated Camilla said if they knew a different assessment was needed they would have completed the paperwork prior to applying for the visa.
“We’ve sent in so much paperwork,” she said.
“We have made our plans to ensure we have the correct paperwork and eligibility requirements.
“We have even sent in prom photos to prove we are a couple. We would have done this assessment too but (the department) didn’t say we needed it. They said everything was fine and to submit the application.”
This was the couple’s second attempt at a visa after the company Anders worked for went bankrupt.
As a result, Camilla estimates the couple had spent over $15,000 on their visa applications.
“This has been so stressful and devastating,” she said. “We have our lives here and we haven’t seen our family in over two years because we just don’t know what will happen or if they come here and we have to go.”
Anders said it had been the support of the community that had helped the couple through what he described as a “terrible” two years.
“We are so grateful to the community who have taken us in,” he said.
“We wouldn’t have been able to make it through these past two years if it wasn’t for the people around us.”
Camilla remembers the first day they arrived in Noosa on a bus.
“I looked at Anders and I said ‘we’re home’,” she said.
The couple can only reapply for the Visa if they leave the country and return to Sweden.
A Department of Immigration spokesman said “we encourage the couple to contact the department to discuss their situation.”
