The Veronicas singer Jessica Origliasso reveals her long battle to get her fiance to Brisbane on compassionate grounds
Jessica Origliasso of The Veronicas has revealed she applied for a travel visa for her American fiance four times, desperately hoping he could support her through her mother’s battle with dementia, saying she can’t even get a response from the Government.
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The Veronicas singer Jessica Origliasso has revealed she desperately tried to get her American fiance to Brisbane to support her through her mother’s battle with dementia.
The singer, who lives with her twin sister at a remote property near the Sunshine Coast, said she and fiance Kai Carlton had applied for a travel visa on compassionate grounds four times over the past four months, but never received a response from the Australian Government’s Home Affairs office.
Jessica and Lisa Origliasso’s mother Colleen suffers from Lewy body dementia, which is incurable.
The Veronicas: Mum’s dementia diagnosis brought us back to Qld
The singer hasn’t seen Carlton, who lives in Los Angeles, in five months, since COVID-19 travel restrictions were put in place, and said she still didn’t know when they would be able to see each other.
“It’s so sad … It’s definitely a different way of doing a relationship,” Jessica said on Hit 105’s Stav, Abby and Matt on Wednesday.
“There’s a lot personally for us going on at the moment with our mummy and we’ve been trying to get a compassionate visa, we’ve applied four times now and they just won’t get back to us.”
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“The Australian Government I guess is just flat out dealing with everything. They haven’t responded but it’s been four months since we applied. It’s been really wild.”
The radio hosts brought up The Masked Singer host Dannii Minogue’s recent quarantine exemption upon arriving on the Gold Coast.
“Anyone that thinks celebrities get special exemptions, let me tell you, you don’t – even if you have a parent that’s sick and you need support from your partner, you don’t get that exemption,” Jessica said. “It’s pretty hardcore at the moment.”
A spokesperson from the Australian Border Force said the department didn’t comment on individual cases
“Decisions by the ABF Commissioner to grant exemptions for travel for compassionate and compelling circumstances must be balanced against the Government’s intent for imposing the travel ban and the health risks posed to the Australian community by international travellers,” they said.
“Each case is unique and is considered on its own merit based on the information provided in the application, and supporting evidence must be provided.”
Along with their mother’s ongoing battle with dementia, Lisa revealed in May that she had suffered a miscarriage after an ectopic pregnancy.
“Sometimes it’s the really tough times that really connect us and help us relate to each other,” Lisa said on Hit 105.
“I thought if it helps just one couple or woman feel not alone it’s totally worth it … but I got such an outpouring of support, it really made me feel not alone.”
The Veronicas recently released new song Biting My Tongue and on Wednesday they were promoting their new music video, which marked their directorial debut.