Healesville’s Bina Valakuzhy and Sam Vadakkedath facing deportation
Bina Valakuzhy and Sam Vadakkedath welcomed their firstborn only weeks ago — and now the young Healesville family are preparing for deportation. But they have one slim chance left to stay in the place they’ve called home for years.
Outer East
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The Yarra Ranges community has rallied around a young Healesville family preparing to be deported.
Bina Valakuzhy and Sam Vadakkedath — and their seven-week-old daughter — are awaiting final confirmation they have been denied permanent Australian residency, after a fault in the application they filed almost three years ago was recently discovered.
The married couple have spent years building their lives in the Yarra Ranges and have been described by friends and colleagues as “pillars” of the Healesville community.
Ms Valakuzhy is a Canadian citizen and has begun applying for a Canadian permanent residency for Mr Vadakkedath, an Indian citizen, fearing they will be split up once they leave Australia.
They have been trying to become permanent Australian residents since 2016, when they applied for an Employer Sponsored visa.
It’s been a long process, with numerous hiccups, but they say they only found out in April they were no longer eligible for the type of visa.
The employee originally sponsoring their application suffered financially and had to let Mr Vadakkedath go late in 2016.
While he managed to find another job in the Yarra Valley in just weeks — and the couple say they wrote this on application documents — the department informed them in April this year his change of employer meant he had not met visa requirements.
At the time they could have changed the application to suit their change in circumstances, but Ms Valakuzhy said they were unaware of the process.
Once the family receives the final answer on the outcome of their visa application, they will be able to apply for a review.
A Department of Home Affairs spokesman, who refused to be named, said the department did not comment on individual cases, but that applications must meet certain criteria, including working for the employer nominating the person for the visa.
“Individuals who are onshore and have ongoing matters with the department are generally able to remain in Australia while their case is being considered.”
Mr Vadakkedath has been in Australia since 2008 and is the head chef at a Yarra Valley restaurant.
Ms Valakuzhy moved to Healesville in 2014 after they were married, and works at Four Pillars gin distillery.
More than 130 people attended a fundraiser Four Pillars held to show their support for Ms Valakuzhy — “part of the much-loved furniture” at the distillery — and her family on August 1.
The Four Pillars team called the event ‘Bina Palooza’ and made a micro-batch of Bina-Palooza Gin in her honour, which they sold bottles of, featuring her story on the label.
And the evening wasn’t the only display of love the family have received.
More than 20 people have written letters to try to persuade the government the family are valued members of the community and should be made permanent residents.
“We are in awe of all the love and support we have been receiving,” Ms Valakuzhy said.
“We have a community who cares, that wants us to stay here.”
The money raised at the fundraiser was designed to help the family in their legal fight to stay, to raise their daughter — neither of them were able to get paid parental leave without permanent residency — or help with relocation costs.
While they desperately want to remain in Australia, the couple are thinking of their daughter and preparing to move.
“We know the chances of us staying here are very slim,” Ms Valakuzhy said.
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She said the last few years for the couple had been like “living with a cleaver over” their heads.
“I can’t tell you in words how difficult this journey has been.”
“We are good people who have done nothing but work extremely hard, duly pay our taxes every year and try every day to help those around us.”
“It just makes you feel like you can be a good person and do all these things but at the end of the day you’re not seen as a person.”
Ms Valakuzhy said since Lilydale and Yarra Valley Leader contacted the Department of Home Affairs the couple had received a call from the department, saying there could be a way for them to make another visa application without having to leave the country first.
But after years in limbo, they are not optimistic.