Veteran soldier secures visa reprieve for wife

The veteran – whose mental health is in decline – had previously been denied a visa for his wife due to a ‘mistake’ in the Department of Home Affairs’ assessment.

An Australian Special Operations Task Group soldier in Afghanistan. Picture: Department of Defence

A decorated SAS veteran who found himself in limbo after the Department of Home Affairs refused to grant his Thai-born wife a visa has finally had the impasse revolved.

The soldier – who was awarded the nation’s second-highest military honour, the Medal for Gallantry, for his conduct in the Afghanistan War – had been living in Thailand for eight years while he worked as a FIFO security contractor at resources projects around the world.

He has returned to Australia for treatment for his declining mental health, but The Australian revealed in June that Home Affairs had refused to give his wife a partner visa because the soldier was unable to secure criminal clearances from some of the countries he had worked in.

The Australian has now confirmed that the situation has now been resolved, with the department understood to have contacted the former soldier to resolve the issue shortly after the June story was published.

A spokesman for the RSL said: “We’re pleased that the matter has been resolved.”

“The RSL did make representations to both the Department of Immigration and the Department of Veteran Affairs on his behalf.”

It is understood that the matter was resolved when Andrew Giles was still the immigration minister. He was stripped of the portfolio in late July after a string of issues in the portfolio, including the release of more than 150 convicted criminals from immigration detention following the High Court’s NZYQ decision, and the reinstatement of dozens of visas held by serious offenders due to his Direction 99 order.

A briefing note prepared by RSL Victoria on the soldier’s behalf had spelt out what it argued was a mistake in the Department of Home Affairs in its assessment of the soldier’s application.

The RSL noted that while the regulations provide for the minister to seek police clearances from countries where the sponsor or spouse has lived for at least 12 months, the department sought the paperwork from nations where the man had worked only temporarily. That included countries such as Iraq, Papua New Guinea, Ghana and Nigeria.

The soldier had also been previously told that he would need to start a new application from scratch in order to have his case assessed by the minister, which would have cost the veteran $8,850 and up to 32 months to process.

A letter by the veteran’s psychologist had also been provided to Home Affairs, describing how the soldier’s poor mental health stemming from his war service had hampered his capacity to negotiate the visa process.

“(The soldier) is a man who has given his country everything he has, at very great personal expense, and now finds himself held at a distance from this country,” the psychiatrist wrote.

“(He) is an exceptional individual in his commitment to our country and in his capacity as an Australian citizen. I would ask that his exceptional situation be considered in the processing of his applications.”

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Tony Burke said the department was unable to comment on individual cases.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the former SAS soldier should not have been required to go to the media to get the situation resolved.

“My hope is the new immigration minister will be able to perform his responsibilities in a lot more diligent way than the previous one,” he said.