96-year-old widow threatened with deportation from Australia after moving to be with her only family

A 96-year-old widow has been threatened with deportation from Australia only two years after she moved to be with her only family.

Heartbroken Christina Grant left Scotland following the tragic death of her eldest son, which came only a short while after her husband passed away.

She is said to be ‘nearly blind’ and suffering from dementia – relying on daily assistance from her daughter in law and son Allan in New South Wales.

But she is now facing the threat of deportation after making a ‘common mistake’ with her visa which means she is no longer welcome in Australia.

According to her visa, she had to leave the country once a year for it to be continued – but an international cruise to Vanuatu ‘didn’t count.’

Now, her daughter-in-law Diane claims that she is being forced to leave the country at the end of the month.

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‘Here is 96-year-old mum with bag packed, ready to leave her only close family and her home for the last couple of years, and being sent back to Scotland – hopefully to a nursing home – after the bureaucrats here unreasonably expired her visa’, she wrote on Facebook.

‘If it had instead been cancelled we could have gone to the administration appeals tribunal who, I believe, would have overturned this decision.

‘The immigration department has kept themselves and us very busy, filling in endless forms over the last few months, and offer no help or advice.’

In a statement, the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection claimed that they were attempting to resolve the situation.

‘The tourist stream visitor visa is normally valid for stays of up to 12 months and, as with all visitor visas, is designed to facilitate temporary visits to Australia rather than long-term stays or residence’, they wrote.

‘Conscious of her circumstances, the Department has been working with Ms Grant to resolve her visa status, since her visitor visa expired.’