UK family at risk of deportation for being "too old"
A family from the UK are at risk of being deported from Australia, after the immigration policy deemed them "too old" to stay.
In 2015, Parents Glenn, 57, and Sheena Tunnicliff, 50, moved from the UK to Perth to start a new life with their two young daughters, Tazmin and Molly.
The family settled in the city's north, where Glenn started working as a plasterer and Sheena opened a Helloworld franchise, where she employed three others.
Their daughters are now starting their own careers, as Tazmin, 21, has started working as a nurse and Molly, 18, is studying Australian Sign Language (ASLAN).
Despite living, studying and working in Australia for almost a decade, the entire family is now being faced with the reality of being deported back to their home country.
Glenn and Sheena were ordered to leave the country by August 4th after they were unable to secure permanent residency due to various visa and job changes over the years.
Permanent residency has an age limit of 45, meaning now, neither parent qualifies.
“We don’t want to go back to the UK. We’ve made a life here,” Sheena previously told Nine News.
“Now we are over that magic figure of 45 there is no route to PR for us. Australia classes us as too old [but] we are the ones with the experience and training.”
Since moving to Australia, the family has spent over $80,000 in visas, and will now have to fork out more for a "temporary Band-Aid fix" hat will extend their visas until July 2024.
However, the family are planning to relocate to New Zealand, where the age cut-off for permanent residency is 55, meaning Sheena would be eligible.
Bizarrely, after five years across the Tasman, the Tunnicliffs could become New Zealand citizens which would allow them to return to Australia to live.
“We’d take all our skills and we’d go to New Zealand,” Sheena said.
“It’s crazy. Australia’s lost all our skills. In five years time we could walk back into Australia.”
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