A BIRKDALE woman is battling strict Australian immigration laws in an effort to get her parents Australian visas.
Kate Coskey, who works for Virgin Australia, has been fighting immigration laws on her parents' behalf since she and her engineer husband, Don Coskey, moved to Australia on a 189 Skilled visa in 2009.
Prior to immigrating from Durbin in South Africa and becoming Australian citizens in 2013, Mrs Coskey inquired about immigration visas for her parents, part of her close-knit family.
Initially, Medicare advised her that her 64-year-old father, Gavin Jamison, should apply for a 143 Contributory Visa, which would include medication on the Public Benefits Scheme.
That advice was given even though Mr Jamison had had a kidney transplant in 2007 and required ongoing treatment and anti-rejection medication.
However, that all changed in 2011 when her dad was subjected to an Immigration Department medical test and the Immigration Department discovered he had had a kidney transplant.
"We built a home here in Birkdale two years ago and a granny cottage for mum and dad in the hope they would be here by now," Mrs Coskey said.
"The government said he would be a burden on the community despite the fact my parents will be spending $80,000 on their visas and are hoping to work when they get here.
"My father's private health fund in South Africa said it would courier his medication to Australia if he continued to pay his health fund premiums so we would not burden the government on Medicare.
"We have done everything but because he has a pre-existing condition the government will not consider him."
Now Mrs Coskey has turned her focus to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who has the power to overturn the law.
She sent him an impassioned plea, along with letters to all the Health Ministers since Chris Bowen, begging the government to allow her parents to live in Australia.
She was also given a letter of support from Bowman MP Andrew Laming who wrote to the then-minister Scott Morrison in 2014 asking him to overturn the visa refusal.