Bernadette Romulo has been granted a 12-month bridging visa. Photo: Change.org
A Brisbane-based Filipino woman facing separation from her son has been granted a 12-month reprieve from deportation.
Aged care worker Bernadette Romulo has been fighting deportation since her bridging visa expired on May 8.
If she were to leave the country, her eight-year-old son Giro would be unable to come with her due to partial custody arrangements with his Filipino-Australian father.
Assistant Home Affairs Minister Alex Hawke decided on Wednesday to grant the one-year bridging visa to Ms Romulo to give her family “time to finalise other outstanding matters”, the Home Affairs Department said in a statement.
“Thank you so much for your compassion … and for this chance. We will not let you down,” Ms Romulo posted on Facebook on Wednesday.
Ms Romulo gained the support of more than 33,000 people in a petition in which she claimed Giro “cries himself to sleep every night … knowing we will soon be leaving him behind”.
She originally arrived in Australia on a 457 visa 11 years ago.
In May, Mr Hawke’s office said he only intervenes in a “relatively small number of cases”.
Ms Romulo on Wednesday said they’d continue to fight to stay together.
“We’re not done … we will continue to pray until this family gets the security and assurance what we deserve to stay together forever.”
-AAP