A BALLARAT family is maintaining hope that it will be granted a visa to continue living in Australia, despite the continued state of ambiguity surrounding their request to be granted asylum here.
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Neelavannan Paramanathan, or Neil Para, as he prefers to be known, has long lived in fear that his family will be deported back to Sri Lanka.
He understands the plight of the Biloela family - Nades, Priya, and their Australian-born girls, four-year-old Kopika and two-year-old Tharunicaa - who are also Tamil but had made a home for themselves in regional Queensland before they were taken into detention last year.
The family was being deported late last month when, mid flight, their lawyers secured a federal court injunction, forcing the plane they were being flown back to Sri Lanka on to land. The family has since been moved to the detention centre on Christmas Island.
Both families feel they will be persecuted if they return to their home country.
Mr Para said the situation worried him.
Though his family is very happy in Ballarat and have many friends within the community and further afield that keep their spirits high, the ongoing ambiguity with their immigration status is a source of intense worry.
"It is tough and frustrating," he said. "I put my family and kids in their shoes. It is scary to think about.
"I have strong support in the community but my worries are that the government and ministers are not listening to the public's request."
Mr Para has told his friends and supporters that if his family is taken into detention too, he does not want them to be stressed or upset.
"I just want my friends to be okay," he said.
Mr Para and his wife Suganthini, or Sugaa, and their three children - 11-year-old Nivash, nine-year-old Kartie and seven-year-old Nive - are beloved Ballarat community members.
The Tamil family, including a heavily pregnant Sugaa, desperately fled the civil war in their home country by boat, bound for Australia, in 2012.
They were taken into detention, where they lived for several months, before being given a visa in September 2013, allowing them to live in the community, work and study.
The family chose to move to Ballarat to begin their new lives but shortly afterwards, in February 2014, these rights were removed.
Since then, for the past 2045 days, the family has been in limbo - unable to earn a living or access subsidised medical care, with the Ballarat community paying for all of their expenses.
Mr Para has tried every avenue to obtain a visa for his family to secure their future in Australia but is continuously hitting dead ends at every corner. He is currently trying for ministerial intervention.
Earlier this year, when Mr Para and his wife informed their children of their situation, their eldest daughter Nivash wrote a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The family received a letter back, informing them it was not his portfolio, but had been passed on to the immigration minister, David Coleman.
Mr Coleman thanked Nivash for her letter and stated that he hoped her dream of working as a cardiologist at Ballarat Base Hospital would come true.
Mr Para has still not received an update about his family's immigration status and said he was very frustrated at the situation and the lack of news.
The stress of the situation and the ambiguity over their future is taxing for the family and although the children attend Black Hill Primary School, where they are thriving, their parents are unable to work.
The girls have all received awards at school and all excelled in their recent NAPLAN tests.
Both Mr Para and Ms Neelavannan happily fill their days with volunteer work and contributing to the community.
Mr Para spends his time taking photographs and volunteering at various events such as the Ballarat International Foto Biennale, volunteering at the State Emergency Service (SES), organising community working bees and planting trees.
He is currently training on a bike in the lead up to the Great Cycle Challenge in October, during which he will ride 300-kilometres to raise money for children fighting cancer. He has so far raised more than $500 for the cause.
Ms Neelavannan volunteers at an aged care facility. When they are able to, the whole family visits aged care facilities in Ballarat and Geelong to raise the residents' spirits through song and dance, while eldest daughter Nivash plays the violin.
"The residents get excited to see the girls," Mr Para said.
For the pair, volunteering is a way to repay the community for all it has done to support them.
"We want to live as a model to our kids. If we live like this, they will follow us," Mr Para said.
"I am a healthy man and want to work, if the government will let me, so I can contribute something more.
"I want to be a good man, a nice man to everyone."
Mr Para said he loves Australia because everybody is so friendly and helpful.
"I really want my girls to grow up here because it is hard for women in live in Sri Lanka," he said.
The family lawyer, who the community paid to represent the family, is no longer able to and so the family is searching for another who can represent them pro bono or for a discounted price.
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