<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The sister of a woman with cerebral palsy who is facing deportation has issued a desperate plea for the Australian government to let her stay.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Jacqueline Schmidt Aravena, 61, has been living with her sister Marcela in Melbourne for nine years, after originally coming to Australia from her native Chile on a visitor visa in 2017.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Marcela, an aged care and disability support worker, said she had been looking after Jacqueline, who also has an intellectual disability, for most of her life - fulfilling a promise she made to her mother on her deathbed more than 40 years ago.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/bill-clinton-deposition-jeffrey-epstein-us-house-oversight-committee/d5eab151-166e-425a-b59a-e310d41cb45b"><strong><span>'I saw nothing, I did nothing wrong': Bill Clinton grilled over Epstein</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"My mother had cancer and the night before she passed away, she said, 'What is going to happen with Jacqueline?" Marcela said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I said, 'Don't worry, Jacqueline is going to be okay. I will take care of her.'"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Marcela acted as Jacqueline's main caregiver for decades until 2005, when she fell in love and moved to Melbourne to be with her Australian partner. She is now an Australian citizen.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/she-is-not-going-to-survive-melbourne-womans-desperate-plea-to-save-disabled-sister-from-deportation/76031e62-a39c-4c8f-9192-dc09ec22495d" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/un-nuclear-watchdog-says-its-unable-to-verify-whether-iran-has-suspended-all-uranium-enrichment/d34e93bd-f7fe-4307-9506-5c027e1c74eb"><strong><span>UN nuclear watchdog unable to verify Iran's suspended uranium enrichment</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Having been advised it would be impossible to get a visa for her sister to come with her, Marcela paid for a carer to look after Jacqueline while they were apart, and flew home as much as she could.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When Jacqueline's carer told Marcela she could no longer do the job, she arranged with the help of a member of parliament for her sister to come to Australia and apply for a remaining relative visa.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Marcela said her sister was happy and content living with her and her family and did not rely on the government for any support.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"My children grew up with Jacqueline and now our grandkids are growing up around her as well," she said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They love her, she is like a little girl, mentally, so she likes playing with them.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Normally, she does everything with me. I take her shopping, and everything I do, she's in the car with me." </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/adelaide-south-australia-rain-flood-warnings-residents-urged-to-prepare/c07c9dad-3233-4a9c-bc81-35dbcfc8feb8" rel="" target="" title="Dangerous conditions feared as city braces for a major deluge"><strong><span>Dangerous conditions feared as city braces for a major deluge</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2019, Jacqueline's visa application was refused, under the grounds that she had other relatives in Chile. For the remaining visa to be approved, an applicant's living relatives must all reside in Australia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>However, Marcela said her sister's half-siblings in Chile were elderly, aged in their 80s and 90s, and were unable to care for her. The pair's brother had also been estranged from the family for 20 years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/celine-cremer-missing-backpacker-human-remains-provisionally-identified/c1a82f36-3a8b-4a32-b915-f168f745ce68"><strong><span>'Hard to write': Missing backpacker's family confirm DNA test results</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2022, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal upheld the department's decision, despite noting the limited capacity of Jaqueline's other relatives to care for her.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Two requests for a ministerial intervention into Jacqueline's case have also been knocked back, with the second being refused in December 2025.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The family's lawyer, Michael Cao from Challenge Legal, said both times the application never made it to the minister's desk for consideration, because new personal procedural directions had narrowed the scope for intervention in cases like hers under compassionate grounds. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The minister's office found she doesn't meet the new, narrowed criteria," Cao said. "They didn't even refer the case to the minister, which we believe is quite unfair and unfortunate for Jacqueline and her family."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We like to believe that Jacqueline did always satisfy the compassionate grounds because she has no family anywhere else that can care for her," Cao said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/warnbro-crash-teenager-dies-hit-by-two-cars-after-getting-off-bus-way-to-school/ab44f494-07e8-4d3f-987d-4198d5b4ab32"><strong><span>Teen dies after being hit by two cars in Perth after getting off bus to go to school</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cao has since lodged a third application for a ministerial intervention, with the written support of Greens senator David Shoebridge.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Marcela said if her sister was deported back to Chile, it would be devastating for the whole family.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She is not going to survive," Marcela said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She would have to go to a nursing home, and nursing homes in Chile are nothing like they are here."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The uncertainty has left the family in a harrowing state of limbo. Jacqueline's bridging visa expired on Thursday, and the family spent the day waiting for news on a renewal while their third application for intervention sits with the department.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/wa-man-charged-terrorism-offence/f8d81f59-afc8-48ad-b91b-2ced477fff8a"><strong><span>Man allegedly planned terrorist attack on multiple locations in Perth</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Marcela has now turned to the public for help, launching a </span><a href="https://www.change.org/p/allow-jacqueline-to-remain-in-australia" rel="" target="" title="Change.org petition"><span>Change.org petition</span></a><span> which has so far attracted more than 1800 signatures.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are not asking for special treatment or any kind of financial assistance. We are asking for humanity," Marcela wrote in the petition. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Spokespersons for both the Assistant Minister for Immigration Matt Thistlethwaite and the Department of Home Affairs told nine.com.au they could not comment on individual cases for privacy reasons. </span></div></div>