Maria Duminica hopes Immigration Minister Andrew Giles will intervene in her case and grant her permanent residency. Tweet Facebook Mail A 20-year-old Sydney woman has issued a plea for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to intervene in her case and allow her to stay in Australia. Maria Duminica first came to Australia from her native Romania as a 10-year-old, with her mother and stepfather, who is an Australian citizen.
Duminica and her mother travelled to Sydney on tourist visas. A few months later, Maria's mother married her stepfather, and applied for a partner visa with her daughter as a secondary applicant. READ MORE: Man charged with murder after fatal Uber crash in Queensland Maria Duminica has lived in Australia since she was 10 years old.
(Supplied) While the pair were waiting for the permanent partner visa to be approved, they were put on a series of temporary bridging visas. Duminica told 9news.com.
au she could still clearly remember arriving in Australia as a child. "It was in the middle of summer and the first thing we did after we got to the airport was go to Bondi Beach," Duminica said. "It was beautiful and everyone was just really happy.
"I would walk down the street and people would smile at you, it was very nice." However, things at home were not so happy. As a teenager, Duminica's relationship with her mother and stepfather deteriorated.
"I was dealing with that for years and years," Duminica said. "I remember when I was 13 or 14, I wanted to leave h.
