Anne Berko (left), her friend and now daughter-in-law Maria Hill, Maria's daughter Alicia, and her son Cameron Berko. Credit:Eddie Jim "I was a bit lost," says Maria. "I think I was running away from my problems." A deep and scarring emotional experience also brought the women closer: as young adults, both Maria and Anne lost their mothers to suicide. The ties have grown even stronger with time. When Alicia was born in March 2012, Anne was there to cut the cord. Then in late 2013, Maria became romantically involved with Anne's son Cameron. The couple married in May and Cameron has also bonded with Alicia. While I talk to Maria and Anne over cups of tea at the kitchen table, squeals of delight filter in from the adjacent lounge room where Alicia and Cameron are pretending to be zoo animals. Anne's former partner, Peter Berko (Cameron's father) is frequently around to offer a helping hand too. "Alicia has really pulled us all together", says Anne.

The Hill-Berko family in the caravan they're trying to sell to enable them to stay together if Maria is deported back to Britain. Credit:Eddie Jim The back-story to Maria Hill's situation is complicated. She migrated to Australia aged 16 in late 2006, with her mother Tricia Hill and three siblings. They accompanied Maria's stepfather, a tradesman, who had been sponsored to take up a job in Perth on a 457 temporary visa. A year later the marriage broke down and Maria's mother began a new relationship with an Australian man who lived next door. In mid-2008, Tricia Hill married her neighbour and they lodged an application for a partner visa. Maria and her siblings were included in the application, and granted the right to live, study and work in Australia while it was processed. Changes to guidelines by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in March makes it harder for Hill to stay in Australia, her lawyer says. Credit:4bc.com.au In the normal course of events, their temporary visas would have been made permanent after two years. In mid-2010, however, Maria's mother failed to complete the paperwork needed to convert their temporary status into permanent residency, despite being prompted to do so by the immigration department.

"She didn't share any of this with me," says Maria. "I assumed it was all progressing. She told me it was." Maria now understands that her mother was suffering severe depression and anxiety. In March 2011, Maria's mother took her own life. Assistant Immigration minister James McGrath is being asked to reconsider the Hills' deportation on compassionate grounds. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen After Tricia Hill's death, her three younger children went back to live with family in the UK. Maria, by this stage aged 21, chose to stay in Perth. She had a boyfriend, Fallah Musa, and was studying at TAFE for a Certificate IV in health sciences, which she hoped would enable her to train as a nurse. A few months later, having completed her TAFE course, Maria moved from Perth to Karratha, where her boyfriend had a job in the mining industry. The couple had never lived together before and things did not work out well, so Maria left again. A few weeks later she discovered she was pregnant. At this point that Maria contacted the immigration department to try to sort out her status. With her mother dead, Maria's application for permanent residency as a secondary applicant on Tricia Hill's file was certain to fail. Immigration officials suggested a potential way around the problem: Maria could appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal. The Tribunal was certain to reject her appeal, but could recommend that the Minister intervene in her case. Maria gained the impression that the Minister was likely to consider her bid for a permanent visa favourably. The ensuing process was protracted and stressful. In October 2012 after the immigration department formally refused Maria's application for permanent residence, she appealed to the Migration Review Tribunal. In September 2013, the Tribunal rejected her appeal, but, as anticipated, recommended that the case be referred to the Minister because her circumstances were "so exceptional".

Maria lodged an application for Ministerial intervention and for another two years little happened. Then, shortly before Christmas 2015, Maria was asked to provide further information, and, earlier this year, she was told that the Minister would not intervene and she must leave Australia. Specialist immigration lawyer Erskine Rodan, who now represents Maria, finds the decision surprising. "This is a really unique case in that there are compassionate circumstances," he says. "She's got an Australian citizen child with an Australian passport. The child wants to stay here and she obviously wants her mother to stay here as well". Rodan has two other clients in similar circumstances. As of the end of last year there were around 650,000 international students, skilled foreign workers and working holidaymakers living in Australia on temporary visas. With such numbers it is inevitable that occasionally a temporary visa holder will end up having a child with an Australian partner. When this happens, the child is automatically a citizen and the foreign parent can usually gain permanent residence by applying for a partner visa. But if the relationship falls apart and no partner application has been made, things get complicated. There is no way for a foreign parent to apply to remain in Australia on the basis that their child is an Australian citizen because there is no corresponding visa category. Equally, it is very difficult for a dependant child to sponsor a parent for a visa. The Minister can intervene using discretionary public interest powers that are regulated by guidelines. The guidelines made specific reference to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. According to Rodan that required the Minister to "consider the paramount interests of the child" such as Alicia's interest in both remaining with her mother and staying in her local community.

But in March Immigration Minister Peter Dutton changed the guidelines so the the Minister no longer has to take the Convention on the Rights of the Child into account, Rodan says. Rodan hopes that Senator McGrath (or who ever replaces him in a new ministry) can be convinced to think again. Alicia's father, Fallah Musa, also wants the Minister to intervene. "I don't want my daughter to leave the country or her mother to leave," he said by phone from Perth. Although he has no contact with his daughter, Musa says it would be unfair for Alicia to be forced out of Australia because her mother cannot get a visa. This week Maria was advised that immigration department officials are preparing documents asking the Minister's office to reconsider her case. There is a glimmer of hope, but as yet, no extension to the July 28 deadline. Although Maria has family in the UK, she says none of her relatives there are in a position to offer her support. One old friend in Liverpool might provide some immediate help, but otherwise she is at a loss. Maria says the British consulate in Melbourne advised her to get in touch with the Salvos. "The best thing I can do is arrive early in the morning and try to find a baby sitter for Alicia so I can go and sort out my life," she says. If Maria and Alicia are forced to leave Australia, then Anne Berko is determined to go too, though she's not sure where she'll find the money. So far no one has responded to the "for sale" sign on the old caravan in her front yard, and the household's resources are limited. Cameron hasn't worked since losing an apprenticeship, and Anne and Maria had to put their window cleaning business on hold when the immigration department cancelled Maria's work rights.

Maria's greatest desire is to put an end to the instability and uncertainty that she inherited from her mother. She dreams of going back to study, building a career and buying a house. "I don't want to pass on my Mum's immigration problems to my child," she says. "I want to end that now." A giggling Alicia prowls into the kitchen in a lion mask, apparently oblivious to the serious discussions surrounding her future. But Anne Berko says the bubbly four year old knows that something is up. "We don't know what to say to her," says Anne, adding that Alicia has responded negatively to suggestions that she might go away soon for "a holiday" with her mum: "She's pretty adamant that we're staying here, in our home, with our family." Peter Mares is the author of "Not Quite Australian: how temporary migration is changing the nation", published next month by Text.