Young Irishman appealing to Australian authorities for release after being detained in error in Perth
The family of a 26-year-old Irish man from Greystones, Co. Wicklow is appealing to the Australian government to release him, after he was detained in error in Perth on Monday.
Having lived and worked legally in Western Australia for seven years, Bernard Lee had this year applied for an employer-sponsored residents’ visa. On Monday evening, he was arrested by armed police and immigration officers at the home that he shares with his partner in Highgate, in Perth. Officers claimed that he had been issued with a letter refusing his application for an employer-nomination permanent visa and cancelling his current temporary business entry visa.
Neither Mr Lee nor the Australian immigration lawyer dealing with the case on his behalf had received any such letter, so the Irishman was stunned at the unexpected arrival of armed police at his home. He was taken away by the armed police to a detention centre run by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP), 90km northeast of Perth, where he has since been detained.
While officers from the DIBP have admitted that no letter as described was in fact issued to Mr Lee or his lawyer before he was detained, they will not commit to any intention to release him