MEET SOME OF THE FAMILIES (Names have been changed to protect identities) © Katie Robertson One Family, Two Legal Realities Muhammad, Sumaiya and family Muhammad and his wife Sumaiya are stateless Rohingyas, who arrived by boat seeking asylum in Australia in 2013. They have three children — all of whom were born in different countries. Their first child, daughter Noor was born in their country of origin. Their second daughter, Farrah, was born while the family were in transit to Australia. Their third child, son Husan was born in Australia shortly after the family arrived. The different location of each child’s place of birth means that despite sharing the same biological parents, each child’s legal status, and potential entitlement to citizenship, is different, with only the third child having a prima facie entitlement to Australian citizenship under domestic legislation. ‘We have never known in our lives what it is like to be a citizen.’ This has resulted in an unusual legal situation for the family, whereby the youngest member is an Australian citizen, yet his parents and siblings are on temporary visas, with no ability to apply for a permanent protection visa, no certainty regarding a long-term future in Australia, and no pathway to citizenship or permanent protection. — Muhammad and Sumaiya, stateless Rohingya parents to three children Muhammad and Sumaiya did not know their son had an entitlement to citizenship until they met with a lawyer at RACS, who identified this entitlement in the course of giving them advice regarding visa matters. Meet some of the Families 16 Meet some of the Families ‘For us, being stateless means we don’t have any country or documentation. We feel very distressed about this. When our son was granted Australian citizenship we were extremely happy. It was a big deal, because we have never known in our lives what it is like to be a citizen. It is our hope that all of our children will have a good education, find jobs and live a good life. Our eldest daughter Noor is very studious, and hopes to be a doctor when she grows up. This would not have been possible for her in our home country where she was born. Our middle daughter Farrah was born on our journey to Australia. She loves school. Her favourite subjects are maths and writing. Hasan, our youngest, is full of energy. He loves Spiderman and wants to be a police officer when he grows up. While our youngest son can get Australian citizenship, our older children cannot. While we understand that this is because he was born here, it has resulted in a strange situation for us as a family. While he is a citizen, the rest of us are on temporary visas, with uncertain futures. Being on a temporary three year visa is a huge source of stress to us. Hopefully, one day our other children will get citizenship, inshallah. We would never have known about, or been able to navigate, the citizenship process without a lawyer. Accessing free legal advice has been essential for us.’ 17