By that time, Ms Passarini, 18, will be in her 60s. Her mother, Helen Johnson, who is also waiting on the outcome of the pair`s visa application, will be more than 100 years old.
When Ms Johnson applied for a remaining relative visa for her and her daughter in 2012, the processing time was about 10 years.
Since then, the waiting time has ballooned out to five times as long.
The Department of Home Affairs has confirmed to nine.com.au the current processing time for remaining relative visas is about 50 years.
Fleeing a volatile and dangerous family situation, Ms Passarini and her mother moved from Milan to Perth when she was nine-years-old.
`It happened very suddenly. My mum told me we were going about an hour before we left for the airport and I had to leave everything I had known behind,` Ms Passarini told nine.com.au.
The pair joined Ms Johnson`s mother and three siblings, as well as seven nieces and nephews.
Once in Australia, Ms Johnson enrolled to study and swapped from a visitor to a student visa, with the intention of qualifying for a permanent skilled visa once her studies were complete.
However, Ms Johnson`s deteriorating mental health meant she had to stop studying.
`This meant my mum had to apply for a different visa, and the only one left we were eligible for was the remaining relative visa,` Ms Passarini said.
The pair has lived in Australia on bridging visas ever since.
Ms Passarini finished high school last year and now hopes to go to university, but to do so would cost her about $90,000 in international student fees. (Supplied: Sara Passarini)
Despite not being a permanent resident, Ms Passarini, who finished Year 12 last year at High School, said she adapted to life in Perth quickly and soon came to call Australia home.
`Australia is definitely my home. I speak English now better than I speak Italian,` she said.
`I`ve done the majority of my schooling here. I`ve got all of my friends here. I don`t see myself living anywhere else.`
Applicants for the remaining relative visa are eligible for Medicare and can in some cases work, however usually with strict limitations.
The family had endured severe financial hardship over the years because of their visa status, Ms Passarini said.
Ms Passarini is classed as an international student and the family needed to pay high fees for her to attend her public primary school and high school.
`We`ve had a lot of financial struggles. It was about $63,000 for me to get through school here. My family in Italy helped because I had to finish high school, I had to get that qualification,` she said.
Ms Passarini is now working two casual jobs as a delivery driver, but said she desperately hoped to go to university next year.
However, as an international student, the fees for a degree would cost about $90,000.
`I want to go to university and have a career. But I will have to pay triple the amount of university fees as my friends, and I`ll have to pay it upfront because I`m not entitled to a HECS loan,` she said.
Ms Passarini said she felt trapped by her visa situation.
`I feel like I`m being pushed into a mould that isn`t who I am, all because of decisions adults made for me when I was a kid,` she said.
`But I don`t hold any grudges I just want to be able to study and be free to make a future for myself.`
Ms Passarini has started a

petition appealing for her to be granted permanent residency. (Supplied: Sara Passarini)
Ms Passarini has started an online petition calling on Home Affairs to grant her permanent residency.
`To have to wait for 50 years is just not fair. They may as well not offer the visa at all, it just gives people false hope. I think something definitely needs to change, not just for me but for others in my situation,` she said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs declined to comment on Ms Passarini`s case, saying: `The Department does not comment on individual cases.`
Why is the wait for a remaining relative visa so long?
The remaining relative visa belongs to the `other family visa` category, along with the aged dependent relative visas, which also have a 50-year waiting period.
Under the Department of Home Affairs` migration planning levels for the 2019-2020 financial year, other family visas were capped at 500 places, down from 900 the year before.
The low numbers of visas granted in the category look unlikely to change for the current financial year.
While last weeks`s budget announced a large increase in the number of partner visas accommodated in this year`s migration planning levels, once they are taken out of the equation, the number of visas in the family stream appear to have decreased.
The Department of Home Affairs declined to answer nine.com.au`s questions about how many people are currently waiting for a remaining relative visa application to be processed.
However, a spokesperson for the department said: `The number of applications received each year for Remaining Relative visas outstrip the number of places available for each migration program year.`
Sanjay Deshwal has been a migration agent based in Sydney since 1996.
Mr Deshwal said in the past 25 years he had seen the waiting times increase exponentially for remaining relative visas.
`I have a case where we put in a remaining relative visa application in 2012. At that time it was showing eight to 10 years wait before the visa would be granted,` he said.
The case involved a Sri Lankan woman whose mother, brother and sister were all Australian citizens, he said.
`She was left in Sri Lanka with one 25-year-old son. Unfortunately, her son died in a car accident last year. She is the only one there and now it is showing up to 50 years wait,` Mr Deshwal said.
`So it is very cruel. It`s cruel for people to wait for so long.`
Mr Deshwal said he had noticed that over the years the number of visas allocated to the other family visa category under the government`s planning levels had reduced while some categories, which charged higher application fees, had grown.
For example, the number of places for the contributory parent visa, which comes with a $50,000 application fee, had increased, he said.
`The government seems to be focussed on getting money. On one side, we cannot blame the government because the economic situation is so hard, and a large number of people want to come, but definitely it puts a lot of pressure on people waiting for years and years.`

www.samigration.com V.3287

One of the highlighted topics: Critical Skills Visa.

- Key Insight: Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast track to working in South Afr...
- This matter relates to critical skills visa and its broader implications.
- Individuals are advised to seek professional guidance.

Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast trac V.6139
Click here for full article

One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, became a victim of identity theft in 2012 when fraudulent transactions occurred, using her personal details.

-The Pretoria High Court found that the department of home affairs had violated constitutional rights without due process.
-Only half of Lawyers for Human Rights` test group has been unblocked, while 385 000 identities remain blocked nationwide.
-LHR appeals extension, urges affected people to seek help now.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are intensifying pressure on the department of home affairs over the national ID-blocking crisis, accusing the state of acting too slowly to unblock qualifying individuals despite a landmark court ruling.

In January last year, the Pretoria High Court found that the department`s practice of blocking IDs without due process was unlawful and unconstitutional. One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, a Swati citizen and South African permanent resident since 1998, fell victim to identity theft in 2012 when fraudsters used her personal details.

 V.6133
Click here for full article

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6128
Click here for full article

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6129
Click here for full article

A Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son have been released after spending more than three weeks in US immigration detention due to a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake, her attorney told CNN on Saturday.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn`t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN.

 V.6130
Click here for full article

On 22 July 2025, the Gauteng High Court dismissed Sitrusrand Boerdery`s review of the Department of Employment and Labour`s refusal to issue a Working Conditions and Salary Benchmarking Certificate, an essential precondition for obtaining corporate visas under the Immigration Act.

Acting Judge Kekana AJ held that the Department`s decision was lawful, rational and procedurally fair. This judgment illustrates how businesses can - and must - structure their corporate visa applications to meet statutory requirements, and how legal practitioners should prepare robust review challenges when administrative authorities decline to recommend foreign-work permits.

 V.6131
Click here for full article

The United States could forfeit an estimated 9.4 billion dollars in visitor spending over the next three years following the introduction of a new 250 dollars `visa integrity fee,` according to industry groups, who warn the policy risks undermining tourism and costing thousands of jobs.
The United States’ decision to introduce a 250 dollars `visa integrity fee` on international visitors has triggered sharp criticism from the global tourism industry, with officials warning that the measure could deter millions of travellers and cost the U.S. economy billions.
The 250dollar `visa integrity fee,` part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, will take effect later this year. According to immigration law firm Envoy Global, it applies to all nonimmigrant visa holders which include students, tourists, temporary workers, and business visitors particularly from African countries. V.6132
Click here for full article

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6127
Click here for full article

1. Right to Legal Representation•You have the right to consult with a legal representative.•Contact an immigration practitioner, legal aid clinic, or attorney urgently.•Do not sign any documents without understanding them fully. 2. Section 34 of the Immigration Act•You must be brought to court with 48 hours to confirm arrest but you can remain locked up very long as courts figure out what to do with you •If you`re found to be illegally in South Africa, you may be detained for up to 30 days (extendable by a magistrate) pending deportation.•BUT this cannot happen arbitrarily. You must be informed of your rights, and Home Affairs must follow due process.- becomes a nightmare , you could lose your job , business , place to stay V.6121
Click here for full article

Driving for Bolt, Uber, Mr D, or Checkers Sixty60?If you`re undocumented, you`re risking more than just your income.The Risks if You`re Not Legal: - Vehicle impoundment - Heavy fines - Arrest & deportation - Permanent bans from working in SA V.6122
Click here for full article