A French national who is the sister-in-law of disabled Australian man James Behrendorff has been granted a permanent visa to continue to care for her brother-in-law, after facing deportation back to France.
Behrendorff was left paralysed from the neck down after a workplace injury in 2011 and requires two full-time carers to live.
His sister-in-law Sophie Pfaerhoever has been one of his primary caregivers over the past six years, but as she is not a close relative, she didn’t meet the visa requirements to remain in Australia.
However, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton intervened and issued Pfaerhoever a permanent visa at 4pm yesterday after the case gained media attention.