The devastating news for the Lee family came in the form of a short departmental email, received just forty-eight hours after they lodged a last-ditch bid to remain in Australia.
Son Daniel Lee read out the short statement."The department has assessed that this request does not meet the guidelines for referral to the minister"
For his brother Bryan, the news was devastating."I'm not really angry at anyone, I feel crushed, basically our whole future is on the line, and someone can just decide our whole future within two days...this one guy...It's shocking. I am just crushed."
The Lees pleaded for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's help after a series of misfortunes.
Their father, David Lee, an IT engineer, has run a series of businesses and was recently granted an innovation patent for a web-based device he invented that can control home appliances.
But a migration agent hired he hired to help get him permanent residency instead fled the country with more than a hundred thousand dollars of his money, while subsequent business visa bid extensions failed due to what they claimed was poor legal advice."We haven't any chance any more. So, I am very sorry...to my children. The honourable Immigration Minister, only you can save us. Please."
The plight of the Lees has attracted national attention with more than six hundred thousand people signing a petition set up by their local Catholic Church.
Father Patrick Jackson says they have found themselves at a disadvantage not of their making."They are very hardworking members of this parish and it's a real tragedy that they have been slapped down because they did not fulfil the requirements of two ongoing businesses. So we're really very sad about it here. And it doesn't give Australia in good light who want the best people they can get for the country."
In a statement to SBS, a spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said the Lees' case had been comprehensively assess by the department, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the minister, who only intervenes in a relatively small number of cases that present unique and exceptional circumstances.
Supporters of the Lees say they are not a burden on public resources. Eldest son Daniel Lee is grateful to all those who supported their case. "I just feel really appreciative and I want to say thank you to all the supporters who have signed our petition and feel sympathy for our family. But it's just sad that our second appeal was refused two days after the lodgement which didn't even give us the chance at all to convince the minister or let the honourable minister to have a look at our case again."
