Mother who has lived in Australia for 11 years faces being deported without her daughter to Covid-ravaged Brazil after making a tiny mistake on her visa

A Queensland mother fears she will be deported in three weeks after being told to go back to coronavirus-riddled Brazil due to what she claims was a 'mistake' made on her visa.

Cassiana Ribeiro, 40, who resides in Townsville, has been living in Australia with her 14-year-old daughter and partner for 11 years.

The Muffin Break worker was on a temporary residency visa when she tried to apply for a skilled visa in 2018 which would allow her to stay in the country.

The application was denied in 2019 and last month she was told she had to leave Australia - her daughter and partner - by December 31st. 

'It feels like a death sentence,' a tearful Ms Ribeiro told Daily Mail Australia.

Cassiana Ribeiro, 40, who now lives in Townsville, has been living in Australia with her 14-year-old daughter and partner for 11 years

'I did everything right my entire life and I work so hard for my family.

'My daughter is so scared. I'm an asthmatic so if I have to go back to Brazil there's a chance I may not make it.'

The 40-year-old had been a temporary resident and had applied to be on the skilled visa through her partner who is a New Zealand citizen.

Her partner needed to have five years of taxable income above the $53,900 threshold when the couple applied in 2018.

But he was made redundant in 2014 for two months, resulting in them being below the income threshold for 2015. Tragically a year later Ms Ribeiro suffered a miscarriage. 

Ms Ribeiro claims her lawyer wrote on the application that the reason they were unable to meet the threshold was because of her miscarriage and not her partner's redundancy, which is not correct.

Ms Ribeiro was told she needed to leave Australia by the end of the year due to a mistake on her visa

The immigration office sympathised with the mother but her visa was ultimately denied.

Ms Ribeiro has since been working tirelessly to appeal the decision but was told on November 26 she would need to leave the country by the new year.

Her partner and daughter are New Zealand citizens and are allowed to stay in Australia and apply for another visa.

'When you make a mistake they (immigration department) don't let you fix it,' she said.

'I can't even take my kid with me, they've given me nothing, they're ruining my life.

'My country's so bad with the second coronavirus wave, where I come from the city's absolutely terrible.'

Ms Ribeiro has since hired another lawyer to help her plead her, case which she plans to take to the immigration minister.

A friend has since set up a petition to have the decision overturned. It has so far garnered more than 1,500 signatures. 

Federal Member for Herbert, Phillip Thompson, said he would fight to ensure the mother could stay in the country.

He encouraged acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge to look into her case last week in Canberra and review the decision. 

'It's 11 years of my life so I have nothing outside. It's just so wrong,' Ms Ribeiro said.

Daily Mail Australia was told by the office of Mr Thompson there were no updates to her case yet.

Mr Tudge has been contacted for comment. 

The mother said she is afraid to return to Brazil which is seeing around 40,000 new coronavirus cases each day because she is an asthmatic

A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said: 'Applicants for a Skilled Independent (subclass 189) visa New Zealand stream must satisfy the income requirement or provide evidence that they are eligible for an exemption from this requirement.

'Applicants who do not meet this requirement and are refused a visa as a result are able to seek merits review of the Department's decision.' 

Brazil has suffered more than 6,730,000 cases of the virus with more than 179,000 deaths.  

Each day in December more than 40,000 new infections have been recorded.