Indian citizen trying to settle brother's estate slams 'humiliating' visa process

Shipra Saini does not want to stay in Australia a second longer than she needs to.

The Indian citizen loved her life in Delhi but came to Australia in 2025 to care for her brother, who was battling a long illness.

On November 1 last year, he died from a brain haemorrhage, leaving Ms Saini in charge of his affairs.

Now she is living in Ballarat while she tries to settle her brother's estate, a process she has found complicated, emotional and difficult.

She has to apply for a death certificate, get a grant of probate, sell his Ballarat home and belongings, ship things back to India, open an estate bank account and pay off any expenses, then distribute the remaining assets.

But Ms Saini has had to jump over an extra hurdle; she is in a race to settle the estate before her visa expires and says she is battling a system that lacks compassion and empathy.

'Humiliating' visa processes

Due to the conditions of her visa, Ms Saini has a limited ability to work in Australia, so has had to rely on a loan to survive.

Each visa application can be expensive, and she estimated she had spent more than $40,000 while trying to settle her brother's estate and cover her living expenses.

She said the sooner she could get back to work in India, the better.

"Until my brother was here, [Australia] was a beautiful country," Ms Saini said.

But after the "humiliating" visa process she went through, she said she has "lost the charm of this country".

In August 2026, Ms Saini applied for another visa, supported by a letter from her solicitor, citing that settling the estate would take at least a further six months.

It was declined and her original visa, which has condition 8503 attached, was upheld with an end date of October 30.

According to the Department of Home Affairs, a person who holds, or has held, a visa with condition 8503 attached is prevented from validly applying in Australia for most visas unless they are granted a waiver of the condition.

"Before Condition 8503 is waived, the person will need to demonstrate that, since the time they were granted the visa to which Condition 8503 is subject, compelling and compassionate circumstances have developed over which they had no control and that resulted in a major change in their circumstances," the Department of Home Affairs said.

Ms Saini said despite requesting a waiver under compassionate grounds, the department rejected her application.

She said despite doing everything in her power to get things organised, Australia's processes were slow and out of her control, something she thought the department would have taken into account.

"Things which were not in my hands, such as the wait getting the probate and selling the house, it takes time," she said.

"It's not overnight that you expect a person to sell a house within a jiffy.

"It's a panic state."

Ms Saini said because of the visa issue, she had to take the first offer on the home, when she would have preferred to wait for a better one.

She said the department's lack of compassion had already made a difficult situation worse.

"I'm on the brink of breaking down," she said.

"I'm in a situation stuck here because of somebody's death in the family.

"We are already grieving. It's adding on to the grief."

Ms Saini now plans to return to India later this month with matters regarding her deceased brother still outstanding.

She will not be able to attend a memorial service for her brother in November, be present for his property settlement, or finish settling her brother's employment-related entitlements such as superannuation while in Australia with the help of her solicitor.

The Department of Home Affairs said in a statement it could not comment on individual cases because of privacy reasons.

'A very difficult position'

Accredited specialist in immigration law Jordan Tew said there needed to be more "flexibility" for compelling and compassionate circumstances such as settling an estate.

"Someone trying to settle a deceased family member's estate is in a very different position to someone wanting more time in Australia for leisure or work, and administering an estate, particularly selling a property, often takes far longer than anyone anticipates," Mr Tew said.

"Where a waiver isn't available, a person will generally need to leave Australia and apply for a new visa from overseas, which can be costly and time-consuming.

"With the [federal] government announcing that it will introduce the 'no further stay' condition 8503 on all visitor visas, we expect many more people will be subject to the condition, and will need to rely on a waiver if their circumstances change while they're in Australia."

Mr Tew said situations like Ms Saini's could become more common with major political parties vowing to decrease migration.

"The level of migration is a legitimate matter for the government and the community to debate," he said.

"Our concern is less about the targets themselves, and more about how they're implemented.

"The political focus on net overseas migration is translating into policies that make it harder for people to come to, or remain in, Australia, and the risk is that genuine applicants get caught up in that as well."

With migration set to decrease, Ms Saini said she was a real-life example of the consequences.

"Unfortunately, we are stuck in election times, so people are not ready to help us.

"Politicians, they just go with the wave of whatever is going on."