One misunderstood answer cost a Canberra man his visa and his newborn daughter
A man was deported after misunderstanding a Border Force employment question. This separated him from his pregnant wife and newborn daughter.
Peniasi Kuruivitu was detained by Australian Border Force in Canberra in May 2026. Peniasi was questioned about his employment.
Peniasi's first language is not English. Peniasi answered no to the employment question.
He was in Australia and understood it literally. He had a job waiting in Fiji.
Peniasi told officers he was struggling to understand. No interpreter was provided.
Border Force did not contact his employers to verify his work. Within hours, his visa was cancelled.
His wife Sharon was 20 weeks pregnant. Sharon learned of his deportation while preparing for an ultrasound.
Peniasi was handcuffed and taken under armed guard to Sydney. Then he was deported to Fiji with a three-year exclusion.
When Sharon spoke to media, their daughter Coral was about eight weeks old. Ben had only seen her on video calls.
- 20 weeks
- Sharon's pregnancy when detained
- 3 years
- Exclusion period
- 8 weeks old
- Coral's age when media spoke to Sharon
- Canberra
- Detention location
Why it mattersLanguage barriers in Border Force questioning can have permanent consequences for families. This raises questions about procedural fairness and how the system handles non-native English speakers.
AustraliaAustralian families can be separated by visa decisions based on misunderstood questions; Sharon now faces raising four children alone and expects to wait over two years and spend about $20,000 on an offshore partner visa.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 35 min ago
