Sukhdeep wants to see her mother while she is still alive – but Australia’s visa rules have left her in limbo

Sukhdeep Kaur with her husband Jaswinder Singh and daughter, Ravneet Garcha. Kaur cannot return to India to visit her mother, who is undergoing cancer treatment, without becoming unable to return. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

Sukhdeep Kaur sits in her living room in Melbourne, phone in hand, day after day, waiting for her mother, Ranwant, to call from Ludhiana in India. The phone rings in the evenings – when the time difference and her mother’s cancer treatment schedule allow them to speak.

Sometimes Ranwant is crying. Often she asks to spend time with her daughter before her health deteriorates further.