Sister Fox appeals for visa renewal

Australian nun Patricia Fox on Monday urged the Bureau of Immigration to renew her missionary visa, which expires next month.

Fox’s lawyer, Jobert Pahilga, made the appeal in a petition addressed to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente recently.

Pahilga said the bureau’s Central Receiving Unit (CRU) initially refused to accept Fox’s application because there was already an order for the nun’s deportation.

He argued that the deportation order against Fox was not yet final, as a motion for reconsideration had been filed to stop its execution.

“The CRU also has the duty to transmit the nun’s application to the Board of Commissioners for their consideration so that whatever its decision may be, Sister Patricia Fox will be able to avail [herself] of appropriate legal remedies to protect her rights as a duly admitted missionary to the country,” Pahilga said.

Sept. 5 expiry

Fox’s missionary visa expires on Sept. 5.

Solidarity with the Poor, an organization that supports the plight of the 72-year-old Fox, said “it would be good” if the immigration board renewed her visa so that she “could continue her missionary work among the deprived and the oppressed” in the country.

The bureau ordered Fox’s deportation last month after finding substantial evidence that she violated the terms of her missionary visa.

It also found Fox an undesirable alien and ordered the inclusion of Fox’s name on its blacklist.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, however, said the deportation order had been temporarily stalled after Fox filed a motion for reconsideration. —TINA G. SANTOS