British-born grandmother faces new 'torture' amid fight to stay in Australia after 40 years living there
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GB News
A British grandmother fighting deportation from Australia faces a torturous challenge as immigration officials now insist she must use her former married name from nearly half a century ago.
Mary Ellis, who has lived in Australia for 40 years, has been told she must apply for visas under the name Mary McHugo - a surname she hasn't used since separating from her first husband in the 1970s.
The demand comes as she makes her 35th plea for a bridging visa to avoid deportation.
Ellis first appeared on television last year pleading with the Department of Home Affairs to allow her to remain in Australia.
Ellis first appeared on television last year pleading with the Department of Home Affairs to allow her to remain in Australia
InstagramShe claimed she had never left Australia since arriving in 1981, though a Daily Mail investigation revealed she had made trips to the UK in the early 1980s.
This disqualified her from "absorbed" citizenship under Australian migration rules.
She currently must apply for a new bridging visa every three months to avoid deportation.
Ellis was just 19 when she married soldier Sean McHugo in Lambeth, south London in 1968.
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The couple had two children - daughter Angela, born in 1969, and son David, born in 1971.
After the marriage broke down, she began a relationship with Martin Ellis - though Australian authorities now claim this was an alias for Trevor Warren.
She has used the surname Ellis for the past 45 years, with all her Australian documentation under this name.
Gold Coast migration agent Stanley Shneider, who has been helping Ellis gain Australian citizenship, called the latest development "absurd".
"She has for 45 or so years used the surname Ellis, quite legally and properly," he said.
"And everything she has done in Australia has been as Mary Philomena Ellis and not Mary Philomena McHugo. It's absurd."
Shneider described the name requirement as a further "torture" for the grandmother.
Ellis's daughter Angela returned to the UK after eight months in Australia, while her son David later joined the British Army.
She remains active in her community, volunteering and fundraising for The Salvation Army
Nine/ACADavid, now 53, eventually returned to Australia and works as a company director in Sydney's rail sector.
Ellis worked in hospitality and spent 30 years employed by the New South Wales government.
She remains active in her community, volunteering and fundraising for The Salvation Army, and has previously worked in home care.
Her case has garnered significant public support on social media, with many Australians backing her right to stay.
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