Hayley Van Tonder and her son Cole are being forced to leave Australia.

Kevin Farmer

A HIGHFIELDS woman will have to leave her cancer-stricken mother and head to Ireland because she cannot adhere to strict Australian immigration rules.

Hayley Van Tonder and her seven-year-old son Cole made a new life for themselves after leaving the South African city of Pietermaritzburg to look after Ms Van Tonder’s sick mother in Highfields.

They will leave that life behind this Sunday.

“I’m scared,” Ms Van Tonder admitted. “I’ll be in a strange country on my own.

“We’ve already settled into Highfields; Cole has friends here. But we can’t stay and I understand that.”

Ms Van Tonder said it wasn’t financially viable to continue with her student visa.

“I would have had to move to Brisbane to finish my horticulture diploma. I didn’t know if I could afford to take Cole with me,” she said.

“I could never leave him behind. Childcare is more expensive for immigrants and I already pay about 45 per cent tax. I just can’t afford to stay.”

Ms Van Tonder’s original plan was to study hairdressing, but a tightening of immigration rules meant she could no longer rely on a hairdressing job to stay in Australia.

She enrolled to study horticulture soon afterwards, but realised she couldn’t afford to finish the course in Brisbane on a part-time wage.

“The more we researched ways of staying in Toowoomba, the more doors shut in my face.

“I’ve looked at all my options, but it seems like the only choice is to leave Toowoomba.”

Ms Van Tonder said she refused to return to South Africa, especially after her husband Alik was killed in a car accident six years ago.

“I don’t want to raise my son in such a dangerous place. I’ve lost a husband there; I’m not losing my son.”

Ms Van Tonder’s hopes rest with her Irish heritage — her grandparents were Irish which entitles her to Irish citizenship and the chance to take up a full-time job.

While she was excited about the prospect of a full-time career, Ms Van Tonder didn’t want to leave her mother who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in August last year.

“She’s been crying a lot at the thought of me leaving,” Ms Van Tonder said.

“She’s in remission at the moment. She is slowly recovering, but you never know with these sorts of things.”

Even as Ms Van Tonder talks about how much she’ll miss Toowoomba, you can still hear optimism in her words.

“It’s going to be so exhausting settling into a whole new place, but I can only hope for the best.”