By Charlotte McIntyre,Editor

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READ MORE: Inside the secret mission to bring ISIS brides back to Australia

By CHARLOTTE MCINTYRE, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA

Published: 06:59 BST, 16 September 2025 | Updated: 07:05 BST, 16 September 2025

A hardworking South African couple have been told it’s ‘time to leave’ Australia after their request to stay for their own safety was denied.

Charné-Lee Gunning, 31, and Ivan Strauss, 37, who have lived in Sydney for seven years, are desperately calling on the government for help after they were told they must leave the country by September 22.

The married couple arrived in December 2018 as visitors and applied for protection visas in early 2019, citing they were in ‘genuine fear of returning to South Africa’.

Their request was denied later that year.

Ms Gunning and Mr Strauss, who live near Penrith, appealed the decision, and their case was heard in July this year.

Their appeal was refused and they were told they must leave when their bridging visa expires next week.

‘We are trying other avenues but it is a very stressful and complex process. [We want] to stay and keep contributing to a country that’s giving us so much,’ Ms Gunning told Ben Fordham on 2GB.

The couple spent over $25,000 on legal fees but felt their lawyers were ‘never invested’ in their case and ‘washed their hands’ of them as soon as the appeal was denied.

South African couple Charné-Lee Gunning and Ivan Strauss, who arrived in Sydney in 2018, have been told they must leave the country when their bridging visa expires on September 22

It’s understood Australian ISIS brides in Syrian refugee camps are set to return home before Christmas in a secret operation

Mr Strauss is an air conditioning technician and the company he works for are ‘desperately trying to keep him’, with his skill in demand in Australia.

The couple are attempting to apply for a Skills in Demand subclass 482 visa, but have been told they ‘can’t lodge onshore’.

‘We’ve integrated [into the Aussie way] so well,’ Ms Gunning said.

‘The people are amazing, we’ve made so many good friends here.

‘We are proud to have the Aussie flag, we just want to give back to a country that’s given us safety over the past few years.’

Ms Gunning admitted she was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of being forced to return to South Africa after being subjected to violence from a young age.

When she was three-years-old, her father was shot in the head.

The married couple have both experienced several traumatic incidents, with the pair being forced off the road while driving a motorbike and Mr Strauss being held at gunpoint with his father in a separate incident.

Ms Gunning and Mr Strauss are terrified to return to South Africa after being subjected to several violent incidents from a young age

Radio host Fordham sympathised with the couple and blasted the government for ‘welcoming Islamic State brides’ back into Australia while kicking out the South African couple.

‘The thing a lot of people will find mind-boggling is we seem to welcome just about everyone that wants to come to Australia into Australia,’ he vented.

‘We have multiple planes landing every single day with no guarantee of whether people want to work or go on welfare.

‘At the same time we’re planning welcome homes for Islamic State brides [who] jumped on a plane to fly to Syria to fight with a death cult that was locking people in cages and burning them alive and filming beheading videos and transmitting them around the world.

‘We’re happy to bring back the Islamic State brides and their children but when we’ve got a hardworking family like you guys who fear what would happen if you returned to your homeland, we say, “Sorry you’re due out of the country in a matter of days.”‘

When pressed on the couple’s case, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Tony Burke said: ‘Not everyone has a valid protection claim, some people should apply for other visas or regional skills.

‘If you don’t apply for a visa or if you don’t get the visa you applied for then it’s probably time to leave.’

It comes following reports Australian ISIS brides in a Syrian refugee camp are set to return home before Christmas in a secret operation.

More than a dozen women and children and some young men are expected to be evacuated out of camps and brought home to NSW and Victoria, reports The Australian.

This evacuation is believed to be the third time a cohort like this has returned to Australia since 2019.

Earlier this month, a spokesperson for Burke said the federal government was ‘not providing assistance to this cohort’.

‘Our ability to provide consular assistance to Australians in Syria is extremely limited due to the dangerous security situation,’ the spokesperson said.

‘Our intelligence and security agencies are constantly monitoring any threats to our national security.’

However, it’s understood senior federal officials are assisting not-for-profit organisations helping the cohort while state and federal government agencies will support them once they arrive home.

Daily Mail contacted the Home Office for comment.

South AfricaSydneyBen FordhamISIS

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Albanese government slammed for letting ISIS brides into Australia – while kicking out a hardworking couple: ‘Time to leave’

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