For Melbourne mother Sojanya Gullapalli, the last few months have been extremely difficult.
She has been longing to be reunited with her five-year-old daughter Heshvitha, who remains stranded in Andhra Pradesh, south-eastern India, by Australia's tough travel restrictions.
"I haven't been eating or sleeping well. I'm just so desperate to have my daughter in India with me," Ms Gullapalli told SBS News.
"Daily I am crying. Daily I have these emotions and my mental health has suffered."
Separated for 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian government's controversial India flight ban from 27 April until 15 May provided a further barrier.
In recent months, adults acting as guardians for unaccompanied minors stranded in the coronavirus-stricken country .
It is an avenue Ms Gullapalli has turned to in an attempt to get Heshvitha home, but amid an apparent tightening of rules on who can be approved as an adult guardian, she has so far been unsuccessful.
Many of the charter flights facilitated by the Australian government are on Qantas planes, with the airline having a policy for children under 18 to be accompanied by a parent, guardian or relative known to the child.
Five-year-old Heshvitha with bags packed to return before a cancelled flight Source: Supplied
For the families of as many as 209 Australian children in India, many of them have had to apply for exemptions for visas and to book a flight and spot in quarantine.
From 6 June, the federal government . could be allowed for "people escorting an Australian citizen or permanent resident minor back to Australia, where the parents of the child are currently in Australia".
An application could also be made for an for the same reason of bringing back an Australian child to Australia.
Multiple applications rejected
Ms Gullapalli said the family has had two travel exemption requests for a designated guardian denied over the last week.
The first application was rejected because the guardian-to-be was an Australian permanent resident and not an Australian citizen, she said, and the second failed because the family friend was not a family member.
A third application is in the process of being considered - involving Ms Gullapalli's mother-in-law and another family friend - but she said Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials are now requesting documents to prove the friendship status.
Ms Gullapalli said she is being shuttled back and forth between DFAT and Northern Territory officials over approval for a place on a federal government's facilitated repatriation flight and quarantine places in the Howard Springs quarantine facility.
"I am at my wit's end. Each time I am told I need to get approval from the other authority," she said.
Bookings for Heshvitha on up to four flights have already fallen through.
Ms Gullapalli said her husband, Veeraswami Mupparaju, booked leave from work to board one of those cancelled flights in May but has now been told by his employer to forget about leave and to stay focused on his work.
'They are showing discrimination'
Currently breastfeeding an infant and recovering from a C-section, Ms Gullapalli said she was contemplating flying to India with her newborn to bring her daughter home herself, but it is not her first preference.
"I am worried about bringing my infant son on the flight and to India where the number of COVID infections is so high," she said.
"I am a breastfeeding mother, I can't leave my infant here to go. I can give him the formula, but if I get stuck in India, I don't know whether I can come back or not."
After returning to Australia from India last year, Neha Sandu has been helping to support other Indian-Australians seeking assistance.
The administrator of Australians Stuck in India Facebook page said she was aware of three other families last month that were granted last-minute approval from DFAT to have a family friend act as the adult guardian for the Australian child in India on their journey home to Australia.
"Until the last minute, they were not sure if the permissions would be granted. But it was actually a last minute approval, and they joined their children," she told SBS News.
She said very few parents in Australia have been granted the exemption to go to India to collect their child - and it has taken up to three weeks and longer to get a decision on the exemption for adult guardians - who are family relatives - to bring the child home from India to Australia.
"If some people are in exceptional circumstances (and need) to bring back the children via family friends or any known person, they (DFAT) should not put a limitation on the approvals.
"It is not fair for these families."
A Qantas repatriation flight from India on final approach into Adelaide Airport in Adelaide, Friday, June 4, 2021. Source: AAP
Ms Gullapalli said she is concerned the conditions on adult guardians are being applied inconsistently.
"I know people who are already in quarantine with their children having returned from India. Why am I being treated differently?" she said.
"It's not right. One case officer told me the rules have changed recently. From person to person, they are showing discrimination."
She said the whole process has taken its toll - emotionally and physically.
"They are playing with our emotions, with parents' emotions. Maybe in the department there are parents who should understand the perspective of a parent. They are not understanding me at all. My daughter is viewed as a number, but that number is my loved one."
DFAT said it is working with families to priortise the return of vulnerable Australians, adding that each exemption application is considered an individual basis.
"DFAT's highest priority at this time is helping vulnerable Australians overseas," the department said in a statement in response to questions from SBS News.
"DFAT is working with families in India and Australia to ensure the travel of children is undertaken safely. Each family is assisted on a case-by-case basis."
In May, , many of them in the care of grandparents.
In June, that figure was updated to , with about 10,400 Australians - including permanent residents and citizens - seeking to return from India. Of that group, 880 were considered vulnerable.
On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said national cabinet agreed to to 3,035, beginning from 14 July.
Health Minister Greg Hunt over the weekend said DFAT was moving to fill and will arrange more flights if necessary to bring Australians overseas home.
The Australian National Audit Office is expected to release a final report in November looking at the management of Australia's international travel restrictions.
The Audit Office launched the inquiry in mid-January to examine the handling of travel restrictions, which have prevented anyone except Australian citizens, permanent residents and people with special exemptions from entering the country since 20 March 2020.
In its submission to the inquiry, the Human Rights Law Centre called for changes to allow families to reunite, including extending automatic exemptions to more family members, and also to include the families of temporary visa holders.
The centre has also called for the lowering the threshold for compassionate exemptions, and giving humanitarian visa holders the same right to travel to Australia as other permanent residents.
"The decision to halve the number of international arrivals into Australia means that now more than ever the Government must reassess how it prioritises international arrivals. It must focus on helping people reunite with their loved ones quickly and safely," senior Human Rights Law Centre lawyer Josephine Langbien said.
