SYDNEY - LIFE has become a waiting game for the Moellers, a German family denied permanent residency in Australia because their youngest child has Down syndrome.

Mr Bernhard Moeller has appealed the immigration department's October decision, in which they said because of his son's 'existing medical condition' the family's residency was 'likely to result in a significant and ongoing cost to the Australian community'.

Mr Moeller met with the Migration Review Tribunal last week and was told an appeal decision can take up to six months. He later received a letter saying his case had been given priority.

'I have no idea what that means. Five months instead of six?' he said by telephone from Horsham, the rural town in southeastern Victoria state where he settled with his family more than two years ago.

Mr Moeller was recruited by a regional hospital to be the only physician to serve a region of 54,000 people.

His family - wife, Isabella, their daughter, Sarah, 21, and sons, Felix, 17, and Lukas, 13 - have been so happy in Australia that they applied for permanent residency to stay after their temporary visas expire in March 2010.

The case provoked an immediate outcry across the country.

Internet and radio chatter rallied behind the family, and media swarmed to Horsham to capture images of Lukas' smiling face.

'He knows the attention is about him,' Mr Moeller said of Lukas.

'So far he loves to be in the papers and on the TV news. Of course he doesn't understand the broader impact.'

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has spoken in Mr Moeller's defence, as has Victorian Premier John Brumby.

But the immigration department has made it clear that protocol must be followed: an appeal through the migration tribunal, a court challenge if warranted, and only then can Immigration Minister Chris Evans intervene.

Mr Moeller's isn't the only such case in Australia.

Ms Catherine McAlpine, executive officer of Down Syndrome Victoria, said they are contacted a few times a month by families in similar circumstances.

In fact, Down Syndrome Western Australia said on Friday that a British nurse with a Down syndrome son had exhausted her lengthy appeal process and was set to leave the country unless the immigration minister intervened. The woman did not want to be identified.

'It's very frustrating that no account is taken of the many ways in which people with Down syndrome and their families make a valuable contribution to the life of the community,' Ms McAlpine said.

'If the family meets all the other migration criteria, disability or Down syndrome should not be a reason to exclude them.'

Down Syndrome Victoria has collected more than 3,500 signatures asking the immigration department to review Mr Moeller's case and the laws regarding immigration by people with disabilities.

Mr Moeller isn't sure how his case will end up, but hopes that it will prompt a review of immigration regulations. -- AP