Shane Delia wins fight to keep ‘unbelievable’ head chef from being deported

The head chef from one of Melbourne’s most-loved restaurants has narrowly faced deportation after a public appeal to reverse a federal government decision.

Italian-born Frederico Fioravanzo has been working at Maha for the past three years.

During the depths of COVID-19, he missed a deadline to finalise his visa by just days.

“We were smack bang in the pandemic, our accounting office was closed, the lawyers office was closed, our office was closed,” Maha owner Shane Delia told Neil Mitchell.

With the chef due to be deported in 21 days, a second and final appeal was launched, and Mr Delia spoke to Neil Mitchell about the “unbelievable” situation.

“We’ve got an unbelievable skills shortage, we’re begging for skilled migrants, and we’ve got a guy here who has been working here for five years, paying tax, waiting for our government to process his visa,” he said.

“It goes against everything that I thought this country stood for.”

Press PLAY below to hear a fired-up Shane Delia on air with Neil Mitchell

Following Mr Delia’s impassioned plea on 3AW Mornings, Mr Fioravanzo has been promised his visa will be granted.

Federal Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has told Neil Mitchell it “will be sorted”.

“Obviously we get a few glitches in the system,” he said.

“It’s a bit of an administrative error at both ends, I must say.”

Mr Fioravanzo says he’s “really grateful to everyone who helped me out in this situation”.

Press PLAY below to hear Immigration Minister Hawke’s promise the chef will get his visa

Image: Sam Tabone / Getty