Musician's tourist visa approved in time for final Folkie performance

The Timor-Leste national found out the good news late on Friday afternoon.

"We got there with about 10 minutes to spare," Wannon MP Dan Tehan told The Standard about 5.30pm.

"Jose will be on a plane tomorrow. It's great."

While Da Costa will miss the group's gig with the Find Your Voice Choir in the Shebeen on Saturday he will make it in time to perform with Lian Husi Timor at the Lecture Hall at 3pm Sunday.

The group will present a moving collection of traditional Tetuan folk songs and perform Bidu and Tebe Tebe cultural dances.

The show will culminate in an intimate conversation about culture, song and the Australian connection, facilitated by a local bakery owner who spent time in Timor-Leste as part of Australian peace-keeping forces and now serves Wild Timor Coffee to the Port Fairy community.

Earlier: Member for Wannon Dan Tehan has stepped in to help fast-track a tourist visa for a Timor-Leste man billed to play at Port Fairy Folk Festival.

Jose Da Costa, who previously lived in Warrnambool when he was employed at Midfield Meats on a four-year working visa, was the main facilitator of Lian Husi Timor - a group of 12 Timor-Leste nationals.

They're scheduled to perform at Port Fairy Folk Festival with Killarney musician Billy Barker and Warrnambool's Find Your Voice Choir.

Barker had flyers seeking musicians plastered on the walls of the meatworks in 2022 in the hope of finding like-minded musicians in the largely international workforce.

While Da Costa was the main facilitator of the collaboration he later returned home after his visa ran out.

Those still in Australia have been rehearsing regularly ahead of their biggest gig yet with Da Costa holding on hope to return to the south-west to provide important dialogue explaining the cultural elements of the show.

But in the 11th hour he received the crushing news his application for a tourist visa had been rejected.

Member for Wannon Dan Tehan said he had spent the last 24 hours working closely with the immigration department and festival management to try and get the application over the line.

"The full application has been submitted and I've spoken to the minister (for immigration Andrew Giles) directly this morning and he's going to see what he can do," he said.

"The application has been escalated. I've sent it personally to Andrew Giles and while all processes have to be followed and the minister will need to take advice from the department, everything that can be done to try and get Jose Da Costa here is being done."

Da Costa had also planned to bring to the performance traditional instruments and dress, which was funded by a Warrnambool City Council community grant that was auspiced by the Find Your Voice Choir.

Barker said when they heard the news on Wednesday, March 6, they started pivoting to plan B to utilise things from the local area to put the performance together.

"We'd started acquiring small djembe drums from different people around the community to substitute for the babadock drums, and were chasing down some people who had tias (traditional dress) last night," he said.

"We had found four and we needed 12."

Barker said he then thought he'd contact Mr Tehan's office to "try (his) luck".

"We were totally aware it was very last minute by this point but we were told it could be escalated by the minister, at which point I went back to Jose to re-apply," he said.

The following 24 hours was spent frantically collecting documents with the hope of hearing a result by close of business on Friday.

Lian Husi Timor will play in the iconic Port Fairy Folk Festival Shebeen at 2.30pm Saturday at the Lecture Hall at 3pm Sunday.