The issuing of the visa brings to an end a terrifying six-month ordeal for the family, who have been living in hiding and have travelled across three countries in Africa to get help from Australian government officials.
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Fairfax Media revealed last year that three-year-old girl Fatoumata Binta Conteh and her mother had fled to Sierra Leone from relatives in Guinea after repeated attempts to abduct the toddler and force her to undergo female genital mutilation.
The mother, Fatoumata Diarriou Bah, appealed to the government for help through the media, saying she could not leave her child's side because she was being bombarded with threats from her estranged husband's family. They were also not safe with Ms Bah's own family, who, like many in West Africa where FGM is widely practiced, support the barbaric ancient ritual.
Ms Bah is herself a victim of female genital mutilation. She has a basic education and was forced into an arranged marriage as a teenager with an African-Australian man three times her age.
After a sustained campaign to rescue the pair, the Immigration Department issued a fast-tracked visa to the 24-year-old mother that allows her to live in Australia permanently with her daughter. The family is expected to arrive in Melbourne within weeks.
"My sister just called me with tears of joy that she now has a visa and they are trying for the tickets out of Africa," said Ms Bah's brother Ibrahima, who lives in China and has been advocating for his sister and niece.
"I am so, so happy. They can escape now and have a new life and be safe."
Melbourne advocate Paula Ferrari, founder of No FGM Australia, said she was thrilled with the news. "We are elated," she said. "This is what child protection looks like."
Ms Ferrari thanked supporters who rallied behind the family, including more than 30,000 people who signed a petition calling on the government to bring them to Australia.
She said the next step was securing funding to help them resettle, adding that money raised through a crowd-funding campaign had already been used to pay for their living expenses while in hiding and on flights to Ghana to meet with consular officials.
In this highly unusual case, advocates lobbied the federal government to offer protection to the mother because her child is an Australian. Labor and the Greens backed calls for action and the Australian Human Rights Commission said everything must be done to protect children at risk of FGM.
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