They say Cupid’s arrow strikes when you least expect it. He was a medical researcher in America and I was studying Zoology in Australia. He’s Catholic. I’m Muslim. He’s Caucasian. I’m Asian. He’s a guy and I’m a guy. And we’re in love.

In February 2014 we had hoped to celebrate our fourth anniversary with family and friends. But on January 8 ^th 2014 I will be deported because the Australian Government has ruled that “(we) do not consider that you are in a long-standing relationship”

January 8^th is also my birthday. On a day that should be filled with laughter and joy I will be forced to leave my partner and everyone I love.



Our Story
In January 2011, Australia was in turmoil. Queensland was devastated by floods and unfortunately we were among those who lost everything.




Within the next week, Matt found out that across the world he had also lost everything when his home in the USA was destroyed by flooding.

We had nothing.
But we were OK because we had each other.

Fast forward one year and with the support of family and friends we had a new apartment, we we’re engaged and in March 2012 we became couple six to get our Civil Union in Queensland. We even got our first magazine profile in the Courier Mail.





Unfortunately our union was short lived due to the Queensland Government retrospectively making the unions null and void 12 weeks after our ceremony.

Nothing feels worse than when you’re told you can’t love someone.

Today we are asking for your help. You see, I’m not an Australian citizen. Despite growing up in the USA I was born in Pakistan. During the chaos of the floods my student visa paperwork was never received. Exactly one month after Matt and I had moved into our new apartment I was notified by email that my student visa had been declined.

A lot of thoughts go thru your head when you are told you have 7 days to leave your life behind.

The next week was a blur trying to schedule appointments with immigration while dealing with endless amounts of paperwork. But we were certain we would be OK. Our relationship was real. We believed in the Australian right of being given a fair go. Believing that the government-appointed case worker would do their job and objectively assess our application. We believed we would get a fair hearing.

“Why don’t you just marry an Australian woman?”

I’ve always wanted to experience one of those surreal, out-of-body moments they show in movies. But sitting with my partner, being told by an official Queensland Government Immigration agent <name redacted> that our problems could be solved simply by turning straight was not the moment we were hoping for.

We’ve always been true to who we are. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly. We weren't going to rort the system. We’ve spent over $15,000 on lawyer’s fees and visa filing charges. We've exhausted our savings, sold everything we have of value. But now we need your help.

It’s a cliché that is said often but “Life is short”. The best life we can all lead is one filled with friends, family, laughter, tears, and someone to love. We’ve found love, happiness and we have built a life together that we want to continue. We are simply asking you to help us have a chance to experience our life together.

Please support our cause. Please support love.



Update 1:

Thanks to the overwhelming support we received from everyone, Matt and I successfully submitted our application to the Migration Review Tribunal today.

Our application should arrive at the Migration Office in Sydney on Monday. Unfortunately due to the Xmas and New Year break it is highly unlikely we will hear whether the tribunal has accepted our application before January 2nd

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
If the application IS ACCEPTED then Ali will get a Temporary Bridging Visa (Class E) and be allowed to stay in the country until our appeal is heard in 2015. That's right 2015 -- the current wait time for a case to come in front of the tribunal is 487 days - so best case scenario is that we will front the tribunal in March 2015 to plead our case. On the upside by then we will have celebrated our 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY which hopefully the tribunal takes as "evidence of a long-standing relationship".

If the application is NOT ACCEPTED then Ali will be deported on January 8th, 2014. If we have not heard anything by January 5th we will go from our emergency plan.

What this entails is getting Ali into a country temporarily where he has a support system. Since Ali grew up in New Jersey, USA and has spent time in Canada going to university, we will aim to get a Tourist Visa to either of these countries where he has friends and can at least spend 3 months without the worry of facing LIFE IMPRISONMENT as an openly gay man in Pakistan.

We're still riding a rollercoaster of emotions and at the same time trying to answer every message and email we recieve as fast as we can. If we haven't got back to you yet, it's not that we've forgotten you!.

Today we are asking everyone to reach out to someone you care about and let them know that no matter what you'll always be there for them.

#supportlove

Ali and Matt

Through Pozible, we hope to raise $2,594. This amount will help us to cover the cost of filing our appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT; $1,604).

We will also need an immigration lawyer to assist in filling out our paperwork and filing our application. The hourly rate for our immigration lawyer is $330 and we need 3 hours of consultation and preparation time in order to submit to the review tribunal ($990).

There is no risk at all to you guys. If we don’t reach the target all monies get refunded. But with beautiful people like yourselves on board how can we fail. Our aim is to submit our application to the Migration Review Tribunal on January 7^th, 2014. This is one day before Ali is required to leave Australia; and coincidentally it is also one day before his 26^th birthday.

Our greatest risk is that if we don’t raise the money for our submission that Ali will be forcibly deported on the 8^th January, 2014.