I am Yoon Ki-young. My family has called Australia our home for nearly 15 years. However, now, we are faced with the crisis of having to leave this place that we have cherished so much. Australia is the foundation of our family’s life and the home of our children. We ask for your support and encouragement so that our children can continue to live in Australia.
 
In 2011, my family immigrated to Australia with my son, who was 3 months old at the time, at the recommendation of my siblings who were living in Australia. We settled down in Australia to apply for permanent residency. We have been living here on a sponsor visa, incurring enormous expenses such as legal fees, attorney fees, immigration visa application fees, and living expenses. However, while the legal practitioner who had entrusted us with the permanent residency application delayed the application without any explanation, the immigration law was revised, and we ended up losing our first opportunity to apply for permanent residency. This caused my family to suffer from severe mental and emotional stress and financial difficulties, and my younger siblings who were trying to settle in Australia with me also left Australia due to the same legal practitioner’s wrong advice, so in the end, only my family was left behind.
 
My first job, where I worked on a sponsorship visa, was a harsh environment where I worked more than 15 hours a day and could only rest for two days a year, on Christmas Day. However, I endured the situation silently, hoping that my second daughter, who were born in Australia, would grow up here in a stable manner. However, due to the legal practitioner’s discord and the employer’s unfair treatment, I had no choice but to move to a second job that offered me a job.
 
My second job required me to work longer hours and go on frequent long-term business trips than my first job, which caused me to be away from my family, which was a huge emotional burden for the whole family. In addition, due to the visa law change at this time, I had to prepare additional English scores, but because of the difficult work, I could not study, and the opportunity to apply for permanent residency disappeared again, which led to my current situation after going through painful times.
 
We came to this country to live a meaningful life in a place where freedom, respect and opportunity are guaranteed, and Australia has become our true home, and our family has strived to contribute to this society through our work and daily lives.
 
Our eldest son has already lived in Australia his entire life, so returning to Korea due to visa issues would be harsh for our child who has lived in Australia his entire life except for the first 100 days of his life and has built a life of high academic achievement and hard work in a difficult environment. My daughter became an Australian citizen last year, but my wife, son and I still maintain our visa status and residency status, and it is not acceptable for my youngest daughter, who is a minor and now 11 years old, to be left alone in Australia or to leave the country where she has lived her entire life.
 
We have built our lives in Australia, and leaving now means saying goodbye to the place we have called home for the past 15 years. It also means saying goodbye to the friends, colleagues and community that we have loved and cherished.
 
We urgently urge the Minister for Immigration, Tony Burke, to consider our family’s situation with compassion and empathy. Only then can we continue to live together as one family in Australia.
 
This is our family’s last hope and opportunity. Our future is now at a critical crossroads.