John and Marissa's story: 

Please Help Keep Our Family Together

Ten years ago, John met Marissa through a mutual friend named Herman. What started as a simple friendship soon became a love that has stood the test of time.

From the beginning, John knew that Marissa had faced significant challenges. She had struggled with severe depression, anxiety and the trauma of a previous relationship that had once driven her to attempt suicide. She was shy, vulnerable and needed constant love, patience and support.

None of this made John walk away.

Instead, he chose to stand beside her.

After a year together, we got married and began dreaming about the future that every married couple hopes for. We wanted to travel together, build a home, start a family and live an ordinary life.

Instead, our marriage became consumed by a battle with the Australian immigration system.

Marissa is an Australian born citizen. John is Malaysian and had previously overstayed his visa. We understood from the beginning that obtaining a Partner Visa would not be easy, but we believed that if we were honest and could prove our marriage was genuine, we would eventually be given the opportunity to build our life together.

For years, we spent almost everything we had on migration agents, lawyers and application fees.

Every birthday, anniversary, family gathering and dinner together became another piece of evidence. Every photo we took wasn’t simply a memory—it was proof that our marriage was real.

Despite years of preparation and overwhelming evidence of our genuine relationship, our visa application was refused.

We appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, believing we would finally be heard.

Because of COVID-19, the process took almost three years. When the Tribunal finally delivered its decision, it accepted that our marriage was genuine. Yet John’s visa was still refused.

After years of waiting, we were told he must leave Australia.

We felt devastated.

In 2021, we placed our final hope in a Ministerial Intervention request.

While waiting for a decision, our lives were shattered again.

Marissa suffered a miscarriage.

Losing our baby broke us both, but it affected Marissa especially deeply. Already living with depression, she experienced one of the darkest periods of her life.

Not long afterwards, our Ministerial Intervention was refused.

We were advised that John should simply leave Australia and apply from overseas.

We discussed this option as a family with Marissa’s parents, but Marissa could not bear the thought of being separated from her husband.

We submitted another request for Ministerial Intervention.

Before we received a decision, another tragedy struck.

John’s father in Malaysia suffered a serious fall in his bathroom and required emergency brain surgery.

We urgently asked the Minister’s office for compassionate consideration so John could travel to Malaysia to see his critically ill father and return to Australia.

We never received a response.

Soon afterwards, our second Ministerial Intervention was also refused.

Again, we were told the answer was simple: Apply offshore.

We tried to prepare ourselves for that reality.

Together with Marissa’s parents, we discussed John’s departure to Malaysia.

Marissa said very little.

Then one night, everything changed.

John walked into the living room just after midnight and found Marissa sitting alone, holding a bottle of sleeping pills. She was preparing to end her life. Without hesitation, John took the pills away.

That moment changed everything.

We realised that separating us was not simply an immigration issue—it had become a matter of Marissa’s mental wellbeing and safety.

After almost ten years of fighting to stay together, we have exhausted nearly every avenue available to us.

We are not asking for special treatment.

We are simply asking for compassion. We are asking for the opportunity to continue our marriage together in Australia without the fear that our family will be torn apart.

Today, we are sharing our story publicly because we have nowhere else to turn.

If our story has touched your heart, we humbly ask you to sign this petition and help us ask the Australian Government to reconsider John’s case.

Your support could help keep our family together. Thank you for taking the time to read our story