#SaveKatieForXmas

It would mean the world to my family if you could read the following.

In 2011 I had been a single parent with a young daughter for 4 years & after going through several hardships met an American woman through a website I was doing volunteer work on. She arrived on a tourist visa in December 2011, originally just for a holiday. My daughter never had a mother figure around, and neither of us wanted to part ways -- so before her 3 months were up, we got married in the February. Immediately I put all of my savings into paying the $3000 for her partner visa, of which we applied for in early march 2012. From there, my wife was very confused by the visa process & unbeknownst to myself, inadvertently dragged the process out unnecessarily.
Due to her arriving on a tourist visa. The no work/study clause carried over to get temporary visa. So I was supporting both my daughter and her while trying to find gainful employment after years of single parenting, without the luxury of a vehicle, or family that were prepared to help. She fell pregnant & we moved into a larger house, stretching our limitations financially. Having completed a pre apprenticeship while being a single parent in Brisbane, I made an application with the defence forces.
I aced both aptitude tests and had my choice of 147 jobs. I selected a job & kept physically training, preparing to leave for basic training with the navy soon after my son was born.
In the weeks following my sons birth, I was the victim of a hit and run while cycling & was unable to do anything other than struggle from week to week and recover.
Due to an error I made in the medical paperwork in my navy application, I was eventually given a class 4, making me ineligible. So we started the long appeal process. Understandably during this time while our son was only a matter of months old, I had my wife keep track of her correspondence with the immigration department. As far as we knew, she only needed documents for police checks via America & her family over there was helping. As the global economic crisis came to a close, her family in America was going through bankruptcy and loading their house.
Eventually, 2 separate trips over here in 2013 were cancelled & they finally managed to get here this year in September. The police documents were passed on & there was but one step to go (her medical). 2 attempts were made to get this done. The first was foiled when my wife had her handbag stolen, containing the $400 we'd diligently saved for it. With the police unable to return our money, even after they caught the culprit, we started saving for it again.
The second time was cancelled due to my wife being in her period at the time of the appointment in late September.

To make matters worse, in late July, I was the victim of am attempted mugging where I was jumped by 2 junkies while walking home. Being 6'6", I defended myself, but shattered my 5th meta carpel in the process. The ensuing hospital visit referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon that brushed my condition off as being 'fine'. Weeks passed and something wasn't feeling right, so I contacted my gp who referred me to Dandenong Hospital. This process took weeks & I was denied surgery to fix it, with a new assessment booked in for November. At the start of November, they again denied me surgery, citing that the fault lay with the initial surgeon who had failed to operate in a timely manner. A new assessment date has been set for February 2015.
While this was all transpiring. We have had a neglectful landlord that refused basic maintenance on our house causing us untold havoc during the year. Eventually we had to broker a break lease deal as my medical costs were causing too much strain & we could no longer afford to live there. Having moved in with a friend and her children, we've been displaced completely with no internet to maintain contact with things like the immigration department.
We received an email on Monday explaining that her visa had been knocked back, with 28 days to appeal or have her thrown out of the country, due to her medical not being completed. The only reason we haven't been able to do it is because we cannot afford to get it until we've sorted out moving house and my hand recovering so I can work. With my wife not allowed to work or study until the visa is approved, this has made the last few months a financial hell and quite frankly, impossible.

To appeal the decision, it is going to cost us $1604 + $353 for her medical, and while supporting 2 children and my wife while still on a single parenting payment while I'm out of work with a broken hand, this has proven to be a very tall ask. Not to mention the cost of moving into cheaper accommodation so that we can save to keep her here. My children don't want to see their mother leave. My daughter is 7 years old and loves her to pieces. Our son is only 20 months old & it seems ludicrous that the government wants to take an Australian citizens mother away from him at this tender age a week before Christmas.

A good friend of mine, from the website I worked on voluntarily (www.FlashFlashRevolution.com),  Mitch Simpson set up a crowd funding page to try and help raise some of the money towards our appeal against the decision. We've only got until the 19th to have lodged our appeal & our representative (a family friend that works in local government) thinks we have a very good case to win the appeal and keep her here with myself, her kids and friends that she loves so very much.

Any tiny little bit helps, so we've been trying to get as much attention to this crowd funding link that we can. If 10,000 people see it & 1% of them donate a few dollars, we'll be half way there in no time!!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-my-friend-s-wife-stay-in-the-country

The image on the page is her and I during happier times at her first AFL game. She loves this country dearly. She took on the responsibilities of being a mother for a 4 year old girl that thought she'd never have a mum of her own & has given birth to a beautiful boy that adores her. All we want is to be together and have her stay here with her children. She dreams of studying photojournalism, and has had many photos published in our local paper since she's been in Australia. I dream of working with the navy, but this would prove impossible when the government wants me to go back to struggling as a single parent. This time with 2 children.

We're currently living with a friend, with a terrified mum that is as Australian as you & I. Wondering what the hell we're going to do if we can't come up with the money before the 19th. We constantly see Sudanese families come over and get automatic payments, loans, housing and endless opportunity. My poor Katie can't even get permission to work or even stay with her children for Christmas...

#SaveKatieForXmas