Ali Choudhry and Matthew Hynd (Pozible) A gay man is facing imminent deportation from Australia to Pakistan after his partnership visa application was refused. Ali Choudhry has been in a relationship with Dr Matthew Hynd in Queensland for the past four years and the couple had registered a Civil Union in March 2012. He expects to be deported by the Australian Government on 8 January after it determined the relationship did not constitute a 'longstanding relationship'. “[We] do not consider that you are in a long-standing relationship with your sponsor,” the Immigration Department wrote to Choudhry in response to the couple's attempt to obtain a partnership visa. On his Pozible project page Choudhry says an immigration agent has asked "Why don't you just marry an Australian woman?" The couple is appealing the decision to the Migration Review Tribunal but if they are denied that Choudhry is scheduled to be deported to Pakistan on 8 January – his birthday. While he was born in Pakistan, he has lived most of his life in North America, and moved to Australia to study Zoology. Pakistan has laws punishing people with life imprisonment for homosexual acts. Deputy Director of Australian Marriage Equality, Ivan Hinton, says the case highlights the difficulties the lgbti community faces by not having equal relationship recognition in Australia. “It illustrates the important human rights protections and recognition that comes with marriage and this is currently denied to loving same-sex couples in Australia.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 4th January 2014 - 9:47am