Trevor and Enrico stay together in Australia

In 2015, Trevor met Enrico. Why is this special? Because Trevor is from Australia, Enrico is from The Philippines, and both men are Deaf. Despite having no first language in common (in Australia, the Deaf use Auslan but in The Philippines, they use ASL - American Sign Language), they began to chat, learning to communicate with each other and became close. Because of this connection, they realised they truly understood one another, could be comfortable being themselves, this soon led to them falling in love. Now, the Australian Immigration process (which is not designed to accommodate Deaf needs) is trying to separate them again.

They met in person for the first time in 2015, spending a week together in The Philippines and again travelled together to various places around Sydney, Canberra, and Adelaide in 2016. Soon after, Trevor proposed to Enrico who said yes. Their bond grew but they were separated when Enrico’s time in Australia ended in early 2017 Melbourne. They travelled together again, visiting Thailand, Australia, and The Philippines. They spent much of the next year visiting each other as often as they could, eventually deciding they would like to live together in Australia. Enrico left Philippines in July 2018 to stay in Australia for 3 months. During that time, they visited to Melbourne to compete in together in a bowling championship visiting Sydney, Canberra, and Adelaide again, visiting many different places and people, building their life together in Australia and the Deaf Community. In 2019 Trevor visited Enrico’s home again and spend 3 months travelling there, visiting different places around The Philippines.

Seems so easy, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, this is when things began to get difficult.

COVID-19 hit the world.

Trevor had to leave The Philippines alone at the end of 2019 because Enrico was too ill to travel. Then the international borders closed.

They were separated from November 2019 until March 2022. They managed to maintain their relationship across an ocean, video calling as often as possible to keep their relationship strong.

The Australian Government requires proof of relationship to allow people to move here for love. Unfortunately, because English literacy is a skill both men are still developing (it is a common situation among the Deaf to learn written English much later in life), they did not communicate through written messages so there is little in the way of evidence to provide the Government.

Another issue they face is that the Australian Government is also reluctant to allow people with disabilities the opportunity to immigrate. Trevor and Enrico must give a significant amount of money to the Australian Government as surety that Enrico will not be a financial drain on the system. Given that they cannot provide proof of their relationship history, they will be expected to provide the Government with $8,000.

They have applied to extend Enrico’s VISA for another year while they continue to fundraise and fight but the funds are used far quicker than they are raised.

Please help us keep these two wonderful people together. They have fought hard to build their relationship. They do not deserve to be separated by a system that doesn’t accommodate a lack of written or spoken English just because COVID separated them.