Fernando Thakshila is a partner of Reveal church (formerly known as South Eastern Christian Centre) and is involved in many areas of ministry within the life of the church. However, Fernando is currently not legally able to work in Australia and not able to obtain a work visa or permanent residency despite the fact that he has been in Australia for over ten years and has worked here paying taxes and using his skillset in hospitality management. The reason for this is because a number of years ago an immigration agent mismanaged his residency application and provided him with incorrect advice, consequently his working visa was removed in Feb 2018 and he has been living off his savings for the last four years which are now depleted.

Over the last four years, Fernando has been volunteering in Churches and providing supporting in the following areas: IT & website maintenance, AV operations, updating policies, administration, event management, OH&S, Youth, Kids, Young adults coaching and evangelism. He has also provided pastoral care support to many young people struggling with mental health issues during the Covid19 pandemic.

Sadly, he could be facing deportation back to Sri Lanka where he may not have job opportunities and may face persecution because of his faith in Christ. This is not a fair outcome, as Australia would be losing a valuable person who is contributing significantly within the Church community and economically within the IT services sectors, therefore:

We the undersigned appeal to the Minister of Immigration that due to the mismanagement of Fernando’s permanent residency, we would respectfully ask that Fernando be issued permanent residency in Australia where he has been a valuable asset to our country since 2007.