Ratih Kabinawa, a 33-year-old PhD student in the University of Western Australia’s international relations program, arrived in Australia with her husband last February. When she left Indonesia, her father was ill with an autoimmune disease that had left him paralyzed and with Ratih gone, her elderly mother was his sole caretaker.

“When I was in Indonesia, I was the one who took care of my father, but my mom managed him [after I left],” she said, her voice cracking.

Ratih’s father passed away early this February. His funeral was held online. “There was a moment of regret when my father passed away, but now it’s lessened,” she said, referring to her choice to remain in Australia.

She tried to return home and apply for “compassionate entry”, which the Australian government sometimes gives to grieving families, but primarily to permanent residents and citizens. However, by that point in the pandemic timeline, it would have been challenging for her to try and reenter Australia, and Ratih’s student status would have been suspended under the terms of her scholarship.

Sugiyanto is another 33-year-old doctoral student who recently finished his master degree and is now in the communication and journalism postgraduate program at Edith Cowan University in Perth. He says his decision to stay in Australia was the right one, despite losing his job due to the pandemic’s economic impacts.

Sugiyanto and his wife, also a student, returned to his hometown of Klaten in Central Java last March, when his mother died. They returned to Australia a week later to make sure they could reenter the country.

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