Newstead man Dhaval Thakkar's year-long fight to finally bring his new wife to Australia has been decimated by the Australian government's decision to pause repatriation flights from India.
On Tuesday, prime minister Scott Morrison announced he had slammed the door shut on direct flights from India to Australia until at least May 15.
The country recorded a world-high 360,927 cases yesterday.
Mr Thakkar, who is 32-years old, said the news was "devastating".
"I was thinking that a month ago when there weren't so many cases and everything was getting back to normal, that I might see my wife soon," he said.
COVID-19 cases in the country have since skyrocketed to sit at a seven-day average of 330,000.
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Mr Thakkar is a 489 visa holder and married his 29-year-old wife Deepika in February last year, just before the pandemic took hold. He returned to Australia 13 days later, having spent just that short time with his new wife.
Once married, Mrs Thakkar was also approved for a 489 visa and passed a medical that would have allowed her into Australia. The Thakkar's fully expected, within a short time, they would be reunited in Tasmania.
It was not to be, however, as COVID-19 infringed on travel and immigration the world over putting paid to the Thakkar's plans.
There are just over 9000 Australians in India registered for repatriation to Australia and for the Thakkars the situation is even more precarious.
In his time in Tasmania Mr Thakkar has entrenched himself at a local accounting company as well as starting up his own successful business - Vegan Garage - in Prospect.
"[Permanent residency] is something I have struggled to get for four years. Now there are four months left [until I get it]. How can you leave that situation?" he said.
The Thakkar's are desperate to be reunited and talk on the phone about 10 times every day and stay in constant communication, but Mr Thakkar said the strain of a long-distance relationship was readily apparent.
"Every day we have some issue and we are fighting about the situation. She's saying 'can you come here?' and I'm saying, 'how can I leave what I have done so far in this country?" he said.
"It's now a situation where I cannot go, and I cannot stay."
Mrs Thakkar, in anticipation of her new life in Australia with her husband, quit her job as a pharmacist leaving her unemployed and looking for a temporary job in an unstable job climate.
Mrs Thakkar is currently living in her and Mr Thakkar's home village of Dabhou with her mother-in-law. Dabhou has a population of about 6000 people and is 400 kilometers from the nearest city.
Mr Thakkar said he was aware he was not alone in the situation and was a member of an online Tasmanian group of Indian people living in Tasmania in a similar situation to him that is posted in regularly by people who have their spouses stuck in India and other places overseas.
In a press conference on Tuesday Mr Morrison said the pause on flights from India came after a "concerning" increase in hotel quarantine COVID-19 cases originating in India.
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