THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 4 Number 9 | June 2014
IMMIGRATION
Visa grant for a victim
of family violence
W
HAT
will a
w o man do when abused by her husband for not preparing their meal and told to eat raw
rice and meat instead?
What will a woman do if
she regularly sees her husband spending their joint savings to fund his gambling addiction and constantly threatened with withdrawal of spouse
sponsorship and deportation if
she complained. This was the
dilemma that confronted the
wife before she left her
husband. She
d o -
es not want to separate her
husband for fear that the
partner sponsorship will be
withdrawn. Since 2012, she
endured the threats and abuses
because of the dream of staying
in Australia.
I convinced her to leave the
abusive husband and notify the
Department of Immigration
and Border Protection to convert her spouse application under the family violence provision. She won and was granted
permanent residence in April
this year.
This is a classic case of a
non-judicially determined
family violence claim. The
wife who has a pending partner or spouse application chose
to be submissive as partner application takes two years before the residence application can be finalised. She
feared that if she complains, she can be deported anytime.
Under the Migration legislation,
spouse applicant does
not have to remain in
an abusive partner. If
he/she is a victim of family violence (known as ‘domestic’ until 2012), the law allows them to
notify the Department of Immigration about their situation
and treat the matter as a family
violence claim.
Under the current legislation, the victim can complain
under the relevant family violence provision if there is “conduct, whether actual or threatened, towards the alleged victim
that causes the alleged victim to
reasonably fear for, or to be reasonably apprehensive about his
or her own well-being”.
Under the expanded definition, relevant family violence
is not limited to physical harm
but includes psychological and
or financial abuse. It is imperative that the allegations of the
applicant is in accord with the
definition, otherwise, the application will not succeed. Further, the process requires the
following:
The victim shall provide a
Statutory Declaration in form
1410 which identify the partner who committed the family violence and specify in detail
09
IMMIGRATION
ATTY. JESSIE
ICAO
[email protected]
the conduct perpetrated by the
partner towards the victim.
In the