09/03/2023
Domestic violence on partner visa
Do you know that when you have a pending spouse application in Australia and the sponsor withdrew the sponsorship, you can be deported? But in a recently decided case that we handled before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, we were successful in convincing the Tribunal that our client was a victim of domestic violence and deserve to stay in Australia.
What happens in this case was that the wife withdrew the husbandโs sponsorship and wanted him to be deported. After evaluating his case, we were of the view that he was a victim of domestic violence. We notified the Immigration that his application will continue even without the sponsor because of domestic violence issue.
His application was denied by the Department of Home Affairs as the independent psychologist (expert) made an opinion that our client did not suffer domestic violence during the relationship. The report was critical because the law says that the Immigration will take the opinion of the expert as correct.
We appealed the refusal to the AAT and we were able to argue that our client was denied procedural fairness during the assessment by the expert as he was not afforded a tagalog interpreter during interview in spite of his request. The AAT accepted our argument and referred the case to a different expert for another assessment.
The gruelling re-assessment on our client was for more than 2 hours but this time he was already assisted by a tagalog interpreter and was able to articulate the domestic violence perpetrated by his wife.
Non-judicial claim of family violence is difficult. The applicant needs 2 competent persons, either from a doctor, social worker, psychologist, refuge centres among others, to make a positive opinion about domestic violence.
Suggestion: you do not have to live with an abusive partner before the grant of the partner visa. If you are a victim of domestic abuse and you were subjected to physical violence, you can ring up the Police and report the matter so the partner can be prosecuted. If you did not report to the Police and your partner subjected you to abuse, not necessarily physical, you can leave the relationship and notify the Immigration that you will continue with your partner visa application under the domestic violence provision.
It is also important that you seek immediate legal advice.
