The Pain of Love: Spousal Immigration and Domestic Violence in Australia—A Regime in Chaos?

Authors

E. Odhiambo-Abuya

Abstract

A fundamental step that the 1994 Australian Migration Regulations developed into the immigration framework was to grant certain concessions to non-Australian spouses and interdependent partners who suffer domestic violence at the hands of their Australian counterparts. Victims of domestic violence are eligible to apply for permanent residence notwithstanding the otherwise applicable two-year waiting period. To understand the domestic violence exception, this Article explores the jurisprudence that has emerged from courts and other immigration tribunals. The Article proposes that further legislative and policy changes should be made in order to seal identified "gaps," and to provide clear guidance to interested parties, judges and tribunal members who hear such matters.

First Page

673

Recommended Citation

E. Odhiambo-Abuya, The Pain of Love: Spousal Immigration and Domestic Violence in Australia—A Regime in Chaos?, 12 Pac. Rim L & Pol'y J. 673 (2003).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wilj/vol12/iss3/4