What are the consequences of a fake marriage in Australia?

The Australian Government
is getting tough on those who are trying to come into this country illegally by targeting scam marriages or those which they don’t believe are genuine.

Partner migration
accounts for a quarter of the total migrant intake and 70,000 are expected to
be submitted this year with around 48,000 being approved.  The highest number of applicants come from
China, UK, India and Vietnam.

Critics
claim partner system is ‘flawed’

Many believe the
current system is flawed claiming that its’s not appropriate that children as
young as 16 can come to Australia, and that sponsors don’t need to have a job or
financial evidence to support them.  In
Britain, partners must be aged at least 21 and sponsors must earn 18,600
pounds.

In the past two
years alone 519 partner visas have been cancelled in Australia and Immigration Minister
Peter Dutton says he’s committed to “stamping out corruption” claiming the
“Australian Government has no tolerance for visa fraud”.

Student
visas

8,000 applications for
partner visas each year are from foreign students who arrive from a different
country and study here.  They’re relatively
young and marry Australian citizens, but some relationships are short lived and
soon end. 

Partner visas
require an assessment after two years to prove the relationship still exists
and is genuine, but sometimes the Department of Immigration and Border Control is
inundated with work and checks aren’t as comprehensive as they should be.

However, at any
stage of the migration process, fraud can be discovered.  Members of the public can report fraudulent
relationships anonymously by completing an online form on the website of the
Department of Immigration and Border Protection.  

What
happens if your fake marriage is found out?

If Australian
immigration authorities discover that a marriage is fraudulent and is not based
on love, both halves of the couple could face severe consequences.

The immigrant who
committed to the fake marriage would be deported from the country and have
their visa revoked. They would also be blacklisted so that they would not be
able to obtain a future visa for Australia. They could also face
criminal fines and penalties as high as $300,000 and a jail term could be imposed.

Immigration authorities can
undertake checks at any time and have a range of different methods to discover
marriage fraud.  

At the application
process, documents must prove the marriage is valid and then checks will be
made as they progress onto permanent residency and again at citizenship status. At any stage, immigration
officials can demand further submission of documents and undertake intensive couples’
questioning. They can also visit their home, talk to friends their employer and
more.

Fake
marriages in the news

Not a month goes by
without some fake marriage hitting the headlines. In February 2017, an Indian
couple from Queensland, Chetan Mashru and his wife Divya Gowda were found guilty on a total of
66 charges relating to running a marriage visa scam for Indian men to marry
Australian women for money.

The men would apply
for visas and the women were paid $1000 a month until these visas came through.
Mashru, a former migration agent was jailed for four and a half years and Gowda
a marriage celebrant 18 months.

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