Successful fight by a victim of domestic abuse

After 7 years of fighting for her right as a victim of domestic violence during her marital relationship, our client was granted permanent residence in Australia. “It was emotionally draining and at times I entertained giving up”, she said.

This was a case where the sponsor withdrew the sponsorship before the grant of the woman’s partner visa. On initial instruction, our firm found that she was threatened not to report the domineering attitude of her husband; she was subjected to financial and sexual abuse which she kept to herself for fear of being deported.

We notified the Department of Home Affairs to continue with the partner visa application as she was a victim of domestic violence. We submitted to the Department her Statutory Declaration, medical report and social worker’s report. Unfortunately, the case officer was not satisfied. The same finding was made by the independent expert (IE) when her matter was referred to the IE. It was difficult because the law says that the case officer will take the report of the IE as correct.

We questioned the IE’s report but the case officer sided with findings of the IE. In short, we lost the case. We appealed the case to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on the grounds that the claims were not properly evaluated in accordance with the law on domestic violence. On appeal which took years, we were successful in having the matter evaluated by another IE. The client was at the verge of giving up.

Another assessment by the IE was confronting to our client as she has to relived the abuses she suffered during her relationship with her husband. With our submission and the perseverance of our client, the other independent expert overturned the report of her fellow expert and made a positive finding that our client was a victim of domestic violence.

Our client endured another long wait because the matter was remitted to the Department of Home Affairs. She eventually said: “the long wait turned into triumph as I am now handed a permanent partner visa”.

The lesson in this case is to seek legal advise if necessary to guide you on your option if confronted with a legal problem.

*Atty. Jessie Icao - BA, LLB, SAB | LPN 551 1637 | Philippine Lawyer. JESSIE ICAO is a practicing solicitor in the state of New South Wales and a registered migration agent since 1993 (MARN 9367993). He is admitted as a lawyer in the Philippines.