It wasn’t long after Rita submitted her migration application that the harassment began.
“He started messaging me: ‘Can you take a picture of yourself?’ And then from morning to night it was never-ending messages,” she told the ABC.
Fred (a non-blood family member) had sponsored Rita’s visa to stay in Australia after she arrived in 2017, but he withdrew his support when she refused his sexual advances — and his eventual demand she become his wife.
Rita was only able to stay on a temporary bridging visa without any legal work rights and access to healthcare and even education for her teenaged daughter suspended.
Rita and her lawyer asked that the ABC use pseudonyms for her and Fred and not use any identifying information while her case is still pending.
“He would say: ‘Where were you when I wanted to get married?'” Rita said.
“Sometimes I would just make a joke: ‘I wasn’t born yet’.
“He said he would call the police to deport me because I am not a citizen: ‘You will be my wife, otherwise no-one else can have you’.”
Rita’s family has gone to great lengths to stop Fred’s harassment and threats, changing phone numbers, moving houses and blocking people with any connection to him on social media.
But while members of her immediate family are Australian citizens, they are powerless to help with her visa situation.
“Rita has fallen through all of the cracks in our migration system,” said Lisa Fowler, who manages the migration practice of the Women’s Legal Service Victoria.
“Her only option is for the minister to intervene in this case.”
‘Neglected’ area of policy
A review of the migration system handed to the federal government earlier this year called migrant women a “neglected area of policy thinking”.
The report found migrant women have poorer labour market participation, face fewer employment opportunities, and are at higher risk of homelessness and falling into poverty.
Migrant experts say a rare opportunity exists to address this disparity when the government announces its five-year migration strategy in coming weeks.
Settlement Council of Australia chief executive Sandra Elhelw said the complexity of the visa system was itself a “huge issue”.
“Tweaks around the edges are not going to really resolve the core of the issues we’re seeing,” she said.
Ms Elhelw said a key challenge for migrant women was the inherent power imbalance.
Many arrived in Australia on a partner visa, or were sponsored by a family member or an employer who was usually a man, she said.
Ms Fowler said: “At the moment, the system gives perpetrators a lot of power and control over visa processes and the women we work with often know very little about their visa status in Australia.
“We keep seeing more and more women coming to us with really complex situations needing help to navigate their legal processes.”
In a National Press Club address earlier this year, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil called Australia’s immigration system “broken.”
“Australia’s migration system has become dominated by a very large, poorly designed, temporary program … and that program created the essential ingredients for exploitation of migrant workers.”
‘I would get nightmares’
Priya, whose name has also been changed to protect her identity, left behind her life and career in India to unite with her husband in Australia.
“I was an assistant professor in India. English and Sociology, I’ve got a Master’s in both and I was underway for my PhD,” she said.
“I resigned from my job and came to Australia.
“Things were settling down … but then [my husband’s] attitude just changed and I just felt that something was off.”
Priya began noticing his increasing consumption of alcohol and behaviour she thought indicated he was using illicit drugs.
The relationship came to a breaking point when Priya found herself waking up nauseated and partially undressed on several occasions.
“I said: ‘Did you do something with me? Because I don’t remember anything, but I know something has happened’.
“He said: ‘Oh first I’m a drug addict and now I also become a rapist, do you even want to be in the marriage or not?’.”
Priya said her husband told her to be “grateful” he had sponsored her visa.
When she called the police after a fight that left her with a broken ankle, she said her interaction with police left her feeling distrustful and uncertain about how to safely leave.
“I would get nightmares,” she said. “It had broken my confidence.”
Expanding protections
A pilot program funded by the Department of Home Affairs through 2025 seeks to address gaps in the system for migrants subject to family violence.
But growing demand is still putting enormous pressure on non-government organisations like the Women’s Legal Service and Settlement Council of Australia.
Ms Fowler, from the Women’s Legal Service Victoria, said: “We’re very comforted by some of the changes that have been made. But they’re very small changes at this stage and we need some bigger systemic changes to happen now.”
“We need these family violence protections to be extended to all visa categories and a family violence visa to be introduced that will allow women to have their own visa, allow them to access the services they need to make decisions about their futures.”
On a partner visa, Priya had a pathway to continue living and working in Australia legally.
But for women like Rita no such pathway exists.
“Most visas don’t have any family violence exceptions,” said Ms Fowler.
“It’s really hard for women to apply for other visas when they’re leaving violent relationships because of the cost and the complexity of the system that they’re trying to navigate.”
Rita and her daughter check in with an immigration case officer every 25 days, facing the risk of deportation at each visit.
Unable to work, Rita can’t afford the international school fees charged to non-residents to be able to send her daughter to public school.
Consequently, she says her daughter is four years behind in her education, has no friends, and suffers from depression that culminated in an attempt to take her own life.
“It’s so hard because before I came here, and I was an independent person, I worked hard. I earned my own money,” said Rita.
“But you become useless to yourself, for your children.”
Source: ABC News