SA Reporting Fraud Marriage to Immigration - Will She Go to Jail?

vuong6779 · 19 June 2018

Hello, I want to ask you a few question for my friend.

She had been in a fraud marriage with a guy. She told me she don’t get money out of it. Just because she wanted to help. He now has the permanent residency in Australia. Now he is threatening her all sorts of stuff.

I advised her to go to the immigration to turn herself in. Just wonder what she will be charged with and will the guy's PR get cancelled? She is very upset right now and want to harm herself because she is afraid she will go to jail. I want to do all I can to help. So please, could you give me some help as soon as you can.

Thank you.

Owais · 19 June 2018

Hello Vuong Pham,

First of all, do whatever you can to stop your friend from harming herself. Health and safety should be the first priority.

In regards to her situation, it really depends on how she got married in the first place. Was she forced to get married to him? Did her partner lie to her prior to getting married?

If she is feeling threatened, then she must report it to the police and let the police handle the matter. In regards to the question of going to jail, well that really depends on why your friend got into a fraud marriage.

If it was due to the above reasons, then the Immigration Department may have leniency towards your situation. But my suggestion would be to contact an Immigration Lawyer straight away and provide them with as much detail as possible. This will give your friend some guidance and hopefully prevent her from thinking about harming herself.

Hope that helps.

Kind regards

vuong6779 · 19 June 2018

Owais said:
Hello Vuong Pham, first of all, do whatever you can to stop your friend from harming herself. Health and safety should be the first priority.

In regards to her situation, it really depends on how she got married in the first place. Was she forced to get married to him? Did her partner lie to her prior to getting married?

If she is feeling threatened then she must report it to the police and let the police handle the matter. In regards to the question of going to jail, well that really depends on why did your friend got into a fraud marriage? If it was due to the above reasons then the Immigration Department may have leniency towards your situation. But my suggestion would be to contact an Immigration Lawyer straight away and provide them with as much detail as possible. This will give your friend some guidance and hopefully prevent her from thinking about harming herself.

Hope that helps.

Kind regards
Owais Shaheen

Thank you for your replies. She was forced into the marriage by her mother. Her husband is in the relationship with her mother for the 6 yrs they are married. She only remained in the fake marriage because of her mother.

After he obtained his PR, he met his girlfriend oversea and leave her mother. He now told them that he is ready get deported back to his country to be with his girlfriend, so if my friend goes and turns herself in, she can rot in jail herself.

His family also threatened to get a lawyer to sue them because they don’t have any evidence saying the marriage is fraud. Her mother is now angry and depressed and tells my friend that she needs to report the truth, even if she had to go to jail. My friend is at her breaking point because she get threatens to go to jail on both side everyday.

Their relationship is so messed up I don’t really know what to do. She wants to report herself but she said she doesn’t have the courage to. And I now saw some self-inflicted wound. I wanted to know if I reported for her, will the guy PR get cancel and will he go to jail?

Sorry for any confusion. I'm typing this as she speaks.

vuong6779 · 19 June 2018

By the way, does anyone know where in Adelaide I can get some free legal advice and immigration lawyer. Could you let me know if you do?

Thank you

Owais · 20 June 2018

Hi,

My suggestion would be to report the above to police and the Immigration department. Explain the facts thoroughly to both police and immigration department.

Your husband on record most likely would be deported and maybe blacklisted from Australia. He may even be fined.

In regards to your friend, she should report to both police and immigration. If she gets charged with a criminal offence then she can always hire a good criminal lawyer to defend herself and explain her reasoning to do all of this (ie; reason behind fake marriage). She should not be jumping into conclusion that she will go to jail. She should definitely speak with a lawyer first.

I don't know any lawyers in Adelaide but if you just search criminal lawyer or migration lawyer in Adelaide on Google, then I am sure you can find plenty of lawyers who do free first consultation.

Please note: above is just a suggestion and not legal advice.

I hope all works out for your friend in the end. Hope my suggestion helps and let me know if you need anything.

Kind regards

Clancy · 22 June 2018

If her mother forced her to marry, then it is called an 'arranged marriage' not a fraudulent marriage. And especially because no money exchanged hands, that position is very easy to defend despite what other trouble makers try to do.

TraceyOne · 22 June 2018

Clancy said:
If her mother forced her to marry, then it is called an 'arranged marriage' not a fraudulent marriage. And especially because no money exchanged hands, that position is very easy to defend despite what other trouble makers try to do.

If the mother forced the woman to marry then the woman did not give informed consent. That is not an arranged marriage. Marriage in Australia comes under the domain of the Attorney General's department and that is a good starting point. If the woman was forced into the marriage, she is not likely to have committed an offence.

Clancy · 22 June 2018

TraceyOne said:
If the mother forced the woman to marry then the woman did not give informed consent. That is not an arranged marriage. Marriage in Australia comes under the domain of the Attorney General's department and that is a good starting point. If the woman was forced into the marriage, she is not likely to have committed an offence.

What I meant was, in some cultures, you have to marry whom your parents tell you to marry, that is what I assumed the OP meant. Not that the woman was dragged 'forcefully' to the wedding kicking and screaming!

TraceyOne · 22 June 2018

Clancy said:
What i meant was, in some cultures you have to marry whom your parents tell you to marry, that is what i assumed the OP meant. Not that the woman was dragged 'forcefully' to the wedding kicking and screaming!!

Speaking as an authorised Commonwealth Marriage Celebrant, in an arranged marriage, the couple must still give informed consent. If the woman was forced into the marriage because she felt she had to do so because of her mother, that is not informed consent.

Tim W · 22 June 2018

Vuong Pham said:
Hello I want to ask you a few question for my friend. She had been in a fraud marriage with a guy. She told me she don’t get money out of it. Just because she wanted to help. He now have the permanent residence in Australia. Now he threaten her all sort of stuff. I advice her to go to immigration to turn herself in. Just wonder what she will be charge with and will the guy PR get cancel. She is very upset right now and want to harm herself because she afraid she will go to jail I want to do all I can to help. So please could you give me some advice as soon as you can. Thank you.

Much depends on the detailed facts and circumstances.
You can't get into that sort of detail on this page because,

fully considered case-specific advice is not possible here; and
everything you say is second hand (she's the client, not you); and
as a matter of her privacy, you should not say too much in public.

Her situation is complicated.
She should speak to a lawyer who is also a Registered Migration Agent,
immediately.
Many of them speak more than one language and it It should be fairly easy
to find one who speaks, say, Vietnamese, or Lao, or Khmer.

It needs to be a lawyer, because of the interplay of the different laws about
the migration stuff and the fraudulent marriage stuff.
Agents who are not also lawyers can't do everything she needs.

Consider also that he may be committing crime himself by making threats to her.

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SA Reporting Fraud Marriage to Immigration - Will She Go to Jail?

vuong6779

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Owais

Lawyer

vuong6779

Member

vuong6779

Member

Owais

Lawyer

Clancy

Well-Known Member

TraceyOne

Member

Clancy

Well-Known Member

TraceyOne

Member

Tim W

Lawyer

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