I am an Australian citizen living in Vietnam. My wife is Vietnamese and holds a Vietnam passport. We were married in Vietnam and have a legal Vietnam marriage certificate. She does not have an Australian visa or an Australian passport. Is there any way she could try to divorce me under Australian law and / or try to obtain financial settlement of any of my assets under Australian law ?
Tricky situation.
She would first try to get a temporary permanent (depending on age and purpose) Visa to Australia with her own finances and logistics because it's clear she will not get your sponsorship and that alone would be too costly if not even impossible.
I think that after 2 years (this in China) you can divorce even without her consent, just don't contact her anymore.
Yes
Yes
You are an Australian Citizen and this gives access to Australian Family Law. Is this a realistic possibility though? Why don't you divorce under Vietnamese law? I know nothing about Vietnamese laws.
Of course I do not wish to divorce under Australian Family Law because I know I stand to lose more than if I divorced under Vietnamese law. My question is whether the Family Court in Australia would accept her application for divorce if she tried to apply for divorce in Australia. She is not an Australian citizen and does not live in Australia, so I want to know if the courts in Australia would allow her to file for divorce in Australia or not
That page says:
However there are some limited exceptions that may mean the Vietnamese marriage may not be recognised here, but these tend to be fairly rare circumstances (eg marrying someone younger than 16).
I believe the qualifying rules applying to divorce shown above also apply to property.
Can I apply for a divorce?
You can apply for a divorce in Australia if either you or your spouse:
Note use of the disjunctive "or". Coupled with the Australian adoption of the Hague Convention on Celebration and Recognition of the Validity of Marriages (Marriage Act 1961 pt VA).You can apply for a divorce in Australia if either you or your spouse:
- regard Australia as your home and intend to live in Australia indefinitely, or
- are an Australian citizen by birth, descent or by grant of Australian citizenship, or
- ordinarily live in Australia and have done so for 12 months immediately before filing for divorce.
However there are some limited exceptions that may mean the Vietnamese marriage may not be recognised here, but these tend to be fairly rare circumstances (eg marrying someone younger than 16).
I believe the qualifying rules applying to divorce shown above also apply to property.
My post above is still valid so she would need to live in Australia to be eligible to file a divorce claim.
No. A person or their spouse only needs to meet one of the conditions, any one will do. The OP is an Aussie therefore one of the conditions has been met and the appropriate Australian court has jurisdiction and can hear the divorce. The OP would have to be unlucky though for his spouse to apply here.
Get a divorce in 'nam before coming back.
The OP meets the conditions but he is not going to ask for a divorce so the wife must comes to Australia and live here for at least 1 year then she can apply for divorce.
To live in Australia for at least 1 year means she has to leave her business in her hometown plus she needs to afford the very expensive Visa route and living costs not to mention her low money exchange rate.
But the suggestion to divorce in Vietnam is good also it seems like the OP is living in Vietnam so I don't see how the wife can come here as tourist and file a divorce while the husband is overseas.