A young Gujarati woman who came from India to Australia on a student dependent visa had her visa changed to 457 visa by her husband so that she would work in his restaurant. Having worked extremely long hours without being paid or given any breaks she endured domestic violence for more than two years. When the abuse became unbearable she left him as a result also lost her visa forcing her to leave Australia.
Domestic violence victim Seema(not her real name) told i “He was good to me for a month. But after that, he changed completely.” describing her marriage arranged by the parents in India.
Seema had to leave Australia earlier this week.
It was a second marriage for both of them. Ashok(not his real name) had a daughter from his previous marriage, Seema did not have any children from the first marriage.
"I found out from Ashok’s friends that he was abusive to his first wife as well, and she had to leave him because he beat her as well.
"I found out later that she had reported him to the Police but I didn’t know that before I got married.”
Unaware of her rights in Australia and what options she may have for help, Seema didn’t report the abuse to any authorities. But the neighbours called for police one day.
Seema did not share any of this with her family back home in India, as she didn’t want them to worry.
But last year, things became unbearable after Ashok nearly strangulated her. Seema left home, not knowing where she will go. She sat at a railway station crying, when a good samaritan approached her - a young Punjabi woman. She took Seema into her home, helped her find a job and advised her to file a court case. Seema managed to get her life back on track for a few months based on a protection visa which grants her work rights until 2020. But cancellation of her 457 visa by her husband meant she could legally live in Australia only up to 25th January 2018.
The court was sympathetic because of the history of family violence, but was unable to grant any visa for her to continue living in Australia.
Seema left Australia with the hope of returning one day.
“I will try to come back as a student and rebuild my life here. Life in India will be really hard for me, because of the social stigma there is to cases like mine. I want to stand on my own two feet, and am going to try to come back to Australia.”
According to social worker Jatinder Kaur, many women like Seema are not eligible to access family provisions of the Immigration Act purely because of their visa status. This includes women on 457 spouse visa, New Zealand temporary visa, Student visa, as well as Business Skilled Visa.
SBS Gujarati would like to thank Manpreet Singh from SBS Punjabi for their assistance with this story.
