Marriage visa classes
Information about the Inquiry
On 24 November 2011 the Senate referred the following matter to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committees for inquiry and report.
(a) the number of Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa applications and grants by post, officer, nationality, age of applicant and sponsor;
(b) the risk and incidence of fraud under the Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa program, including the incidence of cases where prospective marriages did not occur;
(c) the incidence of Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa applicants and sponsors who entered into an arranged marriage;
(d) the administration, application and effectiveness of eligibility criteria in relation to the Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa program, with a special focus on, but not limited to, protections against fraud, age differences, regard for cultural practices and relationship criteria;
(e) the sufficiency and suitability of assessment procedures to protect against fraud and to ascertain the reliability of consent of an applicant for a Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa, where it is believed the applicant will be entering into an arranged marriage;
(f) whether current policies and practices of the Australian Government with regard to the Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa or other visa categories are facilitating forced marriages;
(g) the policies and practices that could strengthen protections against fraud and for women in other countries applying for a Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa, from entering into a forced marriage; and
(h) any other related matters.
Submissions should be received by 05 April 2012. The reporting date is 26 June 2012.
The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to legcon.sen@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.
Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:
Committee Secretary
Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Notes to help you prepare your submission are available from the website at https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm. Alternatively, the Committee Secretariat will be able to help you with your inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3560 or facsimile +61 2 6277 5794 or by email to legcon.sen@aph.gov.au.
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat.
Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential Committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it will not be protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public and places them on its website. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.
For further information, contact: Committee Secretary
Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia