Offence to arrange marriage to obtain permanent residence
(1) A person must not arrange a marriage between other persons with the intention of assisting one of those other persons to get a stay visa by satisfying a criterion for the visa because of the marriage. Penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years or 1,000 penalty units, or both. (2) Subsection (1) applies whether or not the intention is achieved. (3) It is a defence to an offence against subsection (1) if the defendant proves that, although one purpose of the marriage was to assist a person to get a stay visa, the defendant believed on reasonable grounds that the marriage would result in a genuine and continuing marital relationship. Note: A defendant bears a legal burden in relation to the matter in subsection (3) (see section 13.4 of the Criminal Code).
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 26 May 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au. Verify the current text against the official source before relying on it.
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