Two-year fight to stay married in Darwin

IT TOOK one Darwin couple two years to convince immigration officials their marriage was legitimate so they could stay together

Darwin couple Shane Edwards and Sophie Rahajeng have been embroiled in a legal battle to convince the government they are actually married after the Immigration Department refused to recognise their relationship. Picture: Keri Megelus

WHEN Shane Edwards married Sophie Rahajeng in Bali in 2013 it was supposed to be the first day of the rest of their lives.

But after moving back to Darwin with Ms Rahajeng’s young daughter to start their new life together, the couple’s relationship was almost torn apart by bureaucratic red tape.

Despite providing a valid marriage certificate, leasing a unit together, sharing a bank account and detailing their life together as a family, immigration officials refused to recognise their relationship and threatened to deport Ms Rahajeng back to Indonesia.

“We got a message one day to say that we hadn’t satisfied them and we had 14 days to appeal and if we didn’t appeal then Sophie had 30 days to leave the country and she wouldn’t be able to return for three years,” Mr Edwards said.

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“We had a marriage certificate and everything so when it came back rejected I was beside myself. I rang Immigration and they said ‘Well you can appeal but it’ll cost you $1700’ and the person on the other end of the phone, I have idea who it was, but they said ‘You’re very unlikely to win’ so then I went on the hunt for a lawyer.”

Now more than two years later, the couple believe they will be allowed to remain together in Darwin but the process is still not completely over and the years of financial and emotional stress have taken their toll.

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“The first couple of years I just thought we would breeze through it I really did, we had everything right, it wasn’t till we got the refusal, my jaw dropped, I was just horrified really,” Mr Edwards said.

Immigration agent Brian Kelleher said the couple’s experience wasn’t unusual given the high instances of fraud in spousal visa applications but a recent blowout in processing times meant for legitimate couples, the ordeal dragged on longer than was necessary.

“A lot of people just aren’t aware of what’s required, when we’re looking at immigration we’re looking at people with differing education levels, differing levels of English and they’re looking at a website which is quite complex so a lot of people aren’t getting the right information at the time when they lodge an application,” he said.

“Unfortunately for many visas, in the first instance when they’re being assessed by the department those processing times are blowing out a very long time and there’s really no explanation for it.”