SCENARIO

You are a registered migration agent. You receive an email from a client, Stan, who wants to meet you for advice about his migration matter. You recall Stan's name as you met him and his wife very briefly once at a party you attended, and they were very friendly and seemed to be completely smitten with each other. Your receptionist books an appointment for him to meet you at your office at 11am. You decide to review his matter and prepare a memo before you meet with him.

An extract of the client's email is below.

"I hope you remember me, I met you at Susan's birthday party. Susan recommended that I contact you. I think you may have met my wife, Cindy too. It is probably best I give you some background information about Cindy and my relationship. I know many people commented that our relationship was picture perfect, but sadly it is not.

I met Cindy in my hometown of Sicily and yes I instantly fell in love with her. I arrived in Australia on a temporary Prospective Marriage Class TO subclass 300 visa about one year ago having been sponsored by Cindy, an Australian citizen. We had a beautiful wedding with a small number of family and friends.

Cindy's brother never liked me, and he heavily influences Cindy's actions. One evening during a family dinner, we had a disagreement over the results of a soccer game. As you may assume, being Sicilian, I am a passionate supporter of my team. Things escalated and he punched me for no reason other than expressing my views about the referee's decision which resulted in my team winning.

After this, Cindy appeared to take her brother's side and her temper worsened each day and I was subjected to constant verbal abuse and sometimes physical abuse. Cindy would lose control of her temper over things as minor as leaving the milk out of the fridge for more than 5 minutes whilst I made my coffee. A few weeks ago, she smashed a bottle over my head screaming at me that she hoped that would knock some sense into me. I started bleeding and went to the local doctor/general practitioner (GP), who told me I needed to go to the hospital to get stitches. When the nurse asked me what happened for the medical report, I said that I had accidently tripped over. I did not want to get Cindy into trouble, and I was also fearful of what she and her brother would do if I told anyone what had actually happened. There was a very kind nurse who insisted I call a friend of her's named Steve. I called Steve not really knowing why, and he was a great support to me as a friend as he had been through a similar situation in his homelife. I found out last week he is also a social worker.

Steve encouraged me to let other people know what was going on, so I told Susan who told me to inform you. Cindy's behaviour is escalating, and yesterday I decided to leave her forever. I am still awaiting a decision on my Partner Class UK/BS subclass 820/801 visa and am unsure what my current visa status is as Cindy has all my immigration papers. I really want to stay here as I feel like there are some wonderful people in this country and after COVID, there are more opportunities here than Italy. If possible, I would like to visit my family in Sicily for a week just to recoup."

(a) What is Stan's current visa status and can he travel and why?

(b) Is there is anything Stan can do to seek permanent residence and explain the steps required and what additional information you would require to support the application?

You decide to do some additional research and come across the following case: Thaworn v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs [2021] FCCA 2133 (27 August 2021).