Section 240 — Offence to arrange marriage to obtain permanent residence
Text of provision
(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).