The warning comes as both major parties push to overhaul the migration system. Immigration Minister Tony Burke has flagged a return to pre-2015 policy under which visa overstayers were placed in immigration detention centres, while the Coalition this week proposed reinstating intelligence functions in the Department of Home Affairs to target overstayers.
Immigration lawyer Ann Emmanuel, principal solicitor at the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre, NSW's only specialist community legal centre covering all migration and visa types, said the crackdown would increase risk for people already in vulnerable positions.
"In my view, the crackdown hands perpetrators more power," she said. Ms Emmanuel estimated that more than 80 per cent of clients at the centre's main legal practice faced immigration-related domestic and family violence (DFV) issues.
She said perpetrators often controlled their partner's visa application process, passports and interactions with Home Affairs. Some clients discovered during appointments that they were in Australia unlawfully because a partner never lodged a visa application, or never told them an application had been rejected.
"It's putting victim-survivors in a greater risk of potentially being put in some form of immigration detention when they've done nothing wrong through any fault of their own," she said.
The experts say the immigration system has long been documented as a tool of DFV, including threats to cancel a visa, report someone to Home Affairs for potential detention or deportation, or separate an Australian-born child from a parent.
Anyone experiencing domestic or family violence can contact 1800 Respect (1800 737 732), MensLine Australia (1300 789 978) or the Men's Referral Service (1300 766 491).