About a third of all referrals to a legal clinic run for migrants in the ACT are in relation to domestic violence.

More than 40 per cent of Beryl Women's Refuge clients are from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and the majority of those are seeking shelter to escape domestic violence.

While there are domestic violence provisions in the legislation for some women facing these situations, Canberra-based migration agent Vanessa Burn said they're difficult to enact.

Ms Burn works for Playfair Visa and Migration Services. She provides one-on-one advice and runs government-funded workshops under the Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme (IAAAS).

However, further eligibility constraints to the federal government scheme are proposed to come into effect in July.

Ms Burn is concerned that the changes will prevent vulnerable women seeking help at all. She said the current system was already too onerous.

"It's a very big problem," Ms Burn said.

To invoke the domestic violence provisions, the victim must first be eligible under the legislation, and then must prove that the relationship was real and have evidence of the violence.

"It's hard for someone who had been a victim of family violence in a controlled relationship to necessarily give evidence of the finances of that relationship, the social aspects of their relationship, the nature of their household and the future commitment because if they've been controlled, they don't have bank accounts, they have no bills in their name, they may not have an income and they're socially isolated."

"If a client can't provide genuine evidence of a relationship, a visa can be refused on that ground," Ms Burn said.

"It can be very, very difficult and these situations are very, very common.

"We're also concerned that a lot of people don't know about the provisions and are therefore not engaging and remaining in abusive relationships."

And that's just the first step. Once the relationship is deemed genuine, then the victim needs to prove violence occurred.

If there is not a finalised domestic violence order from the court, the other option is to attain three types of non-judicial evidence.

"It's onerous," Ms Burn said.

The concern is that if the IAAAS funding is not available to these women, they will have to navigate the system by themselves.

"It is really difficult to navigate even with a migration agent," Ms Burn said.

She said this was because women applying for these provisions are often on a bridging visa, unable to access Medicare, Centrelink and housing.

Ms Burn said the women need to be assisted immediately, as soon as they access help.

"They've had it drilled into them for a long time that this person has sponsored them to come to Australia and owns them, they're told they will deport them and the women believe that."

Ms Burn said changes to the funding of the Home Affairs' IAAAS mean asylum seekers and women experiencing domestic violence won't be able to seek the help they currently do

"There will be nothing, unless community legal centres can take on the work. But only migration agents in Australia can give migration advice, so it's difficult and complex," Ms Burn said.

"It's awful what happens, I'm constantly surprised."

A spokeswoman for Home Affairs said under the IAAAS "individuals who arrived lawfully in Australia and meet specific eligibility criteria relating to disadvantage are eligible to receive government funded migration assistance".

"The department's Family Violence Unit assesses family violence claims made by visa applicants and provides referral advice to support services, including in circumstances where the person is not eligible for a visa under the family violence provisions," the spokeswoman said.

She said the department does not release statistics for how many assessments are received by the family violence unit.

Without providing reasons for the cancellations, the spokeswoman said in 2015-16, there were 348 cancellations of partner visas and 474 in 2016-17.

Zouheir Dalati is the Migration Clinic co-ordinator at Legal Aid ACT.

Mr Dalati and Ms Burn created the booklet, Stay Here Stay Safe, to be distributed to organisations and individuals in the Canberra community. The booklet outlines how victims can access the exemption provisions with information that might help to allow them to stay in the country.

"The brochure is intended to support caseworkers assisting clients to access the family violence exemptions of the Migration Act because we believe that clients in this situation won't have access to migration agents and lawyers in this space soon," Mr Dalati said.

"I would say one in three referrals to the Migration Clinic are somehow related to family violence provisions and partner visas."

"Often we deal with women where we end up knowing that this woman never left the house in two or three years, being locked up for sometimes all of those years with no interaction with the outside and suddenly she is on her own, needing to deal with this complex issue."

"If the department believes there wasn't any kind of domestic violence in the relationship then unfortunately she will be deported."

More than 40 per cent of the clients at the Beryl Women's Refuge are women from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds and a majority of those seek help to escape domestic violence.

A representative from the refuge said there was a lack of awareness around what these women were facing and how to help.

"These women have particular unique complexities that are different from other women escaping domestic violence," the representative said.

"There is an added layer there they have to contend with, particularly the threat of returning to another country where it is a male dominated society. These women are often not only risking their lives, they're risking the lives of the family back in their home country by bringing shame on them in their community."

"This is added to their isolation, the fact most women have English as a second language, and the difficulties they have in accessing services," she said.

Trisha* married her partner in India a month before he migrated to Australia. Six months later she joined him, and a month after that the violence started.

He would allegedly grab the back of her head and slam it into the bonnet of the car. She said he would punch her repeatedly in the head.

Trisha feared for her life.

She had nowhere to turn. Her parents, who had illegally paid a dowry for the arranged marriage in India, refused to take her back if she came home.

Trisha is one of many migrant women facing this situation, according to a number of sources.

Despite being highly qualified in her chosen field in India, she came to Australia as a dependent on her husband's skilled migration visa. Her plan was to study to become qualified in Australia while being supported by her husband.

"I did love him, I just wanted him to love me back the same way, but he didn't," Trisha said.

Speaking from a room in the refuge where she was housed for months on end, unable to access government support because of her visa status, Trisha breaks down in tears as she describes the ongoing ordeal.

"I didn't think Australia would be like this," she said.

"But it is still a better country because here, society is not bothered by what happened but in India it is always a girl's fault, she had to do what he says, she has to compromise and no matter what, she has to stay with him. At least here I could move out."

Trisha said there was a gap in the policy when it comes to her situation, and she knows she's not the only one in the same boat.

She's months into the wait to hear whether she will be allowed to stay in the country. If she gets deported, she faces being forced to live with her in-laws and suffer the consequences of her actions.

"I wake up in the morning and it is a big day to face. It is never easy. I moved out of a violent relationship but my life is still not safe because I don't have security, I don't have a house. If I fall sick, I don't have an income."

"When you have no option you have to be brave. I don't want to give up but I don't know what will happen. I've been through a lot already and I'm very tired."

*Trisha is not her real name. She has been de-identified in this article to protect her safety.