[Raquellotour]

Hi everyone,

My name is Raquel and I am Spanish, my partner is Australian. We met in London in Feb 2017, so we have been together for 8months. When we met, my partner only had 5months left of his visa in the UK, so we had to decide if we would stop seeing each other or if we wanted to fight for being together, which we decided to do in April 2017. We found out that it was pretty easy for Australians to get a visa to work in Ireland for 1 year, which he applied for from London. He received the approval of his visa for Ireland in July, I left my job in July and we decided to go to Spain for 1 and a half months so that he could meet my family before moving to Dublin together. We then moved to Dublin at the end of August and have been living here (Dublin) since then. We are sharing an apartment with 2 people but are planning on finding our own place in a couple months in order to gather as many evidenxe as possible when we apply for our partner visa to Australia in the future. So my partner is allowed to be in Ireland until the end of August ( by then we would have been in a de facto relationship for 18months) and our plan is to move to Australia together as I am not sure he can get another visa for Europe. We just want to be together no matter where but the partner visa for Australia sounds like our best option as we want to have our future there not depending on visas around Europe.

Now here is the whole point of this post.
How do I apply for a partner visa? Or when?

I read that I will need to be in Australia by the time I lodge my application, with that I should be giving a bridging visa which will allow me to remain in Australia until a decision is made. Am I right?

But how am I supposed to be in Australia if I don't have a visa to be in Australia? Can I apply for a partner visa while I am in a tourist visa in Australia?

I am very confused about the whole thing. Any help would be much much appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[sheilae]

Once you've been de facto for more than 12 months you could apply for an offshore partner visa (309/100), or alternatively if you plan to get married a Perspective Marriage Visa (300). Or go onshore (if you can) and apply for a 820/800.

Processing times vary wildly, although the global processing times on the DIBP website can give you a ballpark (a ball park roughly the size of London, but it's something. Sort of.). The Perspective Marriage Visa does limit you a bit in when you have to go to Australia by, but is a good option for a lot of people.

Make sure you organise all your proof well, and document everything

One solid piece of advice I have is to get a consultation with a registered migration agent who can help you better understand your options.

 

[tijanaoc]

JandE replied on your other thread, but just to add. Yes you can apply onshore at the moment - visitor visa to see if you like it then apply for partner visa. However given you have the concern of proving defacto relationship for 12 months then you should know that DIBP have a proposal in the works to change the sponsorship process so that the sponsor would have to be approved before a partner visa application can be lodged. We have no way of knowing how long DIBP would take to approve a sponsor. If it takes longer than 2-2.5 months you can see that prospective visa applicants who are on a 3 month tourist visa will be in a bind and would have to go offshore. This proposal was talked about earlier this year, but was deferred to next year. It's specifically designed to reduce/eliminate onshore partner visa applications and by the time you are ready to apply they may (or may not) have implemented the changes. DIBP are known for making these changes with little or no notice, so just making you aware.

 

[Raquellotour]

Once you've been de facto for more than 12 months you could apply for an offshore partner visa (309/100), or alternatively if you plan to get married a Perspective Marriage Visa (300). Or go onshore (if you can) and apply for a 820/800.

Processing times vary wildly, although the global processing times on the DIBP website can give you a ballpark (a ball park roughly the size of London, but it's something. Sort of.). The Perspective Marriage Visa does limit you a bit in when you have to go to Australia by, but is a good option for a lot of people.

Make sure you organise all your proof well, and document everything

One solid piece of advice I have is to get a consultation with a registered migration agent who can help you better understand your options.

Thank you very much for your answer.

I think the best option for us would be to go to Australia at the end of August. Which is when my partner will be finishing his visa to be in Ireland. And by then we would have been together for 18months.

Do you know if I can go to Australia (at the end of August) on a tourist visa and apply for a 820/800 ? That seems to me like the only option that will allow us to be together for as long as the partner visa is either approved or declined.

If we apply for it offshore I don't know if my boyfriend will be able to get another visa in Europe as he has already been in the UK for 2 years and will be in Ireland for 1 year, and I am scared I am gonna have to wait in Europe for the partner visa without my boyfriend.

Marriage is definitely something we want to do at some point, we'd hate to do it for visa purposes though but if it helps then we will definitely consider it.

Thank you for your advice!

 

[Raquellotour]

JandE replied on your other thread, but just to add. Yes you can apply onshore at the moment - visitor visa to see if you like it then apply for partner visa. However given you have the concern of proving defacto relationship for 12 months then you should know that DIBP have a proposal in the works to change the sponsorship process so that the sponsor would have to be approved before a partner visa application can be lodged. We have no way of knowing how long DIBP would take to approve a sponsor. If it takes longer than 2-2.5 months you can see that prospective visa applicants who are on a 3 month tourist visa will be in a bind and would have to go offshore. This proposal was talked about earlier this year, but was deferred to next year. It's specifically designed to reduce/eliminate onshore partner visa applications and by the time you are ready to apply they may (or may not) have implemented the changes. DIBP are known for making these changes with little or no notice, so just making you aware.

Oh dear.. I'll just pray and have my fingers crossed then, cause otherwise I don't really know of any other options. Guess we would have to apply offshore and find a way to keep my boyfriend in Europe.

Thank you for letting me know!

 

[tijanaoc]

Oh dear.. I'll just pray and have my fingers crossed then, cause otherwise I don't really know of any other options. Guess we would have to apply offshore and find a way to keep my boyfriend in Europe.

Thank you for letting me know!

If you get stuck having to apply offshore, family members of EEA/EU Citizens are entitled to residence rights in the EU (including in Ireland).

Family Members of EU/EEA /Swiss Citizens