[GC1965]

Hello everyone, I sponsored my previous partner for her onshore partner visa (820/801) in December 2015. Six months later I withdrew my sponsorship of her as it became very clear that she was not in love with me and was only interested in obtaining her visa. She falsely accused me of assault and I went to court to defend myself. No convicton was recorded. However, I have no idea whether she was granted her visa. It's two-and-a-half years since I sponsored her, and I have been in my current relationship for 1 year. If my fiancee was to apply for a partner visa now, I'm guessing that it would take 2 years for a decision to be reached. This would make it just four-and-a-half years from the lodgement of the first application to the decision on the second application - which is just under the 5 year rule. My question is: How do I find out if my previous partner's visa was granted? Immigration won't reveal any details (naturally), which leaves me totally in the dark as to whether I can sponsor my current fiancee - or not. I'm asking because my fiancee needs to lodge her visa within the next month or so, or leave the country. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Skybluebrewer]

I certainly wouldn't be banking on it takiing 2 years. We've seen partner visas granted in a few weeks recently on this forum. Grants in about a year are far more common on here than ones that take 2 years or more as well.

Sorry, can't answer your sponsorship question.

 

[CCMS]

Applying for a partner visa while the sponsor is potentially subject to the sponsor limitation period is extremely risky. Doing it 2 years before the 5 year period is up would be very foolish and will very likely result in a refusal.

The Department should be able to confirm if a previous sponsorship has been granted, but it will take some perseverance on your end to get that information in writing.

 

[GC1965]

After waiting on hold for over 5 hours today, an immigration officer on the 131881 number told me that I cannot sponsor another person until 5 years between sponsorship applications... not 5 years between the initial sponsorship (December 2015) and the outcome of the second application (as yet unlodged). It seems as if we will be forced to either live together overseas again. Any suggestions???

 

[Aussie83]

After waiting on hold for over 5 hours today, an immigration officer on the 131881 number told me that I cannot sponsor another person until 5 years between sponsorship applications... not 5 years between the initial sponsorship (December 2015) and the outcome of the second application (as yet unlodged). It seems as if we will be forced to either live together overseas again. Any suggestions???

suggest you don't take advice from calling DOHA and listen to rma's as above.
that way you'll get the correct information

 

[CCMS]

You could have contacted me instead and I would have given you the correct information in 30 seconds.

The 5 years is from the date the previous application was lodged and the next application is decided. However if you lodge the new application anytime within that 5 year application the application could be processed straight away and then refused.

What you really need to find out is if the exclusion period actually applies or not and you won’t get that information by calling some clueless call centre operator.

 

[GC1965]

Thank you Nick, your responses have been extremely helpful to us. According to the advice that I received from DOHA yesterday, it's irrelevant whether my previous partner was granted her visa, or not. I was advised that once I sponsor someone, it's automatically counted as 1 sponsorship (out of the 2 permitted in a lifetime). I (perhaps stupidly) assumed that if the visa was not granted, the sponsorship would not be counted either - but apparently it is. If this is actually correct, then there seems to be no point in trying to determine whether my previous partner was granted her visa, or not. I'm wondering if the advice (if any of the advice ha ha) that DOHA provided to us is correct?

 

[CCMS]

Thank you Nick, your responses have been extremely helpful to us. According to the advice that I received from DOHA yesterday, it's irrelevant whether my previous partner was granted her visa, or not. I was advised that once I sponsor someone, it's automatically counted as 1 sponsorship (out of the 2 permitted in a lifetime). I (perhaps stupidly) assumed that if the visa was not granted, the sponsorship would not be counted either - but apparently it is. If this is actually correct, then there seems to be no point in trying to determine whether my previous partner was granted her visa, or not. I'm wondering if the advice (if any of the advice ha ha) that DOHA provided to us is correct?

This is total nonsense. Sponsorships are not granted separately at the moment. The critical factor is if a partner visa has been granted.

Reg 1.20 J says: a person who has sponsored/nominated a person as a spouse, de facto partner, fiancé or interdependent partner cannot have another sponsorship approved under any of these visa categories until at least 5 years after the first visa application was made.

Examples

• A sponsorship where the visa was granted but the applicant did not travel to Australia counts. The critical factor is visa grant. It does not matter what happens after this.
• A sponsorship where the visa application to which it was connected was refused does not count. The sponsorship must have resulted in the grant of a visa.

If that is indeed the "advice' your received, then it is very concerning that people with no proper qualifications are allowed to provide migration advice to the general public.Hopefully these same people are not allowed to process visa applications.

 

[GC1965]

It is obvious that I need to find out if my previous partner was granted her visa or not, so that I know whether the 5 years rule applies to me (as a sponsor) or not. Does anybody know the process that I need to go through - who exactly do I need to write to - because the DOHA representative told me that she doesn't know!

 

[CCMS]

As stated previously, the Department should be able to confirm if a previous sponsorship has been granted, but it will take some perseverance on your end to get that information in writing.I have done so several times through FOI requests and writing to the relevant processing centre.It took a lot of effort to get someone to confirm if a previous sponsorship had been granted or not and on what date.

They are very reluctant to provide this information and will hide behind privacy rules. Try and make an appointment with your local MP and get them to sort it out for you.

Unless she was able to prove domestic violence claims, it is unlikely that a visa would have been granted under the circumstances.If the domestic violence claims were proven, it may well cause issues with a new sponsorship.