[Pimoussette]

Hello everyone!

This forum has been of great help but there is one information I couldn't find anywhere...

My fiancé and I have been together since October 2015, and he was diagnosed in April 2017 with terminal brain cancer. We are going to lodge our 820 visa application very soon but we do worry about how his condition will affect the visa approval. Should we even say?

I've read about when the applicant is ill, but never about the sponsor. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great Monday y'all xx

 

[missmullen]

First off I am very sorry for what you and your partner are going through. Dealing with the visa process on top of your partner’s health issues must be very stressful, I take my hat off to you.
To answer your question, no there is no technical requirement to disclose the sponsor’s health. However your partner as part of the application is required to acknowledge that he is responsible for your upkeep for the first 104 weeks of your time in Australia i.e. you can not claim unemployment payments etc during this time. How this correlates with his prognosis may influence whether you disclose or not.
The benefit to disclosing his situation is that it will enable you to demonstrate how you support each other on an emotional and practical level. Most couples do not face such a challenge so early in their relationship, so if you can demonstrate how you have supported each other through this it will assist in the breadth of your evidence. A further advantage may be that you may qualify for priority processing under compelling and compassionate grounds. This may particularly be the case if you are applying offshore (sorry can’t remember if 820 is on or offshore!).
You may wish to take the advice of an MRA who can assist you in preparing a submission addressing this particular aspect of your application. All who post here regularly can be relied upon, and will no doubt correct me if any of the above is incorrect 🙂

 

[Skybluebrewer]

I'd contact an Aussie based RMA to discuss. Maybe such a scenario may get priority processing? Not sure as I'm not a professional but something to look into.

 

[Pimoussette]

That's a good idea, I will go speak with a lawyer. We're torn between being honest and showing how deep we are committed to each other, and hiding it in fear they won't let me stay with him. Wether the processing time is too long for him see it through is also to take in consideration. Decisions decisions. Thank you for your replies x

 

[Skybluebrewer]

Use an RMA, not a lawyer. Some RMAs are lawyers too but migration related matters are the expertise of RMAs.

 

[BMHansen]

I am so sorry to hear about your situation! My deepest condolences
Brett