[arugulabed]

Hello,

I am an American in a 5 year de facto relationship with an Australian citizen by birth. We have a 3 year old, Australian citizen daughter together. We lived abroad in Asia for some time, but now wish to settle in Australia. I have been here for 9 months on a subclass 600 visitor visa, which will expire in April.

We seemingly have a strong application for the Partner visa (strong ties to community, my husband has a long-term career here, we have a lease together, joint bank accounts, and much supporting social evidence of our family relationship). However, I have some issues from my past which make our application uncertain.

I was married over 10 years ago to a man with whom I had a child. The man was abusive, the marriage very quickly dissolved, and, being unable to carry on as a single mother at that point in my life, his grandmother took care of the baby. This was an unofficial arrangement, not a legal family adoption.

The child from this marriage will not be migrating with me. I am aware they may need a health examination as a non-migrating child, which can be obtained.

Nobody, including family, has heard from this 1st husband in more than 6 years. He claimed to his mother he had annulled the marriage, but nobody can find record of this. And the state in which the marriage took place, does not allow even an uncontested divorce to be filed without being a resident of that state.

I know there are some situations in which supplementary documents can be requested by the Department and provided after submitting the application. My question is: how long does the Department typically give you to produce the documents? I'm sure I can chase this up somehow, but it would obviously take time.

Would I be better off to apply for the onshore Partner visa now, supplying additional information about previous marriage/child if and when it is asked for, or should I exit Australia and attempt to re-enter on an eVisitor visa to buy us more time to prepare the application?

I'm of course worried such an eVisitor visa might not be granted, stranding me outside Australia without my daughter. I'm also afraid I will not fill out the form correctly in regard to the previous marriage/child, or not be given time to supply more documents. We are very settled in Australia and do not have supports to take up residence in any other country.

 

[abdoal3rs]

Hello,

I am an American in a 5 year de facto relationship with an Australian citizen by birth. We have a 3 year old, Australian citizen daughter together. We lived abroad in Asia for some time, but now wish to settle in Australia. I have been here for 9 months on a subclass 600 visitor visa, which will expire in April.

We seemingly have a strong application for the Partner visa (strong ties to community, my husband has a long-term career here, we have a lease together, joint bank accounts, and much supporting social evidence of our family relationship). However, I have some issues from my past which make our application uncertain.

I was married over 10 years ago to a man with whom I had a child. The man was abusive, the marriage very quickly dissolved, and, being unable to carry on as a single mother at that point in my life, his grandmother took care of the baby. This was an unofficial arrangement, not a legal family adoption.

The child from this marriage will not be migrating with me. I am aware they may need a health examination as a non-migrating child, which can be obtained.

Nobody, including family, has heard from this 1st husband in more than 6 years. He claimed to his mother he had annulled the marriage, but nobody can find record of this. And the state in which the marriage took place, does not allow even an uncontested divorce to be filed without being a resident of that state.

I know there are some situations in which supplementary documents can be requested by the Department and provided after submitting the application. My question is: how long does the Department typically give you to produce the documents? I'm sure I can chase this up somehow, but it would obviously take time.

Would I be better off to apply for the onshore Partner visa now, supplying additional information about previous marriage/child if and when it is asked for, or should I exit Australia and attempt to re-enter on an eVisitor visa to buy us more time to prepare the application?

I'm of course worried such an eVisitor visa might not be granted, stranding me outside Australia without my daughter. I'm also afraid I will not fill out the form correctly in regard to the previous marriage/child, or not be given time to supply more documents. We are very settled in Australia and do not have supports to take up residence in any other country.

It is better that you consult with a registered migration agent to guide on your options.

 

[ampk]

I also would consult a good RMA see the sticky for ones recommended here.

The biggest issue I see is the recent change in the law for sponsors if you wait much longer.

 

[arugulabed]

The biggest issue I see is the recent change in the law for sponsors if you wait much longer.

What change is that, and how could it affect us? My partner is fully qualified to sponsor the visa.

 

[CCMS]

What change is that, and how could it affect us? My partner is fully qualified to sponsor the visa.

The proposed change means that the sponsor has to lodge a sponsorship application first, which must be approved, before the visa application can be lodged. This could be a problem for people on temporary visas, if the stay period expires, before the sponsorship is approved.

We don't know when these changes actually will be implemented. It could be in 3 weeks or in 3 months, but you should definitely take it into account.

 

[ampk]

As The Registered Migration Agent said.

They will not be fully qualified to be a sponsor if they have character issues such as family violence - that is sometime hidden from applicants or agreed with no guilt to due to fighting costs.