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Prospective Marriage Visa

7K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  CamJohnson 
#1 ·
Hi,

My girlfriend has been in Australia for the last 12 months on a Work and Holiday visa, which has now expired. She is currently in the US and we are looking to get a Prospective Marriage visa so that we can be together and get married withing the next 9 months.

The problem is that we do not want to be apart for the 5 months that this visa will take to process. We can get her a tourist visa for 6 months but it will be issued with a 'No Further Stay Condition'.

The 'No Further Stay Condition' states that she will not be able to apply for any other visa while she is in Australia. But what we would like to do is apply for the Prospective Marriage visa prior to her coming to Australia (on the Tourist Visa). When the Tourist visa expires, she will go back to the states and by then the Prospective Marriage Visa will be approved. We can not afford an immigration agent with all the costs of these visas and flights, so I am looking for some advice on whether or not we can do this. Or if there is any other possible (somewhat affordable) solution.

The whole system is very complicated and stressful, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Cam Johnson
 
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#2 ·
Hi Cam -

I think your idea is a good one, and we commonly have people do this - first apply for the subclass 300 Prospective Marriage Visa (PMV). After that, apply for a tourist visa. Since your fiance will have to be offshore anyway for the grant, whether or not the No Further Stay condition is applied won't affect your plans. The key then is getting approved for the tourist visa. I suggest you include a cover letter stating you've already applied for the PMV, include a brief itinerary of tourist-y related things, and emphasize that you are aware that she needs to return home after this limited visit in order to be granted the PMV. Suggest you apply for a 6 month tourist visa - they will typically give you 3 or 6 months.

Hope this helps - please write if I can provide any further info or assistance -

Best,

Mark Northam
 
#3 ·
We already applied for the tourist visa, but they requested further documents (financial, itinerary etc.) before it will be approved. We haven't sent the documents yet, so will hold off until we apply for the PMV and state our case within these documents. We will also make sure to make the entry date (when applying for the PMV) a month or so after the tourist visa expires.

This is really good news to hear. I was worried when I read this on another website:

'You must be outside of Australia to apply for the prospective marriage visa and must remain outside of Australia until decision is made on your visa application. If you are already married you cannot apply for the prospective marriage visa.'

Source: www(dot)tcilawyers(dot)com(dot)au/TurnerCoulsonImmigrationLawyers255/Page/13639/Australian+Spouse+Visas.aspx

We will be sure to report back what the result of all this is. Hopefully it will help other couples who are in the same situation.

Thank you so much for your help,
Cam Johnson
 
#4 ·
Hi Cam -

That's strange - the regulations state that you must be outside Australia at time of grant, and time of application for the PMV.

It can be tricky trying to get both approved at the same time (vs PMV lodged first, then applying for visitor and referring to already-lodged PMV). Make sure all the info on your various applications lines up - also, be mindful of any deadline (usually 28 days) given for requests for additional docs/info and don't miss that.

Good luck!

Best,

Mark Northam
 
#5 ·
CamJohnson said:
Hi,

My girlfriend has been in Australia for the last 12 months on a Work and Holiday visa, which has now expired. She is currently in the US and we are looking to get a Prospective Marriage visa so that we can be together and get married withing the next 9 months.

The problem is that we do not want to be apart for the 5 months that this visa will take to process. We can get her a tourist visa for 6 months but it will be issued with a 'No Further Stay Condition'.

The 'No Further Stay Condition' states that she will not be able to apply for any other visa while she is in Australia. But what we would like to do is apply for the Prospective Marriage visa prior to her coming to Australia (on the Tourist Visa). When the Tourist visa expires, she will go back to the states and by then the Prospective Marriage Visa will be approved. We can not afford an immigration agent with all the costs of these visas and flights, so I am looking for some advice on whether or not we can do this. Or if there is any other possible (somewhat affordable) solution.

The whole system is very complicated and stressful, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Cam Johnson
I'm in the exact same situation so I will give you an Idea of how I did it.
I applied for prospective marriage visa on 17th September 2012.

My fiancée is Mexican so our application went to the Ottawa office. It takes 6-12 months to be accepted.

During 2011 lived together for a duration of 10 months.

During 2012 we were separated for 5 months and reunited for another 4 months.

Once again I returned to Australia so that whilst waiting for our prospective marriage visa we would apply for tourist visa. We applied in October and exactly a month later it was denied due to insufficient funds and an insignificant time the applicant has been employed for, which in turn broke our hearts.

Current 2013 it has almost been another 5 months of being apart and still waiting on our prospective marriage visa. I am returning to Mexico and we have decided that we are getting married and therefore switching our prospective marriage visa to a partner visa based on
marriage. I intend to stay in Mexico for the duration of the visas outcome. Which will be until September.

The thing is it is so hard to be away from the person you love. No one understands unless going through a similar situation. If you really love each other you will keep in contact thanks to Internet these days and the social networks and the wait will be nothing compared to when the wait is finally over. Being apart too gives both an opportunity to know what you really want and If your making a decision.

Don't be disheartened if you have to spend time apart. I'm Australian and my fiancée is Mexican so which means I have had to do literally everything and pay for everything extremely stressful and trying time and still is.

As for tourist visa we applied for the tourist visa offshore and I had made a statutory declaration stating I would sponsor him. I'm earning good money weekly but doesn't matter how much I earn its how much is in the bank. I even showed my credit card which was clean and I have a limit of $5000 and also had $2000 in my fiancées account which obviously still wasn't enough to be accepted. The tourist can be a 3, 6 or 12 month. Put in for the period you want and can afford and they should then make the decision as to what you get. Good luck!!!!
 
#7 ·
I am returning to Mexico and we have decided that we are getting married and therefore switching our prospective marriage visa to a partner visa based on
marriage. I intend to stay in Mexico for the duration of the visas outcome. Which will be until September.
Just on this ...

The other day I received an email reply from the Case Officer processing our Prospective Marriage visa application.

After stating to her our intention to travel to Australia on a Tourist visa and marry, she replied saying that would be fine, however we would have to not change our application to a Partner Visa, but to re-apply offshore (free-of-charge) for the Partner visa application - and that the processing time would re-set(!?).

I have to say, this is the first I've heard of such a thing. Can anyone else confirm or deny this?

Thought I would bring it up to you in any case. Hopefully it's all bollocks :)
 
#6 ·
Mark, just wondering (we are doing onshore, just curious) - if the applicant applied offshore, has to be offshore when the visa is granted, but goes onshore meanwhile on a tourist visa... will their visa automatically not be granted while they are onshore on the tourist visa? Or will this be ignored, can the offshore partner visa be granted "incidentally" while onshore on a tourist visa and the grant deemed invalid because the applicant was not offshore at the time the visa was granted?

Am I making sense? LOL the scenario made sense in my head. Does going onshore while awaiting an offshore grant risk the validity of the offshore visa grant?
 
#8 ·
Hi, nadam. If you have applied for prospective marriage visa but you marry before you get it, that visa is of no use because you will be married already when you get it. There is no prospective marriage - marriage is already there. That is why she said you would have to re-apply for Partner visa.
 
#10 ·
I keep an eye on your posts hoping for you to get your visa because then I could be near it too, but - no good news from you yet, unfortunately.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Hi,

My girlfriend has been in Australia for the last 12 months on a Work and Holiday visa, which has now expired. She is currently in the US and we are looking to get a Prospective Marriage visa so that we can be together and get married withing the next 9 months.

The problem is that we do not want to be apart for the 5 months that this visa will take to process. We can get her a tourist visa for 6 months but it will be issued with a 'No Further Stay Condition'.

The 'No Further Stay Condition' states that she will not be able to apply for any other visa while she is in Australia. But what we would like to do is apply for the Prospective Marriage visa prior to her coming to Australia (on the Tourist Visa). When the Tourist visa expires, she will go back to the states and by then the Prospective Marriage Visa will be approved. We can not afford an immigration agent with all the costs of these visas and flights, so I am looking for some advice on whether or not we can do this. Or if there is any other possible (somewhat affordable) solution.

The whole system is very complicated and stressful, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Cam Johnson
Pity you already applied for the tourist visa and Mark is right, you had better sort it out ASAP as you don't want a visa denied on your application if you can help it.

What we did in our case was to apply for a 309 partner offshore (similar processing requirements to the 300) then use an ETA (visa waiver) that took two minutes to get online. The ETA allows 90 days entry to Australia and didn't require any evidence etc. When the 309 is ready to grant I will go offshore to New Zealand so they can grant it. If the 309 isn't granted before the 90 days is up I will go to NZ to get another 90 days on the ETA and return to Australia. The ETA is good for a year doing it that way. This was what immigration suggested that I do! I had to let our case officer know about my plans to travel to Australia first.

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/976/ Information on the ETA

Kttykat
 
#13 ·
Pity you already applied for the tourist visa and Mark is right, you had better sort it out ASAP as you don't want a visa denied on your application if you can help it.

What we did in our case was to apply for a 309 partner offshore (similar processing requirements to the 300) then use an ETA (visa waiver) that took two minutes to get online. The ETA allows 90 days entry to Australia and didn't require any evidence etc. When the 309 is ready to grant I will go offshore to New Zealand so they can grant it. If the 309 isn't granted before the 90 days is up I will go to NZ to get another 90 days on the ETA and return to Australia. The ETA is good for a year doing it that way. This was what immigration suggested that I do! I had to let our case officer know about my plans to travel to Australia first.

Kttykat
Hi,

Thanks for your response.

Does anyone know if it is possible to cancel our current tourist visa application for 6 months and re-apply for 3 months?

Or, could we just apply for the 3 month ETA now, and let the 6 month tourist visa application expire (as we haven't sent off the supporting documents yet)?
I will probably just try this and see what happens, then we could do as you suggested and plan a short holiday to NZ to get it renewed after three months.

So you are still awaiting your Partner Visa to be granted? How long has it been?

Regards,
Cam
 
#12 ·
nadam said:
Just on this ...

The other day I received an email reply from the Case Officer processing our Prospective Marriage visa application.

After stating to her our intention to travel to Australia on a Tourist visa and marry, she replied saying that would be fine, however we would have to not change our application to a Partner Visa, but to re-apply offshore (free-of-charge) for the Partner visa application - and that the processing time would re-set(!?).

I have to say, this is the first I've heard of such a thing. Can anyone else confirm or deny this?

Thought I would bring it up to you in any case. Hopefully it's all bollocks :)
If you re apply yes the process time would be reset but with y situation I'm only switching the visa application and as far as I have been told by immigration of Australia that it doesn't delay or extend the waiting process.
 
#16 ·
CamJohnson said:
Hi,

Thanks for your response.

It sounds like you two are really doing it tough. I am not getting my hopes too high, as it is possible that we may have to go through the same thing. It is very hard to be apart but you do make a good point that the light at the end of the tunnel is worth it.

Due to other advice suggested, if we can, we will apply for a 3 month tourist visa (if we can cancel the 6 month visa we have already applied for). We are in a similar financial position as yourself. I have a family member with a larger account balance who is willing to write a statement of financial support. When requested for our documents, it said that this can be done.

Good luck with your visa and future partner and thanks for the advice.

Regards,
Cam
Hey
No worries. Just to let you know that you scared me when you said that the process times will be reset once switching my visa. I called immigration to check on that and there's no set condition or outline that the time will be reset. So switching visas does only just that the switch.

Thank you
 
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