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This visa might be for you if you live overseas and want to enter and stay in Australia on the basis of your married or de facto relationship with your partner who must be an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.
Initially, partners who meet the legal criteria for the grant of the visa are granted a temporary visa. Later, a permanent visa may be granted, if your relationship is still ongoing after 2 years or if there is a longstanding relationship or children of the relationship, soon after grant of the temporary visa. Your partner must provide sponsorship for you.
How do you Apply for a Partner (Temporary and Permanent) Visa
First of all, you need a sponsor who is an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen. You must be legally married to your sponsor or you intend to legally marry your sponsor before a decision is made on your visa application. Your marriage must be legal under Australian Law. If you were married in a country other than Australia and that marriage is valid in that country, generally it will be recognized as valid under Australian Law. There are some exceptions, such as same sex, underage or polygamous marriages, which are not accepted in Australia. Same sex couples are eligible for this visa but they might be recognized as being in a de facto relationship.
Your sponsor must be eligible to sponsor you and any dependent family members who are included in your application and who are also migrating with you. He/She must meet the legal criteria to be eligible to sponsor you. He must be assessed by the Department and will be asked to provide personal information and documents. He will also be asked personal questions about your relationship in an interview. Your sponsor will have to complete Form 40SP Sponsorship for a partner to migrate to Australia which includes providing evidence of his employment and financial status and giving a sponsorship undertaking. Once he/she has completed and signed the form, he/she sends it you and you lodge it together with his supporting documents, the Form 47SP Application for migration to Australia by a partner.
If your sponsor has sponsored a partner before or been sponsored as a partner, your visa application may be refused if you are affected by a sponsorship limitation. A sponsorship limitation refers to your sponsor if he has previously sponsored or nominated 2 or more persons as a fiancé or partner for migration to Australia, he has sponsored another fiancé or partner within the last 5 years, or he was sponsored as a fiancé or partner within the last 5 years. If this happens, you or your sponsor can ask for a waiver of the sponsorship limitation.
(These are general instructions only, please contact a Migration Agent for advice on your personal situation).
Evidences of a Genuine and Continuing Relationship
When you apply for a Partner visa, you may need to prove that you and your partner have a genuine and continuing romantic relationship. You must show a mutual commitment to a shared life as husband and wife to the exclusion of all others. You and your partner must be living together or, if not, any separation must be only temporary. As in most Partner visa cases, your partner may be living and working in Queensland or the outback while you live overseas like Thailand, Malaysia or the Philippines. Since you are separated physically, you must provide evidence that your relationship is ongoing by sending emails or text messages to each other, your sponsor rings you regularly or chatting thru the internet.
You and your partner must each provide a statement or statutory declaration regarding the history of your relationship, including how, when and where you first met, how your relationship developed, when you decided to marry or to start a de facto relationship, your domestic arrangements, how you maintain your relationship during any periods of separation and your future plans. There are four broad categories of evidence that you need to provide: the financial aspects, the nature of the household, the social context of the relationship and the nature of your commitment to each other. As all relationships are different, you should provide as much evidence as you can to support your claims.
(These are general instructions only, please contact a Migration Agent for advice on your personal situation).
Health and Character Requirements
You and all members of your family must undergo health examinations, including all children under the ages of 18 years as well as dependants who may not live with you and who are not migrating. If you or any of your dependent relatives do not meet health requirements, you may not be granted a partner visa. Usually, a medical examination usually includes a chest x-ray and some laboratory tests. Medical examination can be a lengthy process and you will pay all costs.
Medical results are generally valid for one year and sometimes, assessment of a visa application takes more than 12 months. When this happens, you will be required to undergo new medical examination. Health conditions that may lead to your application being refused include tuberculosis and other conditions assessed by Australian authorities as requiring treatment, support or assistance that would need a lot of money. A positive HIV or other test result will not necessarily lead to a visa refusal but the result will be disclosed to the relevant health agencies in Australia.
To meet the character requirement, you must provide a police clearance for each country where you have resided for 12 months or more in the last 10 years since you turned 16 years of age. Your dependents who are included in your applications will also need to provide their police clearances.
(These are general instructions only, please contact a Migration Agent for advice on your personal situation).
