Multiple Entry Australian Tourist Visa

[Northpoint]

VISA GRANT NOTICE

Hi there,

My Thai partner of 10 years applied for an Australian Tourist visa using Form 1419 (Subclass 600). Question 3 on the form asks: How long do you want to stay in Australia? She ticked up to 3 months like she did on previous tourist visa applications, which were granted with an 8503 No Further Stay clause and had to be used within three month of the visa having been granted.

We went to VFS on Monday last week to lodge the new tourist visa application and received an SMS from VFS last Friday, telling her to come to the VFS office last Monday.

She was successful in getting her tourist visa approved. The new VISA GRANT NOTICE she got is a multiple entry tourist visa which has a Last Date to Arrive in May 2015 one year from the date of issue last week. There are 8101 NO WORK and an 8201 Max 3 MONTHS STUDY on her new VISA GRANT NOTICE. There is no 3503 clause on her last visa.

To reiterate, the new visa Grant Notice says

Visa Stream………..….Tourist

Visa Grant Date……...22. May 2015

Stay For/Until………….3 Month(s)

Entries …………………….Multiple

Last Date to Arrive…..22. May 2015

I guess she is now allowed to travel to Australia multiple times for periods not exceeding 3 months. I would like to find out, if multiple means more than one trip, with each trip up to a limit of 3 month, or if she is only allowed multiple shorter trips with a limit of 3 month in total for the 12 month period ending in May 2015.

Thanks for any reply from anyone able to answer or/and explain my multiple entries visa question.

Regards

[BlueScouse]

3 months for each visit. My wife did it a couple of years ago.

[Northpoint]

3 months for each visit. My wife did it a couple of years ago.

Thanks for your reply. It was the reply I was hoping for.

BTW I just noticed I made a mistake when I typed Visa Grant Date 22.May 2015. It should have said 22.May 2014. Last date to Arrive is 22.May 2015. I will now have to rethink our itinerary for the next 12 months. We were planning to apply for a permanent residency visa later this year. I don't know if that is possible with her tourist visa expiring in May next year.

[David48]

Mate, my knowledge is that your partner can travel to Australia multiple times during that 12 month period.

Each stay is limited to a maximum of a 3 month duration.

Theoretically your partner could stay for 3 days, do a visa run to Thailand and return the next day and ask to be readmitted.

But remember that a Visa doesn't guarantee entry into the country, so if your partner did a couple of Visa Runs back to back, it may raise an eyebrow at the Immigration Desk.

One piece of good news is that, if your partner arrives before the end of the Visa, she would be allowed to stay a further 3 months ... effectively making it a Visa allowing a 15 month potential stay.

As for the other issue, think carefully where you want to apply for the 'permanent residency visa' (assuming you mean a Partner Visa).

Costs about AUD $1,000 less if applied for in Thailand.

Can be done on-line now (apparently) though I've not read yet a review of someone who has done it.

We just submitted my gf's Partner Visa in Thailand earlier this month.

[Chao Lao Beach]

You are correct, and once you get one, you should get another.

[Northpoint]

Mate, my knowledge is that your partner can travel to Australia multiple times during that 12 month period.

Each stay is limited to a maximum of a 3 month duration.

Theoretically your partner could stay for 3 days, do a visa run to Thailand and return the next day and ask to be readmitted.

But remember that a Visa doesn't guarantee entry into the country, so if your partner did a couple of Visa Runs back to back, it may raise an eyebrow at the Immigration Desk.

One piece of good news is that, if your partner arrives before the end of the Visa, she would be allowed to stay a further 3 months ... effectively making it a Visa allowing a 15 month potential stay.

As for the other issue, think carefully where you want to apply for the 'permanent residency visa' (assuming you mean a Partner Visa).

Costs about AUD $1,000 less if applied for in Thailand.

Can be done on-line now (apparently) though I've not read yet a review of someone who has done it.

We just submitted my gf's Partner Visa in Thailand earlier this month.

Hi David48,

I was wondering about getting another 3 months after arriving back in Australia before the end of the visa. it's great to get that information from you without having to ask.

We won't be doing back to back trips to upset the powers-that-be. We will probably plan to do 3 visits back home for the duration of the visa, which will total to approximately 5-6 months at the most. The first trip will be from early July until the middle of September, as previously planned. Not having to apply for another tourist visa early next year is already a bonus.

I had already prepared an application for a partner visa to submit earlier this year, but due to unrelated circumstances was unable to apply. I could have submitted another partner visa application now, but cannot wait another 10 months or whatever time it takes to have it processed. I have to be back in Australia long before that. So we applied for another tourist visa instead and were lucky to get the multiple entry tourist visa and will take things from there. Thanks for your valuable advice.

[David48]

One tip when applying for the Partner Visa is that you can pay for it in Australia on-line and save about Bt 6,000 - 8,000 from what they charge with the exchange rate.

Thanks to the member nightwatch (from memory, apologies if I got it wrong) for that tip.

And it's info like that which makes this Forum indispensible.

A small update ... above I wrote "Theoretically your partner could stay for 3 days, do a visa run to Thailand and return the next day and ask to be readmitted." I meant to write "could stay for 3 days months ..."

[simple1]

Mate, my knowledge is that your partner can travel to Australia multiple times during that 12 month period.

Each stay is limited to a maximum of a 3 month duration.

Theoretically your partner could stay for 3 days, do a visa run to Thailand and return the next day and ask to be readmitted.

But remember that a Visa doesn't guarantee entry into the country, so if your partner did a couple of Visa Runs back to back, it may raise an eyebrow at the Immigration Desk.

One piece of good news is that, if your partner arrives before the end of the Visa, she would be allowed to stay a further 3 months ... effectively making it a Visa allowing a 15 month potential stay.

As for the other issue, think carefully where you want to apply for the 'permanent residency visa' (assuming you mean a Partner Visa).

Costs about AUD $1,000 less if applied for in Thailand.

Can be done on-line now (apparently) though I've not read yet a review of someone who has done it.

We just submitted my gf's Partner Visa in Thailand earlier this month.

You may be remembering my post where I assisted a Thai, with Oz citizenship, apply onshore a month ago for his de facto partner to convert Visitor 600 visa to apply for Visa 800; cost around A$4500. The application was submitted online via Immi Account and bridging visa was issued within 24 hours & informed processing time is about 12 - 18 months. Could have been influenced by having a baby who applied onshore - had a Visitor 600 visa - for citizenship by descent that was granted within 2 weeks. Interestingly bridging visa was granted for his de facto even though he had yet to finalise his divorce with a Thai he had married in Oz.

[Northpoint]

One tip when applying for the Partner Visa is that you can pay for it in Australia on-line and save about Bt 6,000 - 8,000 from what they charge with the exchange rate.

Thanks to the member nightwatch (from memory, apologies if I got it wrong) for that tip.

And it's info like that which makes this Forum indispensible.

bank account

A small update ... above I wrote "Theoretically your partner could stay for 3 days, do a visa run to Thailand and return the next day and ask to be readmitted." I meant to write "could stay for 3 days months ..."

I knew what you meant when you said three days instead of 3 months. I won't worry about the Partner Visa fee for the time being. It is hard to predict what the currency exchange rate A$ versus THB will do in the next few months.The THB 6000 - THB 8000 difference at the moment is not such a big deal, but that could change a fair bit over the next few months.

I was thinking about applying for a Partner Visa later this year or next year after the multiple Tourist Visa expires in May 2015. I am also not sure how applying for a Partner Visa will be affected by my partner's current multiple Tourist visa.

There is one more thing I would like to mention. When my partner successfully applied for her Tourist Visa last week, none of her Thai documents had to be translated or certified. VFS only wanted copies of her Thai documents. None of the copies of documents I supplied as her sponsor had to be certified either. We only had to show them our original documents, which we kept.

VFS did not keep her passport, but kept our Thai Kasikorn bank account books, her bank book in her name, our joint bank account book and my Thai Kasikorn bank book as well. The bank account books had to show all transactions for the last six months. I had also had to supply copies of statements from my Australian bank covering the last six months, which I downloaded from my online Australian account. The Kasikorn bank books were returned to us by VFS together with her Visa Grant Notice last Monday.

One more thing. There is a very good translation office on the ground floor of the Trendy building. They charge 150 baht per page and 250 baht for lengthy complex translations. I had 9 Thai documents translated from Thai into English for THB 1750 in preparation for our partner Visa in the future, 5 pages for 150 baht and 4 pages for 250 baht. The translation service is on the left of the building when you walk in. The VFS office is on the top floor (28th) Cheers

[nightwatch]

Hi northpoint

Mate you can still apply for a partner visa whilst her current visitor visa is still current.

It will all depend on if you apply onshore or offshore

If applied for in Aus as stated above she will get a bridging visa so i am unsure how this will effect her visitor visa if it will be cancelled or if her travel will be restricted.

Mabey other TV members know more about this.

If applied for in Bangkok it should have no bearing on her visitor visa until the partner visa is granted when granted it will be cancelled,but she will have her partner visa.

The other thing is that she will have to be offshore for a partner visa to be granted if applied for offshore and onshore if applied for in Aus.

[simple1]

Hi northpoint

Mate you can still apply for a partner visa whilst her current visitor visa is still current.

It will all depend on if you apply onshore or offshore

If applied for in Aus as stated above she will get a bridging visa so i am unsure how this will effect her visitor visa if it will be cancelled or if her travel will be restricted.

Mabey other TV members know more about this.

If applied for in Bangkok it should have no bearing on her visitor visa until the partner visa is granted when granted it will be cancelled,but she will have her partner visa.

The other thing is that she will have to be offshore for a partner visa to be granted if applied for offshore and onshore if applied for in Aus.

yes the visitor visa is cancelled upon issue of a bridging visa. In the case of my Thai friend his de facto, upon granting of the bridging visa is not permitted to travel outside of Oz whilst the Visa 800 application is processed. If she departed Oz would require reapplying with a very hefty fee.

[Will27]

Hi northpoint

Mate you can still apply for a partner visa whilst her current visitor visa is still current.

It will all depend on if you apply onshore or offshore

If applied for in Aus as stated above she will get a bridging visa so i am unsure how this will effect her visitor visa if it will be cancelled or if her travel will be restricted.

Mabey other TV members know more about this.

If applied for in Bangkok it should have no bearing on her visitor visa until the partner visa is granted when granted it will be cancelled,but she will have her partner visa.

The other thing is that she will have to be offshore for a partner visa to be granted if applied for offshore and onshore if applied for in Aus.

yes the visitor visa is cancelled upon issue of a bridging visa. In the case of my Thai friend his de facto, upon granting of the bridging visa is not permitted to travel outside of Oz whilst the Visa 800 application is processed. If she departed Oz would require reapplying with a very hefty fee.

AFAIK, the tourist visa stays in effect and once that ceases, a bridging visa A is automatically kicks in.

If the applicant has to travel outside of Australia, they will need to apply for a bridging visa B which

allows travel.

[simple1]

Hi northpoint

Mate you can still apply for a partner visa whilst her current visitor visa is still current.

It will all depend on if you apply onshore or offshore

If applied for in Aus as stated above she will get a bridging visa so i am unsure how this will effect her visitor visa if it will be cancelled or if her travel will be restricted.

Mabey other TV members know more about this.

If applied for in Bangkok it should have no bearing on her visitor visa until the partner visa is granted when granted it will be cancelled,but she will have her partner visa.

The other thing is that she will have to be offshore for a partner visa to be granted if applied for offshore and onshore if applied for in Aus.

yes the visitor visa is cancelled upon issue of a bridging visa. In the case of my Thai friend his de facto, upon granting of the bridging visa is not permitted to travel outside of Oz whilst the Visa 800 application is processed. If she departed Oz would require reapplying with a very hefty fee.

AFAIK, the tourist visa stays in effect and once that ceases, a bridging visa A is automatically kicks in.

If the applicant has to travel outside of Australia, they will need to apply for a bridging visa B which

allows travel.

Thanks for clarification

[Northpoint]

Hi northpoint

Mate you can still apply for a partner visa whilst her current visitor visa is still current.

It will all depend on if you apply onshore or offshore

If applied for in Aus as stated above she will get a bridging visa so i am unsure how this will effect her visitor visa if it will be cancelled or if her travel will be restricted.

Mabey other TV members know more about this.

If applied for in Bangkok it should have no bearing on her visitor visa until the partner visa is granted when granted it will be cancelled,but she will have her partner visa.

The other thing is that she will have to be offshore for a partner visa to be granted if applied for offshore and onshore if applied for in Aus.

Hi nightwatch,

Thanks for your reply. I thought the only option we had was to apply for a partner visa in Thailand and then wait until it was approved after waiting for up to 12 month. I was under the impression that after applying in Thailand, we had to stay in Thailand be here for notifications, interviews and the final approval of the partner visa. We are planning to travel to Australia next July and return in September, within the allowed 3 months period of her multiple entry visa, which expires in May 2015.

I thought that if we decided to apply for the partner visa next September here in Thailand, we would not be able to use the multiple entry tourist any longer visa as we had to wait here for a decision on the partner visa.

I didn't think it was possible to apply for a partner visa in Australia, as we could only stay there for up to three month, which would not be long enough to have a partner visa processed.

I was not aware she could be able to apply for a bridging visa in Australia, when visiting on a tourist visa. Cheers

[Northpoint]

Hi northpoint

Mate you can still apply for a partner visa whilst her current visitor visa is still current.

It will all depend on if you apply onshore or offshore

If applied for in Aus as stated above she will get a bridging visa so i am unsure how this will effect her visitor visa if it will be cancelled or if her travel will be restricted.

Mabey other TV members know more about this.

If applied for in Bangkok it should have no bearing on her visitor visa until the partner visa is granted when granted it will be cancelled,but she will have her partner visa.

The other thing is that she will have to be offshore for a partner visa to be granted if applied for offshore and onshore if applied for in Aus.

yes the visitor visa is cancelled upon issue of a bridging visa. In the case of my Thai friend his de facto, upon granting of the bridging visa is not permitted to travel outside of Oz whilst the Visa 800 application is processed. If she departed Oz would require reapplying with a very hefty fee.

AFAIK, the tourist visa stays in effect and once that ceases, a bridging visa A is automatically kicks in.

If the applicant has to travel outside of Australia, they will need to apply for a bridging visa B which

allows travel.

Hi Will27, simple1, nightwatch,

I was not aware a bridging visa was an option until I read your comments. We would much prefer to apply for a bridging visa and then a partner visa in Australia. My de facto wife of 8 years says she would have no problems having to stay in Australia without being able to return to Thailand for any length of time. She has been to Australia on 3 months tourist visas with me in 2011, 2012 and last years and loves the place.

There is an Australian Immigration Office in Darwin, where we will live in my unit, but the visa would be processed in Perth. It would be a lot easier for me to have the visa processed in Australia. Getting 888 Form Statutory declaration witness statements from Australian friends and having all other documents certified seems easier when done in Australia. I had problems when I thought I had a strong completed partner visa application late last year, after we returned from Australia. My 888 Form statutory declaration witness statements had expired after six weeks and the application Forms SP 40 (sponsor) and SP 47 (applicant of partner visa) had changed in November last year as well.

If we should be successful in getting a bridging visa back in Australia, should she get a police clearance from Thailand before leaving? I will take all her original Thai documents and translations with us, just in case we will apply for the bridging visa. I suppose the health clearance checks will be done in Australia at a later stage. Thanks for the input from all of you. Regards

[nightwatch]

Hi northpoint

Mate you can still apply for a partner visa whilst her current visitor visa is still current.

It will all depend on if you apply onshore or offshore

If applied for in Aus as stated above she will get a bridging visa so i am unsure how this will effect her visitor visa if it will be cancelled or if her travel will be restricted.

Mabey other TV members know more about this.

If applied for in Bangkok it should have no bearing on her visitor visa until the partner visa is granted when granted it will be cancelled,but she will have her partner visa.

The other thing is that she will have to be offshore for a partner visa to be granted if applied for offshore and onshore if applied for in Aus.

Hi nightwatch,

Thanks for your reply. I thought the only option we had was to apply for a partner visa in Thailand and then wait until it was approved after waiting for up to 12 month. I was under the impression that after applying in Thailand, we had to stay in Thailand be here for notifications, interviews and the final approval of the partner visa. We are planning to travel to Australia next July and return in September, within the allowed 3 months period of her multiple entry visa, which expires in May 2015.

I thought that if we decided to apply for the partner visa next September here in Thailand, we would not be able to use the multiple entry tourist any longer visa as we had to wait here for a decision on the partner visa.

I didn't think it was possible to apply for a partner visa in Australia, as we could only stay there for up to three month, which would not be long enough to have a partner visa processed.

I was not aware she could be able to apply for a bridging visa in Australia, when visiting on a tourist visa. Cheers

It is totally okay to apply for a partner visa and visitor visas at the same time she will not have to wait in Thailand whilst a decision is pending for the partner visa.

My wife in the past has been granted a visitors visa whilst waiting for a decision on her partner visa.

The department will communicate with you via e-mail if u have given them permision to do so. Make sure u add to her partner application form 956.

If any further information or an interview is required you could send the info from Aus or arrange for the interview when she arrives back in Thailand.

In most cases an interview is not required.

If clause 8503 has not been imposed on her visitor visa she can apply for a partner visa in Australia.

Another thing your wife may be eligible for a permanent partner visa bypassing the temporary partner visa as your relationship is longterm

[nightwatch]

Hi northpoint

Mate you can still apply for a partner visa whilst her current visitor visa is still current.

It will all depend on if you apply onshore or offshore

If applied for in Aus as stated above she will get a bridging visa so i am unsure how this will effect her visitor visa if it will be cancelled or if her travel will be restricted.

Mabey other TV members know more about this.

If applied for in Bangkok it should have no bearing on her visitor visa until the partner visa is granted when granted it will be cancelled,but she will have her partner visa.

The other thing is that she will have to be offshore for a partner visa to be granted if applied for offshore and onshore if applied for in Aus.

yes the visitor visa is cancelled upon issue of a bridging visa. In the case of my Thai friend his de facto, upon granting of the bridging visa is not permitted to travel outside of Oz whilst the Visa 800 application is processed. If she departed Oz would require reapplying with a very hefty fee.

AFAIK, the tourist visa stays in effect and once that ceases, a bridging visa A is automatically kicks in.

If the applicant has to travel outside of Australia, they will need to apply for a bridging visa B which

allows travel.

Hi Will27, simple1, nightwatch,

I was not aware a bridging visa was an option until I read your comments. We would much prefer to apply for a bridging visa and then a partner visa in Australia. My de facto wife of 8 years says she would have no problems having to stay in Australia without being able to return to Thailand for any length of time. She has been to Australia on 3 months tourist visas with me in 2011, 2012 and last years and loves the place.

There is an Australian Immigration Office in Darwin, where we will live in my unit, but the visa would be processed in Perth. It would be a lot easier for me to have the visa processed in Australia. Getting 888 Form Statutory declaration witness statements from Australian friends and having all other documents certified seems easier when done in Australia. I had problems when I thought I had a strong completed partner visa application late last year, after we returned from Australia. My 888 Form statutory declaration witness statements had expired after six weeks and the application Forms SP 40 (sponsor) and SP 47 (applicant of partner visa) had changed in November last year as well.

If we should be successful in getting a bridging visa back in Australia, should she get a police clearance from Thailand before leaving? I will take all her original Thai documents and translations with us, just in case we will apply for the bridging visa. I suppose the health clearance checks will be done in Australia at a later stage. Thanks for the input from all of you. Regards

Yes make sure that she gets the police clearance certificate from Thailand she will need this.And also be aware that she may need health checks for any dependent children as well if she has any. doesnot matter if they are on the application or not.

Usually the VFS office in BKK will issue u with a form to take to the police but as u may be applying in Aus i am unsure if u can still get this form from the VFS

[simple1]

@Nightwatch: So long as your partner does not have the 'no further stay' condition on the visitor visa, once you're in Oz go online to create an Immi Account and apply for partner visa. There is no need to request a bridging visa as it is automatically provisioned, if the application is accepted. With this facility you will need to quote the visitor visa details and so on and clearly spells out the doco requirements needed to support the application. Note you will need access to a scanner in order to upload any documents. As a part of the process it informs how to arrange a medical from an approved Immigration service provider.

By way of backgound reading download the booklet at http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1127.pdf

Imi account info at http://www.immi.gov.au/Services/Pages/immiaccount.aspx You can at any time set up an Immi Account to ascertain DIBP requirements. Its a tedious process but easy to follow the guidance provided

[David48]

With this comment, I'm asking and not informing as I'm not 100% sure.

If Northpoint's Partner, well, anyone's Partner actually applies for a Tourist Visa and is successful but has the 8503 “no further stay” condition imposed then that practicually precludes any application for a Partner Visa in Australia?

[Will27]

With this comment, I'm asking and not informing as I'm not 100% sure.

If Northpoint's Partner, well, anyone's Partner actually applies for a Tourist Visa and is successful but has the 8503 “no further stay” condition imposed then that practicually precludes any application for a Partner Visa in Australia?

If you mean lodging onshore in Australia, yes.

You would have to get 8503 waived which ain't easy.

If you mean the applicant gets granted a tourist visa with 8503,

she can still apply for the partner visa offshore.

[David48]

When I was researching the above, I came across this ...

Waiver of 8503 Condition due to Compelling and Compassionate Circumstances

April 24, 2014 – Unreported Case

The Applicant sought a waiver of the 8503 “no further stay” condition in order to lodge a substantive visa application onshore. The Applicant wished to lodge an 820 Partner Visa application on the grounds of her de facto relationship with a permanent resident in Australia.

The request to waive the 8503 “no further stay” condition was approved. This case demonstrates that compelling and compassionate circumstances, such as the existence of a child, can enable a waiver of an 8053 condition.

All of that one is here

Now, remember, this comes from a Lawyers page, so it is, in fact, de-facto advertising.

I wonder sometimes if people get the 8503 imposed because of the rogues like this ... http://www.immigrationsolutions.com.au/case/Second-Waiver-Request-for-the-8503-Condition-1375149107/

Arrived on a single entry tourist visa and applied on 4 seperate occassions to get that lifted (imagine the applicants bill ... ) ... finally got that raised because ... wait for it ... the applicant was 'depressed'.

Please, I don't want to take away from the OP's question, just wanted to share a little of what I found when researching it.

[Will27]

When I was researching the above, I came across this ...

Waiver of 8503 Condition due to Compelling and Compassionate Circumstances

April 24, 2014 – Unreported Case

The Applicant sought a waiver of the 8503 “no further stay” condition in order to lodge a substantive visa application onshore. The Applicant wished to lodge an 820 Partner Visa application on the grounds of her de facto relationship with a permanent resident in Australia.

The request to waive the 8503 “no further stay” condition was approved. This case demonstrates that compelling and compassionate circumstances, such as the existence of a child, can enable a waiver of an 8053 condition.

All of that one is here

Now, remember, this comes from a Lawyers page, so it is, in fact, de-facto advertising.

I wonder sometimes if people get the 8503 imposed because of the rogues like this ... http://www.immigrationsolutions.com.au/case/Second-Waiver-Request-for-the-8503-Condition-1375149107/

Arrived on a single entry tourist visa and applied on 4 seperate occassions to get that lifted (imagine the applicants bill ... ) ... finally got that raised because ... wait for it ... the applicant was 'depressed'.

Please, I don't want to take away from the OP's question, just wanted to share a little of what I found when researching it.

The waiver request still has to considered by an officer, usually a manager so bad decisions can/are made.

It's surprising how many get waived if you engage a lawyer or it gets "political".

If Aussie Joe walks in with his wife beater and thongs on and lodges a waiver request, you can almost guarantee a refusal.

On reading both of those waivers, if you look at fact sheet 52B where it says

"since the person was granted the visa that was subject to the condition, compelling and compassionate circumstances have developed",

I think they both should've been refused. I cannot see that anything material has changed since the visa grant.

The trouble is, once you start mentioning pregnancy, discrimination, depression and refugee's, quite often the person making the

decision takes the easy way out and grants the waiver. Wrongly IMO.

So depending on what office and what officer you get, the decision can be different.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Will27

[Old Croc]

The existence of a child would not in itself prove compelling and compassionate circumstances, it usually requires much more than this, although who knows what could happen in review.

The OP has been given the full picture by several posters.

His lady has a one year multiple visa which theoretically could allow her an accumulated stay in Australia of nearly 15 months, as long as an Immigration Inspector at an airport doesn't decide she is not genuine. She doesn't have the 8503 condition so she can apply for residence onshore and would be granted a BVA with the application. This would cancel the tourist visa as you can't hold two valid visas at one time. If she needs to travel during the processing period she would need to apply for a BVB to return to Australia.

[Old Croc]

When I was researching the above, I came across this ...

Waiver of 8503 Condition due to Compelling and Compassionate Circumstances

April 24, 2014 Unreported Case

The Applicant sought a waiver of the 8503 no further stay condition in order to lodge a substantive visa application onshore. The Applicant wished to lodge an 820 Partner Visa application on the grounds of her de facto relationship with a permanent resident in Australia.

The request to waive the 8503 no further stay condition was approved. This case demonstrates that compelling and compassionate circumstances, such as the existence of a child, can enable a waiver of an 8053 condition.

All of that one is here

Now, remember, this comes from a Lawyers page, so it is, in fact, de-facto advertising.

I wonder sometimes if people get the 8503 imposed because of the rogues like this ... http://www.immigrationsolutions.com.au/case/Second-Waiver-Request-for-the-8503-Condition-1375149107/

Arrived on a single entry tourist visa and applied on 4 seperate occassions to get that lifted (imagine the applicants bill ... ) ... finally got that raised because ... wait for it ... the applicant was 'depressed'.

Please, I don't want to take away from the OP's question, just wanted to share a little of what I found when researching it.

The waiver request still has to considered by an officer, usually a manager so bad decisions can/are made.

It's surprising how many get waived if you engage a lawyer or it gets "political".

If Aussie Joe walks in with his wife beater and thongs on and lodges a waiver request, you can almost guarantee a refusal.

On reading both of those waivers, if you look at fact sheet 52B where it says

"since the person was granted the visa that was subject to the condition, compelling and compassionate circumstances have developed",

I think they both should've been refused. I cannot see that anything material has changed since the visa grant.

The trouble is, once you start mentioning pregnancy, discrimination, depression and refugee's, quite often the person making the

decision takes the easy way out and grants the waiver. Wrongly IMO.

So depending on what office and what officer you get, the decision can be different.

Back in the day, I refused a number of waiver requests, so I guess I made bad decisions?

As you stated, there has to be compelling and compassionate CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES for a waiver to be granted.

Fyi, lawyers don't intimidate Immigration officers, I've locked horns with many of this scum. Good lawyers don't work Immigration cases.

Review boards generally are the ones to make the soft decisions to overturn.

[David48]

The trouble is, once you start mentioning pregnancy, discrimination, depression and refugee's, quite often the person making the

decision takes the easy way out and grants the waiver. Wrongly IMO.

So depending on what office and what officer you get, the decision can be different.

Back in the day, I refused a number of waiver requests, so I guess I made bad decisions?

As you stated, there has to be compelling and compassionate CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES for a waiver to be granted.

Fyi, lawyers don't intimidate Immigration officers, I've locked horns with many of this scum. Good lawyers don't work Immigration cases.

Review boards generally are the ones to make the soft decisions to overturn.

Mate, Will isn't having a go at you.

We both respect the difficult job you used to have to do.

Indeed, truth be know, we lament the likes of you leaving the service ...

[Thanet]

3 months for each visit. My wife did it a couple of years ago.

Thanks for your reply. It was the reply I was hoping for.

BTW I just noticed I made a mistake when I typed Visa Grant Date 22.May 2015. It should have said 22.May 2014. Last date to Arrive is 22.May 2015. I will now have to rethink our itinerary for the next 12 months. We were planning to apply for a permanent residency visa later this year. I don't know if that is possible with her tourist visa expiring in May next year.

If you apply for PR, the tourist visa will still be valid until a decision is made on the PR application. Any substantive visa like PR, once granted, will cancel a visitor visa.

[Old Croc]

The trouble is, once you start mentioning pregnancy, discrimination, depression and refugee's, quite often the person making the

decision takes the easy way out and grants the waiver. Wrongly IMO.

So depending on what office and what officer you get, the decision can be different.

Back in the day, I refused a number of waiver requests, so I guess I made bad decisions?

As you stated, there has to be compelling and compassionate CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES for a waiver to be granted.

Fyi, lawyers don't intimidate Immigration officers, I've locked horns with many of this scum. Good lawyers don't work Immigration cases.

Review boards generally are the ones to make the soft decisions to overturn.

Mate, Will isn't having a go at you.

We both respect the difficult job you used to have to do.

Indeed, truth be know, we lament the likes of you leaving the service ...

I should have used an emoticon after that first line to show I was just being facetious, I wasn't upset.

It's all long in the past, apologies to Will if he thought I had a problem.

[Will27]

The trouble is, once you start mentioning pregnancy, discrimination, depression and refugee's, quite often the person making the

decision takes the easy way out and grants the waiver. Wrongly IMO.

So depending on what office and what officer you get, the decision can be different.

Back in the day, I refused a number of waiver requests, so I guess I made bad decisions?

As you stated, there has to be compelling and compassionate CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES for a waiver to be granted.

Fyi, lawyers don't intimidate Immigration officers, I've locked horns with many of this scum. Good lawyers don't work Immigration cases.

Review boards generally are the ones to make the soft decisions to overturn.

Mate, Will isn't having a go at you.

We both respect the difficult job you used to have to do.

Indeed, truth be know, we lament the likes of you leaving the service ...

I should have used an emoticon after that first line to show I was just being facetious, I wasn't upset.

It's all long in the past, apologies to Will if he thought I had a problem.

Never a problem mate.

Especially when you said you refused the requests

[ozsamurai]

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Mate, my knowledge is that your partner can travel to Australia multiple times during that 12 month period.

Each stay is limited to a maximum of a 3 month duration.

Theoretically your partner could stay for 3 days, do a visa run to Thailand and return the next day and ask to be readmitted.

But remember that a Visa doesn't guarantee entry into the country, so if your partner did a couple of Visa Runs back to back, it may raise an eyebrow at the Immigration Desk.

One piece of good news is that, if your partner arrives before the end of the Visa, she would be allowed to stay a further 3 months ... effectively making it a Visa allowing a 15 month potential stay.

As for the other issue, think carefully where you want to apply for the 'permanent residency visa' (assuming you mean a Partner Visa).

Costs about AUD $1,000 less if applied for in Thailand.

Can be done on-line now (apparently) though I've not read yet a review of someone who has done it.

We just submitted my gf's Partner Visa in Thailand earlier this month.

Currently doing the Partner Visa online with the ImmiAccount, cost is $3085. Will let you know how it turns out.... I hope it doesn't take 10-12 months to process, we don't have that kind of time.

Oz

[Northpoint]

Hi all,

When I applied for a tourist visa for my de facto I was hoping to get another tourist visa with for 3 months with the usual No Further Stay attached. I was told by a few people (not board members) that trying to get a fourth tourist visa would be pushing my luck.

To our surprise we to get a multiple entry visa for one year. My first question to the board members was, what the multiple visa allowed us to do. I got some really good and encouraging replies from the many board members replying to this thread.

I have not have time to let it all think in and don't really know what approach we will take to get her partner visa. One thing is for sure . We have been together in a monogamous relationship for a very long time and it will continue to do so..

We have a condo and a car in Thailand via and in Australia.Living in Australia is a far better alternative as we are concerned. We can always visit family (hers) and mutual friends later, If we are allowed to live together in Australia permanently together.

I booked a flight with Jetstar early in July and we will return late September. I am not sure if the best option will be to apply for a bridging visa in Australia on our next trip, or if we should return in September and apply for the partner visa then.

i will probably ask lots of more questions to the kind members of this board within the next few weeks. Thanks to all the members with their invaluable replies.