Australian sponsor

[Haso]

Can an Australian citizen who is on an Aged part pension and who is on a retirement visa living in a defacto relationship and residing in Thailand be a sponsor for his defacto to obtain a spousal visa to come to live together in Australia.

[Rimmer]

Moved to Visa forum

[simple1]

In principal 'yes'. Remember your Age Pension will be reduced if you haven't already declared you are living with a Partner. Partner would receive Medicare benefits and able to work in Oz, but not Centrelink benefits until transitioned to Permanent Residency.

To assess if you & partner comply with relevant criteria prior to applying have a read of the following...

https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/1127.pdf

[louse1953]

In principal 'yes'. Remember your Age Pension will be reduced if you haven't already declared you are living with a Partner. Partner would receive Medicare benefits and able to work in Oz, but not Centrelink benefits until transitioned to Permanent Residency.

To assess if you & partner comply with relevant criteria prior to applying have a read of the following...

https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/1127.pdf

After you have married or declared your relationship,you personally would be $A100/ft down.If you come back to Thailand you will be on this money,minus extras.Your wife will receive nothing.

[Seizetheday]

Yes you need to watch out, I believe they reduce your single age pension to the married benefit.

A friend of mine in the Philipines looked at doing this, but decided against it when he learnt how much his pension was going to be reduced if she joined him in Australia.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Seizetheday

[uthaithanirules]

and theres the bond for spousal visa, up to $15,000

[simple1]

and theres the bond for spousal visa, up to $15,000

Incorrect. Although the law does state up to AUD3,500 can be requested as a bond deposit for a spousal visa, currently there is no requirement for a bond deposit, only a signed declaration of financial and accommodation support.

[hoffy66]

The other thing you need to look into is the cost of getting a visa for her, last time i heard that this cost is now about 8,000 aussie,

[simple1]

The other thing you need to look into is the cost of getting a visa for her, last time i heard that this cost is now about 8,000 aussie,

Currently AUD6865.00

https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa/Fees

[Haso]

Thanks to all of you for your valuable information and comments. Very interesting. To get to the point I needed to know 1. How Centrelink would treat me financially as I am on a part aged pension and I am presently treated as a single person. However I have been in a long standing defacto relationship in Thailand. (Perhaps one of the very few.) 2. Would centrelink be privy to all the information I declare on my Partner Application to Immigration. ( I reckon that they may exchange information on expats so I am reluctant to proceed too fast yet until I have more knowledge. Thanks again for your input. Any further information would be greatly appreciated. Haso.

[simple1]

DIBP, ATO and Centrelink share information. The Departments definitely use data mining / data matching technology. At a minimum I would assume once your partner arrives in Oz and obtains Medicare cover based upon your sponsorship, Centrelink will be become aware of the relationship. BTW as a part of the sponsor application it will be required to inform Immi you have been in a de-facto relationship for at least one year.

Edited April 1, 2016 by simple1

[Haso]

Thanks simple1.. I have been led to believe this would be the case... Now you have confirmed it.. Looks like my aged pension would be reduced from single to defacto/married once application was processed and in Australia. Bugger.