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Has Australian partner visa rule changed ?

skippybangkok
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skippybangkok Platinum Member

skippybangkok

Posted
Posted

Married to the mrs for a long time with one child who has an oz passport as I do.

Problem is that we happily reside in Thailand with the occasional holiday to visit family in oz, and that's where the fun starts - freaking visas. Every year we have to go through the same rigmarole

Strangely, We have nothing to do with the USA, it she can get a 10 year tourist visa.

Looking on the oz govt web site, I don't see any more requirement for a 2 years having to live in oz to get visa..

So question,.... can we pay the $6000+ partner visa once and for all, and be done with future visa apps

Really annoying for married couples and a waste of resources on the govt side

Thanks

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pwm Apprentice Member

pwm

Posted
Posted

There's never been a rule requiring you to live in Australia for 2 years to get a partner visa. Perhaps you're confused about the process for that visa to transition from provisional to permanent status (which is about 2 years, but does not require you to reside in the country)?

 

In fact, apart from the need to visit the country to activate the visa within the first year after it being granted, there's no hard requirement to live in Australia at all. After 5 years of being a partner visa being granted (and every 5 years after that), your spouse would however need to apply for a resident return visa if she has not obtained citizenship and wishes to leave and return to Australia.

 

So in short, yes - you can and probably should apply for a partner visa; it'll cost more and take longer, but once done it's largely hassle free for the type of visits you've described.

skippybangkok Platinum Member

skippybangkok

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the feed back. I am sure I chatted about this on TV many many years back, and the understanding was the only way for a spouse was to live in Oz to get a PR. ( but again , thats not a partner visa ). I am not even sure that existed then. 

 

... anyway, does not matter, and thanks for the update. I will get a Normal visitor visa multi entry this round, and start applying for partner visa soon. Thanks 

 

 

patongphil Gold Member

patongphil

Posted
Posted (edited)

Ha ha we applied just on 2 months ago and were told current processing times for partner visa are 15 months. Cannot for the life of me figure how something should take so long and cost so much but they have us by the b*lls and don't they just love twisting them when they can.

Edited by patongphil
dbrenn Gold Member

dbrenn

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, pwm said:

There's never been a rule requiring you to live in Australia for 2 years to get a partner visa. Perhaps you're confused about the process for that visa to transition from provisional to permanent status (which is about 2 years, but does not require you to reside in the country)?

 

In fact, apart from the need to visit the country to activate the visa within the first year after it being granted, there's no hard requirement to live in Australia at all. After 5 years of being a partner visa being granted (and every 5 years after that), your spouse would however need to apply for a resident return visa if she has not obtained citizenship and wishes to leave and return to Australia.

 

So in short, yes - you can and probably should apply for a partner visa; it'll cost more and take longer, but once done it's largely hassle free for the type of visits you've described.

This wouldn't work. A condition of the five year resident return visa is that the applicant must have been physically present in Australia for at least two of the preceeding five years. 

skippybangkok Platinum Member

skippybangkok

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This wouldn't work. A condition of the five year resident return visa is that the applicant must have been physically present in Australia for at least two of the preceeding five years. 


Thanks - where did you find that requirement ? I was looking and can't find it in partner visa


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KamnanT Advanced Member

KamnanT

Posted
Posted

Look under "Resident Return Visas" on the Australian Immigration website (http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/155-).  Assuming you applied for a Partner Visa and were successful, your wife would have to travel to Australia within 12 months.  Subsequently, any time she wished to leave Australia and return without losing her resident status, she would need a Resident Return Visa (RRV).  Her initial partner visa would include a 5 year RRV.  At the end of the 5 years, she would need to apply for another RRV.  If she had not been in Australia for at least 2 of the previous 5 years, she would not be eligible for a 5 year RRV.  She might qualify for a 1 year RRV if she can demonstrate substantial ongoing ties to Australia.

 

My wife got her permanent status in 1995.  We left Australia in 1997 and have been living and working in Europe, Japan and SEA since then.  She obtained a 5 year RRV in  each of 1999, 2004 and 2009 but the rules were tightened shortly thereafter and she has been on 1 year RRVs ever since.  Oh, and each RRV costs A$360 (price goes up A$20-A$30 each year).  The process is done entirely online.  But, if she let her PR lapse, we would have to stump up the almost A$7,000 to re-establish her residency should we wish to return to live in Australia in the future.

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pwm Apprentice Member

pwm

Posted
Posted

I was not aware of the change to the RRV conditions, so thanks very much @dbrenn and @KamnanTfor drawing my attention to that information!

 

I'm in a somewhat similar situation, although my wife's initial partner visa (with its 5 year travel/return entitlement) lasts until 2018, so I have not yet had to go through the RRV process. Annoying and frustrating that they've reduced this to 1 year, but having been warned, I guess I'll be doing that every year after 2018 until we return to Australia permanently. Possibly even enough of a change to make me consider returning sooner than I had planned, in order for her to gain citizenship and finally be done with this nonsense...

KamnanT Advanced Member

KamnanT

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, pwm said:

I was not aware of the change to the RRV conditions, so thanks very much @dbrenn and @KamnanTfor drawing my attention to that information!

 

I'm in a somewhat similar situation, although my wife's initial partner visa (with its 5 year travel/return entitlement) lasts until 2018, so I have not yet had to go through the RRV process. Annoying and frustrating that they've reduced this to 1 year, but having been warned, I guess I'll be doing that every year after 2018 until we return to Australia permanently. Possibly even enough of a change to make me consider returning sooner than I had planned, in order for her to gain citizenship and finally be done with this nonsense...

 

Just to clarify, your wife's initial partner visa includes a 5 year RRV, so you don't have to apply for another until that expires in 2018.  If you return to Australia before it expires, then you don't need to deal with an RRV application...unless she needs to leave Australia again.  In that case, having not spent 2 of the previous 5 years in Australia, she would only qualify for the 1 year RRV.  After 2 years in Oz, she would once again be eligible for the 5 year version.

kiwiaussie Senior Member

kiwiaussie

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, KamnanT said:

Look under "Resident Return Visas" on the Australian Immigration website (http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/155-).  Assuming you applied for a Partner Visa and were successful, your wife would have to travel to Australia within 12 months.  Subsequently, any time she wished to leave Australia and return without losing her resident status, she would need a Resident Return Visa (RRV).  Her initial partner visa would include a 5 year RRV.  At the end of the 5 years, she would need to apply for another RRV.  If she had not been in Australia for at least 2 of the previous 5 years, she would not be eligible for a 5 year RRV.  She might qualify for a 1 year RRV if she can demonstrate substantial ongoing ties to Australia.

 

My wife got her permanent status in 1995.  We left Australia in 1997 and have been living and working in Europe, Japan and SEA since then.  She obtained a 5 year RRV in  each of 1999, 2004 and 2009 but the rules were tightened shortly thereafter and she has been on 1 year RRVs ever since.  Oh, and each RRV costs A$360 (price goes up A$20-A$30 each year).  The process is done entirely online.  But, if she let her PR lapse, we would have to stump up the almost A$7,000 to re-establish her residency should we wish to return to live in Australia in the future.

 

The last bit isn't correct. My wife's PR lapsed between 1991 and 2014. There is a facilty to return it so long as you can prove links to Australia and a reason why you had to leave Australia. There a number of categories to do this, one being family links. The reasons for leaving a very generous - education, ongoing work, spouse moving overseas. We showed family links (children, property, super).

 

Was granted in an afternoon (applied at 11.30am, email came through at 3pm confirming). Cost was $300 - odd. We provided a folio of evidence, but all they really wanted to see was the family links.

 

Now we only get the RRV if we are going back to OZ for a trip. We've let it lapse for now as she hasn't been back for 2 years.

 

Basis of this process was a high court case in 2012 where an Italian man, PR, left OZ for a dozen years for family reasons and then wanted to come back. The court agreed that he had the right return based on ongoing family links and a relatioship to OZ.

 

No need now to stump up the whole $7000 malarky and reapply for PR. You can go straight to RRV.

Edited by kiwiaussie
skippybangkok Platinum Member

skippybangkok

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Look under "Resident Return Visas" on the Australian Immigration website (http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/155-).  Assuming you applied for a Partner Visa and were successful, your wife would have to travel to Australia within 12 months.  Subsequently, any time she wished to leave Australia and return without losing her resident status, she would need a Resident Return Visa (RRV).  Her initial partner visa would include a 5 year RRV.  At the end of the 5 years, she would need to apply for another RRV.  If she had not been in Australia for at least 2 of the previous 5 years, she would not be eligible for a 5 year RRV.  She might qualify for a 1 year RRV if she can demonstrate substantial ongoing ties to Australia.

 

My wife got her permanent status in 1995.  We left Australia in 1997 and have been living and working in Europe, Japan and SEA since then.  She obtained a 5 year RRV in  each of 1999, 2004 and 2009 but the rules were tightened shortly thereafter and she has been on 1 year RRVs ever since.  Oh, and each RRV costs A$360 (price goes up A$20-A$30 each year).  The process is done entirely online.  But, if she let her PR lapse, we would have to stump up the almost A$7,000 to re-establish her residency should we wish to return to live in Australia in the future.

Thanks - helpful. At this point , I can't see us staying in oz more than a few weeks per year. Which means after year 5 she might get 1 more year RRV = 6 years total.

So what happens in year 7 ?

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kiwiaussie Senior Member

kiwiaussie

Posted
Posted
50 minutes ago, skippybangkok said:

Thanks - helpful. At this point , I can't see us staying in oz more than a few weeks per year. Which means after year 5 she might get 1 more year RRV = 6 years total.

So what happens in year 7 ?

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You'd just apply for a one year RRV online and cough up the fee, which is $360 odd at the moment. 

Will27 Diamond Member

Will27

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, skippybangkok said:


Ouch.


Assume can do every year ?


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Can can apply but not guaranteed to get one.

I agree with KamnanT in post 9.

 

It's going to cost you over $7000 for the partner application with all of the other incidentals included

and a heap of time and effort for a visa which you say will only be used occasionally.

 

Really can't beat a tourist visa for price and ease for your purpose.

Can apply online now as well.

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