If you come to Australia on a Prospective Marriage Visa Subclass , then you will need to marry your partner within nine months of your arrival. In order to be eligible for a permanent resident partner visa after you are married, your marriage ceremony must be conducted properly according to law and you must register your marriage. The following are steps to officially be married as recognised by the Australian government.
The Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen will act as the sponsor to the Prospective Marriage Visa Subclass 13 applicant. The sponsor is responsible, specifically financially responsible, for the applicant and any dependent family members. In terms of the application itself, there are a number of requirements that you will need to satisfy to qualify for visa grant. A central criterion in regard to marrying an Australian to get residency is whether your married relationship is in accordance with its meaning under the Migration provisions.
We are married, we have a marriage certificate and we had an official ceremony conducted. Is this not enough evidence to prove that we are married? No, not for a partner visa to meet visa grant requirements. A marriage which is recognised as being legally valid in Australia is only one criterion which needs to be satisfied for this purpose. You must also demonstrate that you and your spouse have a mutual commitment to a shared life as a married couple, to the exclusion of all others , that your relationship is genuine and continuing , and that you are not living separately and apart on a permanent basis.
The Department will assess whether your relationship meets the above by considering four key factors, namely, the financial and social aspects of your relationship, your household and your commitment to one another.
All the circumstances of your relationship will be examined and will guide the Department in determining the weight to be given to each of these four factors. In general, it is expected that a typical married relationship in Australia today is characterised by the following:.
This means that, in general, an application which is presented with strong supporting evidence covering all four aspects is more likely to be a relatively straight-forward one with less chances of being refused.
Having said that, the Department is not required to strictly apply these four aspects in deciding whether your married relationship is in accordance with the migration provisions. Immigration recognises the individuality and uniqueness of each relationship and that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
There is therefore a degree of flexibility in the way in which they are applied, provided that applicants supply appropriate supporting evidence and explanations to account for the absence of any one or more of these relationship aspects. The evidence that you and your spouse provide is therefore crucial in this regard. We recommend that you refer to our detailed guide on the evidentiary requirements for a partner visa application, which you can use to help prepare your own application and to ensure that you cover off on all relevant aspects, as required.
Be mindful that your application will likely face a greater level of enquiry and scrutiny by the Department and therefore a greater chance of a visa refusal if there is less or no clear evidence that your married relationship is in line with the relationship aspects discussed above.
Where Immigration has doubts about the genuineness of your married relationship, it can also request that you take part in an interview with a Departmental officer. The key point to remember is that evidence is key when it comes to applying for an Australian partner visa and to maximising your chances of achieving a successful result. And when the circumstances of your relationship do not fully support or exhibit the characteristics referred to above, provide clear and detailed explanations with appropriate supporting documentation to address this.
Failing to do so can result in an automatic refusal of your application. As your sponsor, your spouse will also need to apply for, and be granted, approval to sponsor you for the visa as part of this process. It is important to be aware that new requirements which will affect the sponsorship requirements are in the pipeline although no implementation date has yet been set for these changes to take effect; this could happen at any time going forward.
As a result of these changes, the sponsorship will be assessed as a separate process to the visa application and will require approval before the visa can be applied for. This is a significant change to how the program currently operates, under which both the sponsorship and visa applications can be lodged and approved at the same time. After the changes are implemented, applicants will no longer be able to control the application date of a partner visa application as they will need to wait until the sponsorship is approved.
Complications can arise for onshore partner visa applicants who are in Australia and whose current visa is due to expire soon. The question that arises is what happens if the Department takes longer to decide the sponsorship application and, during this period, your visa term runs out? In this scenario, you would need to apply for, and be granted, another visa to remain in Australia, or, depart the country and apply for the partner visa offshore.
Given the significant implications of these changes, we recommend that all potential partner visa applicants consider applying as soon as possible provided all relevant eligibility requirements are met. We can provide you with further information and advice in this regard, to ensure that you take this process forward in a way that works best for you. We recommend that you refer you to our articles on the Partner Visa Changes and Australia Partner Visa Changes , for a further detailed discussion of the above proposed changes, how they may impact the partner visa application process including the separation of the partner visa sponsor application , other changes that have since been implemented to the partner visa program and how a registered migration agent can assist you with your partner visa application.
Before we continue our discussion, be mindful that there are further requirements that apply to partner visas, apart from the key criteria explained above. These include health and character requirements, as well as more specific criteria that apply only in certain circumstances. It is very important, therefore, to ensure that you obtain as much information and advice as possible, which is tailored to your specific circumstances before you apply for a partner visa.
The rules are complex, and information is key when it comes to maximising your chances of the visa being granted. As mentioned, being informed about the latest and most comprehensive information in regard to the provisions governing the lodgement and grant of partner visa applications will give you and your spouse the best chance of achieving a positive outcome on your application.
To help you make this happen, we have prepared a series of detailed information guides which explain further the important aspects that apply to partner visa applications and what you and your spouse should be aware of when embarking on this process. To help you to anticipate any potential issues that may arise with your own application and tackle them head-on and thereby help to avoid your application being refused , please refer to our guides on the top reasons for partner visa applications being refused , what Departmental case officers look for when deciding partner visa applications and why partner visa applications are so tough.
We also recommend that you refer to our information guide which provides an overview of the partner visa and a further detailed guide for married couples. You can also complete our partner visa assessment tool to help you to assess whether your relationship is up to immigration standards.
The information contained in our guide on how to bring your wife to Australia on a genuine partner visa , which compares partner visas and explores visa requirements note it applies equally to all genders. This guide also contains some useful information about what the Department considers to be a legally valid marriage in Australia, which becomes relevant for couples who marry overseas.
Well a de facto relationship may also qualify for a partner visa, and ultimately, permanent residency in Australia. The application process is the same as for a married relationship, comprising of two stages as discussed above. But note that some of the eligibilty requirements are different. It is therefore important to confirm all relevant requirements that would apply in your own situation before proceeding to apply as a de facto couple. In addition to the above, you must also provide evidence to demonstrate that your de facto relationship has been in existence for at least 12 months immediately before lodgement of your application.
Note t here are exceptions to this minimum relationship requirement period. Additionally, both the applicant and sponsor must be at least 18 years of age to qualify as a de facto spouse relationship for this purpose.
If you intend to marry an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen, you may consider applying for a Subclass Prospective Marriage visa. Aged Dependant Relatives This visa allows elderly relatives to reunite with family in Australia. If you are an elderly person, you need to have been largely supported, financially, by your Australian relative for the last three years.
Your relative needs to be an Australian citizen or to have been a permanent resident in Australia for the last 2 years. Aged Parents Migration Visa This visa is for the parents of Australian citizens or legal residents to reunite with their children in Australia. If you have children living in Australia, you may be able to join your family and see your grandchildren growing up. To apply for this visa, one of you - if you are a couple - must be over the legal age for retirement in Australia.
Working-Age Parents Migration Visa This visa is for the working-age parents of Australian citizens or legal residents to reunite with their children in Australia. Orphan Child Migration This visa is for children under 18 who have no parent to care for them overseas, but they do have family in Australia. Their Australian relatives need to be grandparents, brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, or a niece or a nephew or the step equivalents. Adoption Migration Visa This visa is for citizens or legal residents of Australia to bring a child under 18 years of age into Australia for adoption.
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