If you are married, engaged or in a de-facto relationship with an Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand citizen living in Australia you may qualify for a partner visa so that you can join them and live in Australia.
The type of partner visa Australia that you can apply for will depend on the nature of your relationship, how long you have been in the relationship and where you are located when you make an application as follows:
• Prospective Marriage Visa – this applies to you if you are engaged to be married with an Australian citizen. It is a temporary visa that allows entry to Australia for 9 months with full work rights. You must, however, get married within this period and then submit an application for an 820/801 visa.
• Partner Visa – you can obtain a partner visa if you can show evidence that you are married, have been in a de-facto relationship for at least 12 months or have a formal registration of your de-facto relationship.
• Partners of New Zealand Citizens – if you are the partner of a New Zealand citizen that is living in Australia you can apply for a temporary partner visa Australia that lasts for 5 years.
The application process for partner visas operates in stages. A provisional visa will be granted if the length or your relationship is less than 3 years at the date of your application. After two years you will be required to make a second application which will lead to processing for your permanent residency. This requirement from the Department of Home Affairs is in place to ensure that people who are not in a genuine relationship do not receive this visa.
There are also additional relationship requirements that must be met. All partner applications are evaluated based on whether there is a genuine relationship between the applicant and Australian citizen. Applicants must show that they are in a committed, long-term relationship with the sponsor that is based on four criteria:
• Financial relationship aspects
• Living in the same household
• Social connections
• Nature and strength of the commitment.
Note that applicants for a visa that are prospective partners (that is, engaged), do not need to live in the same household at the time of application although if they do and can show any documentation to support this it will strengthen their case for a successful visa application.
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