HI BB
In your shoes, I would do exactly as Gizmo sugests. The "de facto" visa is the same one as Gizmo's spouse visa - ie the onshore subclass 820/801 vis, which is here:
Spouse Visa: Onshore Temporary and Permanent (Subclasses 820 and 801)
Partner Migration Booklet
Once you are in Oz, make enquiries of an intelligent onshore Migration Agent. It is hopeless trying to ask the DIAC Helpdesk anything because they usually provide unreliable, inaccurate answers.
Quote:
My other question is - does anyone know.... if they deam this not to be enough evidence will they just wait until we fulfil the 12 months and then grant the visa? in which case will they allow me to travel to OZ in August for a couple of months on my current ETA and then come back to the uk and hopefully get the visa granted then.
|
No they wouldn't. They would probably refuse the visa instead because it is a time-of-application requirement that whatever the prattle about the relationship is must be met.
However, what you could do in that situation would be to apply for a 6 month subclass 676 tourist visa. You can apply for this onshore, though they would impose Condition 8503 on it. Please see here:
Tourists - Visitors - Visas & Immigration
Tourist Visa (Subclass 676)
Australian Immigration Fact Sheet 52c. Imposition of Visa Condition 8503 - "No Further Stay"
Condition 8503 is a pain but not a huge one. It merely involves a bit of travelling to Bali, Singapore or Auckland, whereever is nearest. You go there for a couple of weeks whilst an application for an offshore De facto visa is lodged on your behalf by a Registered Migration Agent in Oz.
Whilst you are offshore, you make an on-line application for a 6-month stay on Oz on a subclass 676 tourist visa, as above. Back you go to Oz using that. When they are ready to grant the Spouse visa, you go offshore again for about 5 days.
Best wishes
Gill