I have a couple of questions regarding relocation to Australia
My wife is Australian and she is considering relocating to Perth W.A but I am having some difficulty in confirming the following, which I have been told
I don’t want to get in to personal circumstances but my job is holding me here at the moment from wanting to go and I just need to clear a few things up before I consider it
We have been married 3 years I understand we need to complete Forms 40sp and 47sp
which will allow me in to Australia for 2 years
Can that visa time be served in the UK, so to speak?
Do I need to travel to Australia to have that visa activated?
After that I believe you have to apply for a second visa, which will allow you to stay for 5 years?
Again, what are the constraints of this visa, do you have to spend all of the time on this visa in Oz or can it be sent in the UK?
After the 5-year visa, you can then apply for Australian Citizenship?
What would happen if you were on either the first visa or the second visa and you separated?
Would you have to return to the UK?
I would be extremely grateful if someone could help me out with these questions as it is causing me a bit of a headache at the moment
We have been married 3 years I understand we need to complete Forms 40sp and 47sp
which will allow me in to Australia for 2 years
Correct.
Quote:
Do I need to travel to Australia to have that visa activated?
Yes. You will need to travel to Oz within 12 months of the date of the medicals or the police check, according to which one has the earlier date on it. But a very short holiday in Oz will do for this purpose.
Quote:
Can that visa time be served in the UK, so to speak?
Yes, provided that both of you serve the time in the UK. The reason why this is important is because at the end of the two years' "probation" you will be required to prove that your relationship is still genuine and on-going. If DIAC get the idea that the two of you have effectively parted company as a couple, the upgrade to PR might well be refused.
Quote:
After that I believe you have to apply for a second visa....
You actually apply for the temporary and permanent visas at the same time, on the one form. After the temporary visa has subsisted for 2 years, DIAC will contact you with the documents needed to start the process for upgrading the temp visa to a Permanent Spouse visa.
Quote:
...which will allow you to stay for 5 years?
The permanent visa will permit you to remain in Australia indefinitely. The travel element of it - permitting you to come and go from Oz whenever you like and as often as you like - will be valid for 5 years from the date of the grant of the permanent visa. Not five years from the date when you first enter Oz using the permanent visa.
Quote:
Again, what are the constraints of this visa, do you have to spend all of the time on this visa in Oz or can it be sent in the UK?
During this 5 year period, if you want to preserve your right to travel freely to and from Oz for a turther 5 years, you will need to spend enough time in Oz to prove your eligibility for a 5 year Resident Return Visa. Please see here:
After the 5-year visa, you can then apply for Australian Citizenship?
The qualifying period for Citizenship is 4 years not five but the right to Citizenship is not automatic. You have to spend enough time living in Oz in order to qualify to apply for Citizenship. You would be applying for Citizenship by Conferral. Please see here:
What would happen if you were on either the first visa or the second visa and you separated? Would you have to return to the UK?
If you separate or divorce after you have obtained PR status, your PR would not be affected but unless you comply with the criteria for an RRV or you have become an Australian Citizen by then, your right to return to Oz would be compromised if not lost.
If you separate or divorce during the life of the temporary visa, the PR upgrade will not be granted unless there are exceptional circumstances. Please see here:
In any of those 3 scenarios the onus would be on you to demonstrate that there are compelling and compassionate grounds for permitting you to upgrade to PR. In any of the scenarios described above, demonstrating that you live in Australia and that you do not live anywhere else, have severed your ties with the UK etc etc would make your position very much stronger than would be the case if the facts show that you have not been living in Australia in any meaningful sense of the term anyway. In the latter circumstances, there is no reason to disturb the status quo in the UK. Australian Policy would be that your own interests and those of the Australian Government would not be best served by allowing you to move to Oz without your wife.
Hopefully your headache is no longer quite as bad as it was......
