Hello, I am looking for some answers around the partner visa and wondered if anyone had a similar experience and could share with me!
Firstly, a little background! I am originally from the UK but spent 10 years in Sydney (2007-2017) and whilst there I got my Australian Citizenship so now I have both UK and AUS citizenship.
In 2018 I met my now fiance and in 2019 and 2021 we had two children. We have lived together since 2018, have joint bank account, mortgage etc. but we are not yet married and have not set a date to get married as yet.
We would like to relocate to Australia in 2027 - this is because my fiance has an older child who will turn 18 in 2027. We are not applying for a visa for this older child as he wants to stay in the UK with his Mum and possibly come over at a later stage on a working holiday visa.
We have been looking at the off-shore partner visa (309/100) for my fiance.
So my questions are:
1. My understanding is that I can apply for citizenship by decent for our two children and therefore they wont need a visa - is that correct?
2. Is the 309/100 visa the right one?!
3. As I would be my fiances sponsor - do I need to be in Australia whilst he applies? Or can we both remain in the UK whilst the application is processing and then travel as a family to Australia once granted.
4. Also, once the 309 visa is granted is there an expiry period by which time he must have entered Australia? As in if we apply now and get granted the visa in say 2025 or late 2024 , can we wait until 2027 to enter Australia or will the visa lapse?
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and for any advice given is much appreciated :)