wellieboots

The visa number is 309/100. Katie I fail to see why the OP is asking questions which need to be asked of an RMA. If he qualifies for a de facto partner visa, this is clearly the least complex route. I have made clear that my advice applies if they qualify as de facto.

I don't remember Form 80 even asking for employer details and I certainly didn't get any calls or neither did anyone else named on my Form 80. I wouldn't worry about it.

Front loading is not as encouraged as it used to be, as processing times are now longer, and therefore give you considerably less time from visa grant until your 12 months is up for activation (12 months from date of police check or medical, whichever is earlier). I guess ultimately it is up to you, but the timing is definitely something you need to consider. I believe you also now need a health reference number from your CO in order to book a medical, so that they can match you up on the system, so you may in fact now not be able to have meds done in advance of having a CO. You could call some panel doctors and ask them.

Not sure why you are asking about marriage. If you have evidence of having lived together for 12 months, you do not need to get married, either here or there, or any time, it makes no difference as you can get the partner visa on defacto grounds. Don't get married unless you want to, it has nothing to do with the visa. If you qualify for partner visa, I would take that route no question, because it is quicker and cheaper than going through skills assessments, sponsorships, and all those other things. And if you have time to lodge offshore because you don't need to go for almost a year, it is a no brainer - the offshore visa is quicker and cheaper than the onshore version. Good luck!

Just a piece of advice if you are going to live apart for a period of time (after she returns to Oz). Keep as much evidence as you can (phone records, Skype, emails, whatever you'll have) to show how you maintain your relationship during that time. And if you can, get your application in before then so that you are living together when it is lodged. Good luck!

You probably don't want to go for the non-contributory parent visa, given that the waiting time for that is about 15 years or so. The contributory visa is much more expensive, but has a shorter waiting time. There is an excellent "sticky" thread at the top of the migration issues forum on parent visas where lots of people have lots of experience of the various different options. I suggest you ask there for some help with options

Yes of course, that's fine.The fact that she lives with you provides evidence that you are in a genuine relationship, they almost expect with offshore visa applications that the Australian will also be offshore as they are living with the applicant. She still needs to provide evidence of earnings but that can be from wherever she lives at the moment, and you may want to mention in your personal statements what type of work you both plan to do in Oz. Assurance of support no longer applies to partner visas so that will definitely not be required. However, the processing time for an offshore spouse visa is longer than 5 months, so unfortunately you haven't allowed enough time to get your visa through in time to go with her in March if that's what you were hoping. Read the Partner migration booklet, it gives lots of information of what type of evidence to include in your application. Good luck!

Also remember that tax residency and visa residency are two different things

Yep, again - answer what you've been asked. Send them the evidence of funds and your itinerary, your bank statement and travel itinerary is all they are after (and maybe the statement that your parents will be supporting you, given that it's a 12 month visa). Good luck!

All the best with it! I'm sitting here overdue and waiting for our bubba, and I can't imagine what it would be like having to do that without my DH in the same house, let alone the same side of the world, so of course I can understand you desperately want to be here. I am really not sure what the processing time is for the 676 but as I say, I am sure it won't be long and you can all be together. Of course it is a stressful time, but in a few weeks it will all look a lot clearer. And as I say, when you get to the border just answer the questions honestly - they are not trying to catch you out and all they really care about is you working to support yourself, and you have enough evidence that that will not be the case - you will have somewhere to stay, a return ticket, and funds in the bank. So if they do ask questions, you have an answer which should satisfy them. Take care

I don't know how long tourist visas take to process, but it's only been 4 days so I wouldn't stress yet! Provided that you have a return ticket and sufficient funds at the time you enter the country, I can't really see an issue but none of us can predict that. You might get an officer who asks a few questions, you might get one who is quite relaxed, it's the luck of the draw, but as long as you don't plan to work that would be their main concern. But I agree with katie in that I wouldn't go in there all guns blazing and defensive - I will not overstay, I will not overstay, as that will draw attention to yourself. Just answer the questions they ask. Are your longer term plans to migrate eventually or do you plan to spend some time with your partner and child and then go back to the UK again?

Don't understand - if your partner is here on a defacto visa, then you as her partner must be a PR or citizen? What type of visa are each of you on - I don't think your partner is on a defacto as you've said, so please clarify and people will be able to help you.

People with dependents are not eligible for WHV, so once your baby was born you were in breach of your visa and it could have been cancelled. In any case, are you still on your WHV now or have you moved to bridging yet? In case of the financial situation, you will need to have addressed this in your application - how you are going to support yourselves, where you are living, etc. You are quite right - your partner does have sponsorship obligations but there have been examples of SAHPs acting as sponsors (I think generally where the migrant partner intends to work) so it can work, your application should have addressed what type of work you plan to get to support your family once your visa is granted. Yes, you are right that partner visas are no longer subject to AOS. If I were you, I would wait until police check and meds are requested - that seems to be the way it works these days. I also believe that you can't do your meds without a reference number from your CO and you don't seem to have been allocated a CO at this point. No, there is no such thing as priority processing, you will just need to wait your turn in the queue. You are onshore in Australia with your partner and baby so there are no extenuating circumstances or travel plans that you may need to go and join them or anything like that. Good luck!

Ciska, I think what George means is that your CO for your PMV does not make the decision on your tourist visa, only takes note of what dates you intend to be in Australia so that he can ensure that your PMV is not granted during that time. You will still need to apply for and be granted a tourist visa, and your CO will not be involved in that decision.

If you don't have bills do you have other financial committments - transfers between each other's accounts, for example? You can also draw up wills, make sure you're named on each others insurance, super etc. You may qualify for de facto but they may be a bit funny about the fact that you've lived apart for the most recent 12 months. You could potentially get around that by showing evidence of why you've been apart and how you've kept in contact etc. It is also a good point though that the standard of proof required for a defacto being on your visa application is not as strict as an actual partner visa. So if you can get together appropriate financial/social evidence, you could add your partner to your PR application when you lodge it and then you're both on the same visa at the same time, without needing to go through two separate processes. Not sure what you mean about not being able to lodge a partner visa while on the WHV? As long as you lodge the partner visa before the WHV expires, your girlfriend would go on to a bridging visa until the partner visa could be granted, the important thing is to get it lodged, it doesn't need to be processed. Good luck!

As we've already advised you cannot be accompanied by dependents while you are on a WHV. Doesn't matter if they are on a "little holiday", if they are in the country with you at the same time as you are on your WHV, you become ineligible for your WHV and it can be cancelled.

If you have dependents accompanying you you are not eligible for a WHV. So, no, you can't go on a WHV and take your family with you on tourist visas - it would make your WHV invalid

So I take it then that the kids are yours rather than you and your partner's, and you are not entitled to the defacto spouse visa as suggested by diana? As per my earlier response, you can apply for a tourist visa once your PMV is lodged, just keep your CO advised of your plans. if you go on a tourist visa having lodged your PMV application, assuming you can have an evisitor visa, it is valid for a year, with maximum trips of 3 months at a time. So it doesn't expire as such, but you need to leave and re-enter every 3 months. The other thing to remember is that because the PMV is an offshore visa, you and the kids need to take a quick overseas trip (NZ/Bali, whatever) when your CO tells you that the visa is ready to be granted, as he can't grant it while you are in Oz. Good luck!

To qualify for a partner visa (820 if you are applying within Australia, not 309) you need to either be married or have been in a defacto spouse relationship. If applying on defacto grounds, that defacto relationship needs to have been ongoing for 12 months minimum (there are certain very limited exceptions to this). Do you qualify for this? Given that you still need to apply for PR and therefore couldn't sponsor anyway until that is done, it would seem a real pity for your girlfriend to take steps that would give up or prolong her journey towards NZ citizenship given how close she is. When do you think you would have your PR sorted out?

I don't know whether it's required, but I would suggest that is it is best for you to have birth certificates, passports, etc in the same names otherwise it could get very confusing. I know that if you just get a new passport number (in the same name) all you have to do is fill in a change of details form for DIAC (I think it is 929 but can't swear to that). I am not sure if an actual change of name is more complicated, but you could have a look at the form and see if it has space for you to change the name - you would obviously need to back it up with the updated birth certs and new passports. If you've already changed the birth certs, then all that's left is to apply for replacement passports (with Check and Send at the Post Office you can get those within 2-3 weeks) then update DIAC with the new passport numbers once you have them. So plenty of time, provided that DIAC doesn't throw up a roadblock in terms of the change of name, the passport number change in itself will not be an issue and will be a very quick change. I would imagine you would have no problems with the name change because people change their names frequently, for marriage, deed poll or whatever other reason. Good luck! Good luck!

Are you suggesting that you get married and then apply for a spouse visa? You would need to check out the requirements in your state in terms of registering a marriage - some countries require you to have a specific type of visa in order to come in and get married - as far as I'm aware that's not the case in Oz but I would check before you look into this strategy. You mention children - are these your children from a previous relationship or are you both the parents? If you get a visitor visa, and then get married (assuming you can), you could then lodge an application for an onshore spouse visa. Then, once your tourist visa ran out, you would automatically be granted bridging visa A to stay in the country while your visa was processed. Be aware though that your bridging visa would have the same conditions as the visa you enter on (ie no work if you have a tourist visa). Last I heard, onshore partner visas were taking over 12 months to process, that's a long time to not be able to work. (You can apply for the work restrictions to be lifted but it's not automatic, you need to prove financial hardship). Another issue is that once you are on BVA, you can't leave the country until your main visa is processed. For that, you need a Bridging Visa B, which is only granted in exceptional circumstances such as death in the family etc. So it also depends on how likely you are to want to or need to leave Oz in the year or so after you get here. The other risk obviously is that immigration do not believe you are a genuine tourist when you arrive. Technically they can turn you around at the border but plenty of people seem to come onshore on a tourist visa and then lodge a spouse visa application afterwards, so provided you appear to be a genuine tourist and don't come with work references etc you will probably be fine but you need to be aware of it.

Not sure what you mean by any other issues that will need to be completed? If you mean evidence to be provided, you should already have provided that with your application, and your CO will let you know if he needs anything else. If you have provided a reasonable amount of evidence you should find that you have no problems. There's also the requirement to get married within 9 months of being granted obviously, and then you will need to complete and lodge your partner visa application once you are married (an even more substantial fee ). Once you lodge your partner visa, you are then entitled to a Medicare card. You will need to apply for a tax file number before you can work, and obviously bring along your visa letter/email to any recruiters etc. Some of them don't let you past reception without photocopying your passport! And these days, most visas are electronic and they don't give you stickers - if that is the case, that's why you need your grant letter just to be sure. Recruiters in my experience work in pretty much the same way as the UK. Some of them are a bit funny about temp visas - my advice would be to focus on the positive - make sure they understand that you don't need sponsorship, you are on a "pathway" to a permanent visa, it's just a formality etc. I found that helpful when I had the temp spouse visa and was dealing with agents/employers.

You need to advise your co of the pregnancy, and explain that your wife will not have her medicals until after the baby is born. Obviously, this will mean that the visa cannot be granted until after the birth. Are you a citizen or PR? If you are a citizen, the child is entitled to citizenship by descent if they are born overseas. If PR, your child is not an Australian citizen unless born in Australia and should be added to your wife's 309 application once "he" is born. He will then get PR at the same time as your wife. to be granted the baby bonus, you have to be an Australian resident. If your wife and child have no visa, then they cannot be resident in Australia and I don't think they would be eligible, but I am not 100% sure, it might depend on how quickly you move to Oz after the birth. You'd have to have a look at the Centrelink website.

Where did you get married? I'm thinking maybe the Church of England from what you've said? So you only have the fancy handwritten version which you actually signed on the day? I think you need to apply to the Births Deaths and Marriages at the council to get a "formal" certificate, I understand that is the process.

Do visit visas to Dubai last more than 12 months? How long were you there?