paulhand

It is ... but the interpretation of the law is not always as black or white as we would like to hope it is; this is why the AAT overturns a large percentage of adverse primary decisions that are appealed and why many cases also get overturned at appeal in the Federal Courts.

It’s that easy...

Generally speaking, having an Aussie citizen partner is a very good start in terms of an RRV and an RRV would be the way forward in almost all instances, if you had previously held a partner visa.

You could do either and there are a number of considerations around both routes that you need to consider in the light of your circumstances and preferences. For onshore options have a read about the subclass 820 visa as the 309 is, as you say, only an offshore visa. The onshore option has a longer waiting period, but you are in Australia, so hard to advise without knowing what your preferred scenario would be.

This comes up a lot, some of your questions are answered in this thread and the ones linked in it:

I think you’d have got a quicker answer from Google, but: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/contact-us

No

Birth certificate - as passport does not give your birth name, it gives your current name.

You can generate your own HAP ID from your immi account for most applications without being asked.

The 491 regs are already published. As mentioned by @Ausvisitor, you generally have a year from the date of your medicals or police checks, whichever was completed earliest as a "must enter before" first entry date. The 491 visa itself lasts for 5 years but obviously if you want to turn it into a permanent 191 visa you need to arrive in time to meet the residence requirements for that visa.

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-processing-times/global-visa-processing-times#

I agree with Marisa and it does depend what sort of ‘assessment’ you have done. Skilled migration is extremely complex, particularly for clients who do not have an easy and obvious pathway. Unless an agent has all the information they need, they are necessarily going to be vague. There are hundreds of occupations on the lists, a number of types of visa, half a dozen States each with their own criteria for each visa class, a slew of different skills assessment authorities and so on. There are literally thousands of permutations and a “free” consultation can only go so far. You should be able to get a “no chance” or a “definitely worth further work” answer from an initial discussion, but there is a lot of work involved in a properly researched and comprehensive pathway advice and you will have to pay for that.

Good to know.

... on the plus side, this is the State where it’s a legal requirement that you call an electrician if you want to change a plug!

Yes it is pretty unusual, most are auto-granted and 90%+ are processed within 48 hours. If you have an agent they should be helping you with this?