Applying for permanent residency and marriage breakup.

[Tamsalina]

Hi everyone

My family are in Australia on a 457 visa, and the company are going to sponsor us for PR, just about to start the process. Unfortunately, our marriage has completely disintegrated in the past few months. We are keeping it amicable and agreed we want to continue with the process for all of us to be able to stay here as the children are very settled and happy here. We are currently still in the same house but not sure how long we can continue with this arrangement, and we have no idea if we can even apply for PR together if we are not even living in the same house.

Does anyone have any knowledge of this sort of thing?!

Thanks

[Peach]

I would say you need to get some professional advice. If you aren't living together as a married couple, I would think it unlikely you could be a secondary applicant on the PR visa.

[Quinkla]

The textbook answer is that if the relationship breaks down when people are on a temporary visa, only the primary applicant may stay in Australia and dependents must either leave Australia or make arrangements for visas in their own right. If you apply for a PR visa as a family when the relationship has broken down, you are all making a fraudulent application and could all be refused and deported or, if the visa has been already been granted, could have all visas cancelled and be deported.

 

Having said that, are you completely certain that the marriage has broken down and is not just in a rocky situation? It might be sensible to wait a while before making a final decision.

[Rupert]

Hi everyone

My family are in Australia on a 457 visa, and the company are going to sponsor us for PR, just about to start the process. Unfortunately, our marriage has completely disintegrated in the past few months. We are keeping it amicable and agreed we want to continue with the process for all of us to be able to stay here as the children are very settled and happy here. We are currently still in the same house but not sure how long we can continue with this arrangement, and we have no idea if we can even apply for PR together if we are not even living in the same house.

Does anyone have any knowledge of this sort of thing?!

Thanks

 

I would not want to speculate on whether you would get away with it, but if you want to know the official answer then it is that the relationship should be ongoing in order to get a permanent visa together.