Subclass 100 dawdling - what happens now?

[jennlx]

Hello! I have a question and was wondering if anyone might have the answer. I am Australian and had the marvelous idea of moving my family, including British husband, to Melbourne when I had an eight week old baby and a twenty two month old toddler. Suffice to say, I found it very overwhelming at this time (and annoyed as I sent an SOS to my family for any help, and received no response) and so we didn't go. At the time, we applied for and was granted a Spouse subclass 100 visa for my husband (myself and the kids have Austalian passports).

 

Blink, and it's almost 5 years on and we're blundering on with no family and living in a squishy two bed flat in London and Melbourne is holding great appeal for us and so are considering another move back to Australia. But what happens to my husband's visa? It was 'activated' when we went on holidays twice to Australia in the last five years, but it did have an initial expiry date of August 2015. I presume this expiry date refers to expiry before we settle in Australia so looks like we might breach it as we will need to save for the next six month to a year, so will not be able to be resident by this date. Do we need to re-apply for the whole thing again, or did our holidays activate the visa so we're in the clear (but he would need 5 years or whatever before becoming a citizen/Australian passport). This is a very specific question, but was hoping someone out there might know the answer or have asked the question when they got their own spouse visa.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Guest]

If the visa travel part expired in August 2015 I'd expect he is looking at an RRV and you'd need to show you were planning a move there etc and possibly explain why you delayed the actual move. Read up on the RRV and see what it says and perhaps seek advice from a reputable migration agent for advice if unsure about it. Any of those that post on here would be a good starting point.

 

The visa was only activated once, the first trip he made to Aus after it was granted.

 

Seeing if he could get an RRV would be my first step if it were me. However, I'd not apply for it too soon before the planned move as they tend to have a shorter shelf life and will expire after a set time (ie 3, 6 or 12 months). If you apply now but don't plan to move for 18 months you'd waste the RRV as you'd not be going in time. Have a definite plan and timeframe and work to it and apply in the correct timeframe.

[jennlx]

Thanks for your reply - looks like it might be the job! Happy with the £180 cost too, phew....we'll give the High Commission a buzz tomorrow and ask the hypothetical question. :smile:

[Guest]

I'd not bother calling them. They are not there to hand out advice on visas. Consult a migration agent.