Sponsoring a New Partner - 820 visa advice

[bella1458]

Hi all,

 

Apologies if this has been asked before, i'm new here and had a good a look around but unable to find a clear answer online.

 

Bit of background on me

 

Im a British Citizen (born in England to English parents). Im blessed to have Australian permanent residency. My PR was granted in December 2015 after 2 years on a WHV and then 3 years on a 457 temporary business visa. It was my partner at the time who originally was sponsored by his company for the 457 visa. I was added to it a couple of months later as his defacto partner, at the time we'd been living together for about 2 years. We have since broke up, i found out he was cheating on me 4 months after our PR was granted & my world fell apart.

 

In July 2016 I returned to the uk to spend time with family and in that time I met & I started dating a someone else, he's a dual British/American citizen, he has never been to Australia. Due to him completing a Masters degree in the UK we chose to stay in the UK so he can finish his studies by December 2017. We then want to return to Australia as soon as possible to start the visa application process.

 

My question is this, can I sponsor my new partner for a 820 Partner visa? I know we need to have lived together a little longer before we can apply and that wont be a problem as we are not planning on applying until after xmas 2017. However i'm worried i cannot sponsor him due to myself being sponsored as a defacto partner for a 457 visa & then PR in the past? Im unsure if the rule refers more to being sponsored for an actual 820/801 Partner visa in the past rather then just defacto on a 457 Temp Business visa but its unclear to me and a little confusing.

 

Also am i correct in thinking that the rules of the 820 visa are you must be onshore in Australia before applying for this visa? If that is the case will my partner be allowed to work whilst the application goes through? Currently the wait time is 12-18 months which is a awful long time to be on a single income. He is to old (33) for a working holiday visa, i've heard the rumours of the age limit increase for the WHV but as yet i know it has not increased for 18 - 30 years.

 

Apologies for the length!

 

Any help or advice would be much appreciated

 

Thankyou

[Mark Northam]

Hi Bella -

 

You would not have any waiting period imposed on you prior to sponsoring your new partner, as the previous visa you were sponsored under was not a partner (820/801 or 309/100) visa but was an employer sponsored visa.

 

You're correct, the applicant must be onshore at the time of lodgment for the subclass 820/801 partner visa application. He might come to Australia on a visitor visa of some sort, then lodge the partner visa once here on a visitor visa. In this scenario he may want to make a final decision on lodging the partner visa after he arrives, so that he arrives with the intention of (only) visiting Australia for tourism purposes if asked. Once he overstays the minimum stay period of the visa (for ETA visas it's often 3 months), assuming you lodged an onshore partner visa during the stay period of the visitor visa (important!), the Bridging Visa A he receives from applying for the partner visa will activate as soon as he overstays the minimum stay period. Once the BVA has activated, he has full work and study rights in Australia.

 

Hope this helps -

 

 

Best,

 

 

Mark Northam

[bella1458]

Thank you Mark so much! Much appreciated

[George Lombard]

Hi Bella,

 

I'd just add to Mark's summary that a sponsor for this kind of family visa must be ordinarily resident in Australia, ie at the very least you would need to be established here in some way to be a sponsor.

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard