Permanent Partner (Migrant) visa (subclass 100) / Temp Visa (subclass 309)

[MrsWayLay17]

Hello,

I am new here but have been a lurker for a few weeks.  I am an Australian citizen who has been living in the UK with my now-husband for 15 years (i am a dual citizen). We got married last month in Queensland and have now come back to the UK. We've decided to move to Australia permanently with our two children in 2019 and I wanted to get the ball rolling with his visa. 

 

Am i right in thinking that he applies NOW for his temp visa ... which then eventually will turn into the permanent one? I can apply for this visa now even though we won't be there for another 19 months?  Our children will have citizenship via me so i won't need to do anything with them besides get their Aust passports sorted out.

If anyone else has done this, i'd love to hear from you. I understand the visas can take up to 3 years to obtain so now is a good time to start right??  Do some people wait until they're IN Australia? $7,000 is a lot of money! 

 

Thank you for reading! 

[Raul Senise]

As you have been together in a long term relationship, the Partner Visa application can be processed straight to the Permanent Residency stage.

Current processing times are erratic and constantly changing. You can expect the process to take at least 12 month and probably longer.

[JBARTOX]

Hi MrsWayLay17,

I'm in a very similar situation. I had my Temporary Partner visa for 1 year before moving to Australia, and then applied for the permanent one as soon as I could (two years post temp visa approval). The temporary visa came through pretty quick for me, I think it was about 3 months or so. When I applied for the permanent visa, the wait time was 6-8 months. That was 16 months ago and I'm still waiting. The wait list is now saying the expected processing time will be 17-43 months. This is a major issue for me now, as we are trying to buy a house however without a permanent visa, the banks will not lend anything more than 30-35% of the property value to us.

Something to note is that the processing times are updated monthly, around the 14th of each month. You'll find them on the following link:

http://www.border.gov.au/about/access-accountability/service-standards/global-visa-citizenship-processing-times

I suggest you take these time frames into account for your own situation before heading over.

Understandably most situations a re different, but I'm curious to know where your got the $7,000 price tag from? I paid considerably less than this.

All the best with your application.

 

Edited September 23, 2017 by JBARTOX

[MaggieMay24]

21 hours ago, JBARTOX said:

Understandably most situations a re different, but I'm curious to know where your got the $7,000 price tag from? I paid considerably less than this.

 

The current application fee for a partner visa is AUD $7000  http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa/Fees#tab-content-3

[Guest]

If you are planning to go in 2019 I'd get the ball rolling in time for your move. Off shore official wait time is currently about 12-14 months IIRC but some people are getting them processed quicker (this is for those applying while in the UK) although as has been said processing times can and do vary and what one experiences won't be the same for another. You'd just need to focus on your timeframe, not others as it can get disheartening if you see people get theirs granted and they lodged after you. 

As Raul said given you've been together so long your husband should go straight to PR so there would be no second stage to worry about later on. 

I've never heard of a partner visa taking 3 years to obtain. You could be meaning people who apply for a partner visa and get the temp part first and then 2 years later can apply for the PR stage? 

If you have a date in mind, I'd suggest getting your kids Aus passports organised and gather up the paperwork you and your husband will need to submit as evidence and lodge to allow enough time for processing based on current times when you lodge. If Raul is saying 12 months, I'd be listening to that advice. 

IIRC you'll need to include the kids Aus citizenship and passport info in an application even though they are not going on the application itself. I think when I did mine I had to list as non migrating on the form somewhere but am sure you can see what is what these days when it comes to applying. Oh, I was also asked to provide kids full birth certificate which named us both as the parents on it, the short form one didn't cut it, this was because they were checking to see if indeed we were both actually the parents and therefore had legal rights etc).

Would suggest you download and if need be print off the partner visa PDF and you both have a good read of it.

https://www.border.gov.au/FormsAndDocuments/Documents/1127.pdf

Cross out any parts that don't apply to you (ie prospective marriage section) and re read it all over the coming month or two. Its pretty clear cut and easy to understand and it helps to get a good understanding of the process and what is involved before you begin. Make notes, ask questions and be informed before you start. 

Re the evidence, the stat decs iirc are only valid for X amount of time so don't go rushing to get those before you have even started. I'd get your head round everything first, your other evidence nicely sorted out and ask a few people who are eligible if they will do a stat dec for you (form 888 https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/888.pdf ) and then when you are closer to actually being ready to lodge, get them to do them and send them along (we got people to send them via courier from Aus so only took a few days once posted). 

If the visa is then granted and the first entry date is going to be before your actual move I would think your husband would need to validate his visa within the timeframe. I don't know if it is possible to get the first entry date extended or if its possible when your husband lodges to ask if it can be longer to  fit in with your planned date of moving? You'll need to research and be prepared for the visa perhaps being granted sooner over later and needing to validate and to budget for it. A quick trip to Aus for your husband may be needed.

FWIW when we applied we knew the official timeframe was 9 months or so and so lodged to allow for this. As it was my visa was through in 7 and we flew out around 9 month mark then. We didn't book our flights till the visa was granted but as it came through ahead of time we just pushed on then and I made first entry when actually migrating. I had a 6 month window in which to validate based on the date of my medical and police check and them being valid for a year (so would suggest not front loading these as validation is based on the date of whichever is done first). 

$7,000 is a lot of money and if you know you want to go in 2019 I can't see any reason to wait to apply on shore tbh. Its pretty silly to go about it this way IMHO if you have this much time to plan and lodge off shore. It would mean your husband entering Aus on a tourist visa, applying and then when the tourist visa runs out he'd go onto a bridging visa while the parter visa is processing. The current on shore processing time is around 15 months and people are waiting longer. I don't hear of people being processed quicker than the stated official time on shore. Its a roundabout way of going about it when you can lodge off shore and have a visa granted before making the move. Applying off shore would also ensure your husband would have full working rights from the off and all the other things the visa means. I'd not be thinking about on shore in your situation personally. 

Also, keep in mind the visa process can and does change and the prices can and do increase. What is $7,000 now could be $7,500 or $8,000 in 2019 and on shore. 

[MrsWayLay17]

Oh wow thank you so much for all of this very informative and useful information. I will print off this chat trail and the PDF docs you so helpfully provided and get the ball rolling. You've made a lot of very interesting and insightful points, for which I am grateful.  Getting $7,000 is going to be very hard but I'm hoping we can get that arranged and get the ball rolling asap.

 

Snifter  - Can I just that it's best for me to wait for our 2 daughter's Aust citizenship and Aust passports to come through before my husband submits his application? I've pre-filled the form in online to already state that our daughters were Australian citizens and did plan on waiting for that proof to come through so I could attach it to the application. Would their (near future) Australian passport details be helpful as well?

Very good points made above were the fact that he'll need to be a PR before applying for a mortgage (something we were hoping to do as near to the start as possible after arriving), and also the point that the price is likely to increase again (a friend of mine went three years ago and it was only around $3,500 back then).

 

Thanks again, I'm starting to get my head around it more now.  I'll be happy for any more advice anyone wants to give. 

 

Edited to add:  Another question...a few of you have said we can skip the temp resident one and go straight to PR....how do we do this?  Sorry if I sound dim, it's just a lot to get my head around!  Thank you.

Edited September 28, 2017 by MrsWayLay17
Adding another question

[Guest]

Yes I'd get the kids Aus passports sorted before lodging. All up when hubby applied for citizenship by descent and then the Aus passport for child it took about 6 weeks. The kids passport application involves the Aus citizen making an appointment at the Aus high commission for an interview iirc. Allow a day trip for this if outside London. 

They will need valid Aus passports to enter Aus so you need to be able to show this in the application. Get all your evidence and supporting paperwork in order before you lodge. It takes time to pull it all together so ensuring  you have it all ready before lodging is the wisest thing to do. 

Re the permanent aspect. You don't do anything. The CO assess and grants based on the criteria and you meeting it. If you've been together as a couple and  married for 15 years total and have 2 kids together, PR would just be a matter of course as you would meet the timeframe and other requirements to be eligible. So don't fret about that aspect. Just apply for the 309/100 which is what we all do  Some go straight to PR so get the 100, others have not been together long enough so get the 309 with the 100 following a couple of years later. 

Your marriage certificate will be submitted as part of the application along with other evidence to show you as a couple so your CO will see what is what  

[MrsWayLay17]

1 minute ago, snifter said:

Yes I'd get the kids Aus passports sorted before lodging. All up when hubby applied for citizenship by descent and then the Aus passport for child it took about 6 weeks. The kids passport application involves the Aus citizen making an appointment at the Aus high commission for an interview iirc. Allow a day trip for this if outside London. 

Re the permanent aspect. You don't do anything. The CO assess and grants based on the criteria and you meeting it. If you've been together as a couple and  married for 15 years total and have 2 kids together, PR would just be a matter of course as you would meet the timeframe and other requirements to be eligible. So don't fret about that aspect. Just apply for the 309/100 which is what we all do  Some go straight to PR so get the 100, others have not been together long enough so get the 309 with the 100 following a couple of years later. 

Your marriage certificate will be submitted as part of the application along with other evidence to show you as a couple so your CO will see what is what  

Thank you so much snifter. You're an incredible asset to this community and you've provided me with more info than the high commission would have given in this amount of time.    I'm Oxford based so a day trip to London for the passport interview for the girls will be fine.

 

So ultimately, what I need to do is in this order:

1. Get our girls citizenship by descent certificates

2. Apply for and obtain their Australian passports

3. THEN send off the 309/100 application online and submit the $7,000 with it

4. Then it's the waiting game...If visa is still not granted by April 2019 can we still fly there or wait do you think?

 

Appreciate it, again!

[Guest]

Thats the order I'd go in. You should have the Aus citizenship and passports etc all in place and your other evidence all in order by then too hopefully. It can take a while to pull out all those old bills, bank statements and so on and compile them into a coherent picture of your life over the past X amount of years. I just spent a bit of time one evening a week over a month or two going though stuff, deciding on what to submit for each year and then we both did our supporting statements over the same weekend and read each others, made sure the dates all matched and tied in and we were happy we'd covered everything we wanted. We talked about some different stuff for sure but also covered some of the same events and things. 

Don't forget after the application is lodged there will be police checks and medical (for applicant) to undertake/provide. These will add a bit more to the cost but its not a massive expense like the actual visa. Wait to be asked by CO before doing these. Just the first entry date is tied to the date of the medical or police check usually., whichever one is done first. 

Panel doctor list here https://www.border.gov.au/Lega/Lega/Help/Location/united-kingdom 

Don't forget the stat decs from others. https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/888.pdf Don't get these done too far ahead of lodging as iirc they are only valid for a set period of time. So long as they are ready and good to go when you want to apply IYKWIM. I think we asked 5-6 weeks ahead, got them couriered over to us and chose 2 to submit from the 4 that people had done for us. 

And yes, if the visa isn't granted before April 2019 then your husband could go to Aus on a tourist visa to wait out the grant (I'd have possibly done this if mine hadn't come through before we hoped to leave, as it was it was granted earlier than hoped so we could proceed without needing the tourist visa). I'd hope it was granted well before then though. Especially if you are applying a year or so ahead of time. 

As I said, the partner visa booklet is well worth printing off and sitting down with over a cuppa  and having a good read. It really does cover everything you need and explains things clearly. It was my main reference point for most of my application. 

 

 

[MrsWayLay17]

Thank you again snifter.  you're so helpful.