Bridging visas in Australia

[TheKeetons]

Hi, I am an Australian Citizen living in England with my husband and 2 children. We could lodge my family’s ‘partner visa’ form in England and wait a year but I was wondering what would happen if we moved over with my family on holiday visas and then lodged the forms. How long would it take before my husband was able to work? Do you initially get a bridging visa that he can work on? 

I suppose the other risk is being rejected after you’ve moved over.

Thank you for your help in advance.

Rachel

[ali]

Have you applied for citizenship for your children?  I believe the process is quicker applying off shore

[wrussell]

Applicants who lodge a valid onshore partner visa application are automatically granted a bridging visa with full work rights that takes effect when the visa used to enter Australia expires.

It might pay you to consult a registered migration agent for a preliminary assessment.

[TheKeetons]

12 minutes ago, ali said:

Have you applied for citizenship for your children?  I believe the process is quicker applying off shore

No. Maybe I should look into this but in the partner migration forms it looks like you include the children in this application process?

[TheKeetons]

7 minutes ago, wrussell said:

Applicants who lodge a valid onshore partner visa application are automatically granted a bridging visa with full work rights that takes effect when the visa used to enter Australia expires.

It might pay you to consult a registered migration agent for a preliminary assessment.

Thank you so much for your prompt response. Yes, I do need a preliminary assessment but I’m in Sheffield, UK. 

When you lodge the forms at Immigration, is your partner immediately granted a bridging visa?

[Nemesis]

3 hours ago, TheKeetons said:

No. Maybe I should look into this but in the partner migration forms it looks like you include the children in this application process?

If your children are Australian you don't include them on the visa application as they don't need visas. 

[Guest]

What Marisa said. Our son didn’t go down as an applicant as we got his Aus citizenship by descent and passport sorted ahead of time and it was easy as anything that way. Why pay to get them a visa if they have Aus citizenship to make use of. Seems a long winded way to go about it if you do get them a visa. And costly as medicals are needed also if they go on the application. 

Off shore grant times have sped up considerably for many. You can check no end of partner visa threads on here and see them coming back in a few months for many. Not all, but lots are getting quicker grants. Might be worth researching. 

On shore I often read of people struggling to secure work on their bridging visa. Seems often employers don’t understand it and are not keen to employ. 

IMO, if you are not in a huge rush to be there in he next couple of months or so, apply for kids citizenship and Aus passports, apply off shore for the partner visa and make the move that way. Seems the far more sensible thing to do all round I think. 

[VERYSTORMY]

Spouse visas applied on shore take about two years. The same visa applied for offshore (from the UK) would take a few months. 

[Marisawright]

9 hours ago, TheKeetons said:

Thank you so much for your prompt response. Yes, I do need a preliminary assessment but I’m in Sheffield, UK. 

When you lodge the forms at Immigration, is your partner immediately granted a bridging visa?

When you say "at immigration", I hope you don't mean at the airport.  If they find out your husband has arrived on a tourist visa with no intention of leaving, he'll be put straight back on the plane and possibly get a ban on re-entry.  You'll all have to remember to fib and pretend you're just coming on holiday (including on the arrival form you fill in).

As VeryStormy says, it doesn't take that long to get a spouse visa if you apply from the UK now, so that would be a much safer option.

[Quoll]

Much easier to apply for the spouse visa off shore - several reports of people getting them in 2-3 months in a London at the moment, especially where there are Aussie kids involved. Far more sensible not to run the risk of being turned around at the border for the sake of a few weeks.

[TheKeetons]

14 hours ago, Marisawright said:

When you say "at immigration", I hope you don't mean at the airport.  If they find out your husband has arrived on a tourist visa with no intention of leaving, he'll be put straight back on the plane and possibly get a ban on re-entry.  You'll all have to remember to fib and pretend you're just coming on holiday (including on the arrival form you fill in).

As VeryStormy says, it doesn't take that long to get a spouse visa if you apply from the UK now, so that would be a much safer option.

I meant down at the Immigration office.

We just wanted to secure my husband a job in Australia before we applied for the visa and the fees are very high so we don’t want to secure a visa and then find that employment is difficult.

mmmmmmm!

[TheKeetons]

7 hours ago, Quoll said:

Much easier to apply for the spouse visa off shore - several reports of people getting them in 2-3 months in a London at the moment, especially where there are Aussie kids involved. Far more sensible not to run the risk of being turned around at the border for the sake of a few weeks.

 

[TheKeetons]

20 hours ago, Nemesis said:

If your children are Australian you don't include them on the visa application as they don't need visas. 

Good to know. Thank you.

My children are English.

[TheKeetons]

19 hours ago, snifter said:

What Marisa said. Our son didn’t go down as an applicant as we got his Aus citizenship by descent and passport sorted ahead of time and it was easy as anything that way. Why pay to get them a visa if they have Aus citizenship to make use of. Seems a long winded way to go about it if you do get them a visa. And costly as medicals are needed also if they go on the application. 

Off shore grant times have sped up considerably for many. You can check no end of partner visa threads on here and see them coming back in a few months for many. Not all, but lots are getting quicker grants. Might be worth researching. 

On shore I often read of people struggling to secure work on their bridging visa. Seems often employers don’t understand it and are not keen to employ. 

IMO, if you are not in a huge rush to be there in he next couple of months or so, apply for kids citizenship and Aus passports, apply off shore for the partner visa and make the move that way. Seems the far more sensible thing to do all round I think. 

My kids are English though. Thank you for your great helpful message though. 

[Ferrets]

9 minutes ago, TheKeetons said:

My kids are English though. Thank you for your great helpful message though. 

If you are an Australian citizen then so are your kids already, so you just need to apply for their passports

[Guest]

2 hours ago, TheKeetons said:

My kids are English though. Thank you for your great helpful message though. 

If you are an eligible Aus citizen and your kids were born in the UK you can apply for Aus citizenship by descent for them, and once you have that certificate, their Australian passports. Its a really simple process and there is no reason to have to include them on the application for a visa (and therefore pay the costs and the medicals etc for them) if they are entitled to hold Aus citizenship already. 

My son was born in the UK. Aus husband, I'm English. We got his Aus citizenship and Aus passport sorted before he was a few months old. I applied for a partner visa when he was 4 or 5 and we didn't include him in the application. 

The only reason I can think you want to skip on applying for the Aus passports etc is because you are in a real hurry to get to Aus and plan to apply onshore in a few weeks and so don't want to apply and wait for their passports to come through. TBH even if you are wanting to do this, its even more reason to get their Aus citizenship and passports sorted IMHO. If you plan to apply off shore (which is the far more reasonable, wait times are way less these days and you'd have the visa granted before you move there, whereas on shore means up to 2 years on a bridging visa and uncertainty, which is far from ideal for you all) you really should get the ball rolling on Aus citizenship and passports. 

[Guest]

One other thing. If you move over on tourist visas for your husband and kids and then lodge an application onshore for a partner visa, you have to wait for the bridging visa to kick in. This will only happen once the 3 month tourist visa expires. So your husband would be unable to work for 3 months. Your kids could not be registered at a school or kindy I don't think either. Tour kids would need to be able to prove Aus citizenship to start state school sooner (you'd have to look into private and of course if able to attend, pay their fees) iirc, so again, another reason to get them citizenship regardless of on or off shore application. 

If you apply off shore, it may well take that sort of timeframe of the tourist visa wait to actually process from lodging to grant, your husband would have his visa and away you could go. And your kids would be Aus citizens by then if you got the ball rolling on that side of things too. 

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/citi/pathways-processes/application-options/descent

 

[Marisawright]

One more thing just to complicate the mix - do you have British citizenship yourself?   If not, and you want to move back to the UK in the future, you may not be able to.  It's not easy to get a spouse visa for the UK these days, and it keeps getting more difficult.

In your situation, I think it's absolutely vital to ensure you have the right to live in both countries, even if you think you would never come back from Australia.   What if your children moved back to the UK once they're adults, and you're stuck in Australia?

I understand that you're worried about the cost of the spouse visa - but honestly, the cost of the visa is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of making the move. Get the visa and the kids' passports done, then save up for the next phase.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, TheKeetons said:

I meant down at the Immigration office.

We just wanted to secure my husband a job in Australia before we applied for the visa and the fees are very high so we don’t want to secure a visa and then find that employment is difficult.

mmmmmmm!

I've just seen this. 

See my replies above. Your husband won't be able to secure a job ahead of moving if he is going over on a tourist visa. He needs a visa with work rights. And as said, the bridging visa off the back of an on shore partner visa application won't kick in till the tourist visa runs out. So 3 months after arriving in Australia till he can work.  

TBH you can't have it all ways when migrating and something has to give in terms of planning and costs and so on. It is IMHO more important to secure the right visa ahead of moving that will enable your husband to work as soon as he arrives than it is to go about it from the other end as you seem to be and trying to cut corners cost wise on the visa ahead of moving over.  

Go about things properly, don't try to cut corners in migrating as tbh the costs are big no matter what and you can't risk stuffing up and falling foul of immigration either if they suspect your intentions to enter Australia are not genuine. I realise the partner visa is pretty expensive (all of us who applied for it have been there, done it and all that) but you can plan and save for it ahead of applying. And getting your kids their Aus citizenship sorted ahead of moving. And once an off shore partner visa is gained, he can apply for jobs and you are in no rush to make the move, in fact will have a fair few years so long as he validates within the timeframe. 

I see lots of pitfalls to you going the onshore route. Far far less applying off shore. 

 

 

 

 

[TheKeetons]

I totally agree - thank you so much for confirming my initial concerns about doing it the onshore way. 

[TheKeetons]

23 hours ago, Ferrets said:

If you are an Australian citizen then so are your kids already, so you just need to apply for their passports

I am a British lady but I have my Australian Citizenship. I thought I would have to be an Australian by decent to get my children Australian Citizenship? If I can get them a passport, do I go to the Australian High Commission in London for this? Ta, Ra

 

[TheKeetons]

17 hours ago, Marisawright said:

One more thing just to complicate the mix - do you have British citizenship yourself?   If not, and you want to move back to the UK in the future, you may not be able to.  It's not easy to get a spouse visa for the UK these days, and it keeps getting more difficult.

In your situation, I think it's absolutely vital to ensure you have the right to live in both countries, even if you think you would never come back from Australia.   What if your children moved back to the UK once they're adults, and you're stuck in Australia?

I understand that you're worried about the cost of the spouse visa - but honestly, the cost of the visa is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of making the move. Get the visa and the kids' passports done, then save up for the next phase.

I am British by decent bit I also have Australian Citizenship, so luckily I have both passports.

[TheKeetons]

21 hours ago, snifter said:

If you are an eligible Aus citizen and your kids were born in the UK you can apply for Aus citizenship by descent for them, and once you have that certificate, their Australian passports. Its a really simple process and there is no reason to have to include them on the application for a visa (and therefore pay the costs and the medicals etc for them) if they are entitled to hold Aus citizenship already. 

My son was born in the UK. Aus husband, I'm English. We got his Aus citizenship and Aus passport sorted before he was a few months old. I applied for a partner visa when he was 4 or 5 and we didn't include him in the application. 

The only reason I can think you want to skip on applying for the Aus passports etc is because you are in a real hurry to get to Aus and plan to apply onshore in a few weeks and so don't want to apply and wait for their passports to come through. TBH even if you are wanting to do this, its even more reason to get their Aus citizenship and passports sorted IMHO. If you plan to apply off shore (which is the far more reasonable, wait times are way less these days and you'd have the visa granted before you move there, whereas on shore means up to 2 years on a bridging visa and uncertainty, which is far from ideal for you all) you really should get the ball rolling on Aus citizenship and passports. 

I am a British lady but I have my Australian Citizenship. I thought I would have to be an Australian by decent to get my children Australian Citizenship? If I can get them a passport, do I go to the Australian High Commission in London for this? Ta, Ra

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, TheKeetons said:

I am a British lady but I have my Australian Citizenship. I thought I would have to be an Australian by decent to get my children Australian Citizenship? If I can get them a passport, do I go to the Australian High Commission in London for this? Ta, Ra

The rule is that the mother must be an Australian citizen at the time of the birth.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, TheKeetons said:

I am a British lady but I have my Australian Citizenship. I thought I would have to be an Australian by decent to get my children Australian Citizenship? If I can get them a passport, do I go to the Australian High Commission in London for this? Ta, Ra

Don’t assume and then cross it off as a non starter. Research it all and make sure you are fully informed and potentially a bit of leg work now could save money, time and more later on. 

Looks like Marisa has answered your question but do some research to find out for yourself. 

And yes, Aus passports means an appointment at Aus High Commission in London. You would need citizenship certs sorted first. They are needed for the passport applications.