Writing a letter to help with a visa

[Wooba]

Hello all,

I'm a 189 visa holder (Canadian/British) along with my partner of 6 years (Brazilian). Her 32 year old sister would like to come here for 6 months or a year to learn English and hopefully work a part time job.

She's been talking to a Portuguese speaking migration agent who's giving her some options. She just has enough funds to meet the requirements for a 6 month visa. The agent is saying there's a reasonable chance it will be denied because of the economic situation in Brazil/her age. That said, I'm encouraging her to apply for a 1 year visa. She doesn't have enough money for that, but we are going to have her stay with us where she won't have any rent to worry about and I'm happy to write a letter to immigration explaining that.

However, the agent is saying that because I'm not married to my partner, the letter will be meaningless. I find this difficult to believe. We got a 189 visa together and we jointly own a house here. I just can't see that being meaningless. Does anyone have any opinions on this?

Additionally, the agent has suggested that she might be better to apply for a short tourist visa, then apply for a different visa when arriving here. I realize most here are British, which would be quite different to a Brazilian applying due to the economic situation in Brazil. Any thoughts on this would also be welcome.

Thanks..

[MaggieMay24]

As a PR holder, your partner should be able to sponsor her sister for a family-sponsored visitor visa.  Whether it will be granted will depend on whether she can show sufficient proof that she'll return home.  She's not allowed to work on a visitor visa, and Brazil isn't eligible for a WHV (so I've moved the thread to Visa Chat where you may get more responses about getting her a visitor visa).