Migrants milk weak visa rules

[Toots]

A new report states that thousands of former overseas students in Australia are staying on by marrying locals prompting calls for urgent reform of the partner visa system. Dr Bob Birrell (who wrote the report) said it was extraordinary that about 40,000 partner visas – or one quarter of the total migration program – were issued last year with another 79,000 in the queue.

Dr Birrell called for a raft of measures to stop “gaming” of the system, such as banning onshore applications from those on a temporary visa.

[Nemesis]

7 hours ago, Toots said:

A new report states that thousands of former overseas students in Australia are staying on by marrying locals prompting calls for urgent reform of the partner visa system. Dr Bob Birrell (who wrote the report) said it was extraordinary that about 40,000 partner visas – or one quarter of the total migration program – were issued last year with another 79,000 in the queue.

Dr Birrell called for a raft of measures to stop “gaming” of the system, such as banning onshore applications from those on a temporary visa.

I understand thats one reason why they are looking at reforming the Partner Visas by insisting the sponsor gets approval before the actual application is lodged. This will make the wait much longer before they can lodge the application, and thus many people on temporary visas will find their visas expiring before they can apply onshore. 

[MaggieMay24]

Among his recommendations:  " He says the government should .... require proof a couple is “in a genuine and continuing relationship” before a partner visa is ­issued, and again after two years of residence. "  Um, this is already a requirement. 

I don't see any surprise that someone coming here for 3-4 years as a student may possibly meet and fall in love with an Australian resident/citizen.  Of course there will be some who try to fake a relationship in order to stay but I don't know that this group is trying to rort the system any more than any others.

[can1983]

There is also no law against choosing a partner based on their nationality in the same way you might for other superficial reasons such as looks. Maybe you are an intelligent well educated chinese women who hates communism and is attracted to somebody who lives in Australia more than anything else, so you are happy with trent from punchy  and trent is happy with you

How's that any different to picking a person because they look nice but have no intelligence over somebody who is capable of intelligent conversation but looks like the back end of a bus.

as previous people have said too they are about to allow Irish and other nationalities a 3 year WHV. They should not be surprised if that is enough time to meet a partner and become defacto 

[wrussell]

It is about time the good doctor found a new topic.

[TheWayOfThePony]

23 hours ago, MaggieMay24 said:

Among his recommendations:  " He says the government should .... require proof a couple is “in a genuine and continuing relationship” before a partner visa is ­issued, and again after two years of residence. "  Um, this is already a requirement. 

I don't see any surprise that someone coming here for 3-4 years as a student may possibly meet and fall in love with an Australian resident/citizen.  Of course there will be some who try to fake a relationship in order to stay but I don't know that this group is trying to rort the system any more than any others.

Yeah I get that there are abuses and scams but that's probably the case for any type of visa. That aside it's a bit unrealistic to expect people who come and live here for 2-4 years not to form actual, meaningful relationships...

I wouldn't talk about "weak visa rules" when it comes to the partner visa either, it has a notoriously big proportion of rejections!

[ramot]

17 hours ago, can1983 said:

There is also no law against choosing a partner based on their nationality in the same way you might for other superficial reasons such as looks. Maybe you are an intelligent well educated chinese women who hates communism and is attracted to somebody who lives in Australia more than anything else, so you are happy with trent from punchy  and trent is happy with you

How's that any different to picking a person because they look nice but have no intelligence over somebody who is capable of intelligent conversation but looks like the back end of a bus.

as previous people have said too they are about to allow Irish and other nationalities a 3 year WHV. They should not be surprised if that is enough time to meet a partner and become defacto 

My daughter came on a WHV, on her first day in Sydney, even though she had declared she was never ever having another relationship!!! she met her future  partner. They have been together for 7 years and getting married this year. 

I’m sure there are rorts, but mostly you can’t apply until you have been a de facto couple for a year, then have to live together for another two before applying for the final stage. So the suggested inference that you meet someone today, get visa tomorrow is totally wrong, it’s a long process. I’m sure proof of a relationship can be forged but you do need to supply plenty of proof that your relationship is genuine.

Does the report give the actual number of students applying for partner visas? or just grabbing headlines by inferring they make up most of the supposed 40,000 partner visas issued.