Usual residence and current address in 190 application form

[bizuc]

Hi there,

I recently received my 190 visa invitation but due to the current Corona related circumstances, I have some confusions regarding my application.

Here's my situation: I'm currently on a 485 visa and have been residing in Australia for the last 3 years. Before international flights ban, I traveled to my home country for a family visit and am currently stuck here unable to return indefinitely. Now that I received my invitation, I only have about 40 days to submit my visa application and have decided to apply for the visa from here. This makes me an offshore applicant.

I've to submit two forms for the visa application, the main 190 application and Form 80. In my 190 application, there are three instances of addresses I have to put down.

1. Current location - This is clear. The helps suggest it's the geographical location at the time of application, i.e. my home country where I am right now
2. Usual country of residence - This is my first confusion. Do I put my usual country of residence as Australia with Australian address and postal or my home country?
   But I'm leaning more towards Australian address as that's my primary country of residence where I intend to reside, but still not completely sure.
3. Address history (Current address) - Next is my address history which asks me to add residence for the last 10 years. The most recent residential address asks me if it's my current address. I'm not sure if current address means current location.
   Here too I feel Australia would be my most recent residential address and I should say declare it as my current address as I will be returning back to Australia as soon as I can. But again, since I'm not in Australia and am considered an offshore applicant, I'm not sure what should I put down here.

For my form 80, it's just the same with address history and whether I should put down my visit to my home country as an address or just travel movement.

Let me know what you guys think. Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Marisawright]

This is so important that I think you should hire an agent to sort this out for you.  It would probably only need one consultation to help you fill out the form correctly, so it shouldn't be too expensive.

I think you are wrong to think you are an offshore applicant.  You happen to be offshore right now, but you have a valid Australian visa and you are legally resident in Australia - correct me if I'm wrong, but you do not have a residential address in your home country, you are a guest in someone else's house, right?  

Remember, if you get this wrong, then your application will be refused and you will lose the application money.  Better to pay a bit more so you can be sure you've got it right.

[bizuc]

Hey @Marisawright,

Thanks for your reply. Seems like a valid point.

And, I do have a residential address in my home country, my parents home, but I'm not sure I can consider it as a residential address since I'm only here for a vacation.

But you're right, I might not be an offshore applicant.

However, going through the form, some questions like 'Curent location (current geographical location at the time of the application)' and 'Are you currently in Australia?' are something I can't really answer 'Yes' to.

Likewise, a quick visa check on Vevo shows 'Location: Offshore'.

So, I figured I would automatically be regarded as an offshore applicant, but technically I might not be even though I answer yes, because of my current valid visa.

I might consider hiring a migration agent but even then, if you have opinion on the matter, I'd love to know. Just that I want to keep my options.

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, bizuc said:

I do have a residential address in my home country, my parents home, but I'm not sure I can consider it as a residential address since I'm only here for a vacation.

...I might consider hiring a migration agent but even then, if you have opinion on the matter, I'd love to know. Just that I want to keep my options.

If you were  staying in a hotel or an AirBnb for two weeks for a holiday, would you call that your "residential address"?  No.   Just because you happen to be stuck there, doesn't change that fact IMO.

However, frankly I think you would be very silly not to pay an agent to give you a professional opinion.  There are several good agents on these forums such as @paulhand

[rammygirl]

If you only travelled to visit your family you must still have an address in Australia that should be your usual residence, your current address is temporary. You will be classed as an offshore application but for 190 there is no real distinction unlike partner visas.  You can apply offshore and be granted on shore or offshore.

If you are confused then a quick consult should sort it.

[aus190]

Hi bizuc,

I understand all your worries as I had been thru all these dilemmas 2 years ago when I apllied for a 190 visa. 

Simply put it this way, all application forms would contribute to an ultimate purpose (of the forms themselves), i.e. to give a case officer the best idea of an applicant situation. Therefore, I would input information in a way which best describes my situation. And it has to be true, ofcourse so I can have the peace of mind.

Therefore, my suggestions are:

1. Your current location being your parents' address in your home country. Understood that this would make you an offshore applicant. But to my oppinion, in your case, an offshore applicant with a 485 valid visa has more 'weight' than any other offshore applicants without any visas;

2. Usual country of resident: address in Australia (you can also submit your rental receipts, utility bill receipts etc. to prove this);

3. Address history - current address being your home country address (with the 'reason' being 'home visit'). In this way, the case officer can clearly understand your current situation: being stuck at your home country during the pandemic. As you would have to put in all other previous addresses (either when you went on a business or a vacation for only a few days), this current address in your home town would have the same meaning.

After all, please note that all communications go thru email. Therefore the 'addresses' only support the claim of your physical locations/situations.

To further support your application, you can also enclose an attachment being a letter to explain your current situation in the 'attachment' section at the end after you fill all the forms (if i recall correctly where it is).

From another section of your application, the case officer can also see that you are holding a valid 485 visa. He will also look into what contributions you have made to the Australian community so far, as well as your potential input in the future. In that way, this would be more important than merely those addresses themselves above.

You can also consult an agent if they don't charge you too much (just my opinion).

Best of luck bizuc.

[bizuc]

Thank you @Marisawright, @rammygirl and @aus190 for your inputs. I do have an agent in contact and I will get in touch with him about the situation.

@aus190 - Thanks for the detailed answer, highly appreciate it and it makes a lot of sense. I will try to add an attachment to the form explaining my current situation as well.

Thanks once again. Cheers guys.