MissingAus Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 i'm sponsoring my partner for a 309/100 - our application was submitted in January 2020 - I have Australian permanent residency & my travel facility expires this September. I never really thought of this to be an issue as we planned to return to Australia in April with her on a visitor visa until outcome of her 309 - she's never been to Australia and I had big plans to hire a camper for a year and travel with her :( very sad that this plan will remain a dream for many years now no doubt When Covid hit we made to decision to delay our travel plans for at least a year & stay in the UK. We had flights booked but the airline were helpful and allowed us to cancel and gave us a credit fo the flight. We felt at the time this was the safest and most sensible decision to do in a pandemic! I completely forgot about the whole travel facility expiry date on PR visas when we made this decision! So now i am worried what implications this has for my partners application if I decide to stay outside the country. We could change our plans and go if we have to, but honestly we would rather not travel until this is all over, I see more flight restrictions into Australia every day, it just feels too risky & stressful. My partner is also a type 1 Diabetic so at more at risk if she catches this thing so is very anxious, I can barely get her to go to the supermarket never mind on a plane Do I have any options other then to return before September, will it be $7000+ visa application fee down the drain if I don't ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulhand Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 You have a couple of issues: - you need to be ‘usually resident’ in Australia to sponsor your partner if you are a permanent resident not a citizen - you need to be a permanent resident at time of application and time of decision to sponsor a partner for a visa. If you are offshore, and your permanent visa has expired, you are no longer a permanent resident, so the partner visa can’t be granted. I would get some professional advice so you fully understand the issues at work here ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissingAus Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 21 minutes ago, paulhand said: You have a couple of issues: - you need to be ‘usually resident’ in Australia to sponsor your partner if you are a permanent resident not a citizen - you need to be a permanent resident at time of application and time of decision to sponsor a partner for a visa. If you are offshore, and your permanent visa has expired, you are no longer a permanent resident, so the partner visa can’t be granted. I would get some professional advice so you fully understand the issues at work here ... Thanks Paul for replying, I lived there previously for 8 years & I've been in the UK for almost 2 years now, I did seek some professional advice around the 'usual resident' requirement as this concerned me before we applied, I actually wanted to wait and apply onshore but she assured me it would be fine to apply offshore as I was intending to return soon and build a life, we just needed to make this clear in our relationship statements. Im reading our statements back now and we empathised the point we were returning in April 2020, which now isn't the case so i can see how this can get me into trouble. Thanks again for your advice, I may well be in touch with you this weekend! Though Im thinking I just need to bite the bullet & return to sort this out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulhand Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 (edited) Give me a call ... there should be a simple solution based on what you say ... Edited July 9, 2020 by paulhand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florence Parker Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 a permanent visa does NOT expire, only the travel facility does (RRV)- better to apply for RRV (Resident Return Visa) before your current RRV expires Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulhand Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Florence Parker said: a permanent visa does NOT expire, only the travel facility does (RRV)- better to apply for RRV (Resident Return Visa) before your current RRV expires A permanent visa most certainly DOES expire if the holder is offshore at the expiry date. The relevant law Is s82(5) and s82(6) of the migration act. Edited July 14, 2020 by paulhand 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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