Converting a Working Holiday Visa

[Guest hwyl]

Hello All!!

 

I hope someone can answer this question. I can never find the answer everytime I go to the goverment website and it always leaves me more confused and deflated.

 

I am 28 from Devon and into the 3rd month of my Working Holiday Visa. Currently I am living and working (temping) in the City with my boyfriend who has a work permit subclass 457 - he is not an Australian Citizen.

At the time of his original application he did not include me as a partner as I just started seeing him then, however since then our relationship has grown and subsquently asked me to come join him in Australia.

 

Instead of me applying for the work permit, the quickest and easiest way to get to Australia was to go for the Working Holiday Visa and to see how it goes i.e. me and him.

 

Now my dilemma is how do I go about staying here for longer. I guess there is a few questions....

 

1. Can he add me onto his permit now if I was not on the original application?

2. If so, can I do that without marriage? how long would this process take?

3. If marriage is on the cards (we have discuss this-don't worry), what is needed for the conversion to take place.

4. Should I start an new application, will my current visa status change if I apply for an independent skilled worker permit? and how long will the process take?

 

I guess my other concern will be I don't want to leave it too long before my current visa runs out.

Has anyone got any advice on my situation?

 

Note: I am aware that I am allowed to extend my WHV to a second year but from my understanding I have to do work like fruit picking in the country for at least 3 months. So this does not really apply to me I'm afraid

 

Thanks :cute:

[SOMV]

Hi,

 

Yes you can apply to be added on to his application as a de facto partner, but there are three main issues to consider:

 

1) Do you have enough evidence to prove that you are in a de facto relationship? For 457 visas the 12 month requirement does not apply, but normally the case officer will want to see about 6 months of evidence of a de facto type relationship. Please note thought that this is just a guideline and that some case officers take a stricter approach.

 

2) Questions may be/will be raised as to why you were not mentioned in the initial application.

 

3) Will your partner's employer be happy to also sponsor you (ie: extend the undertakings they made with resepct to your partner to you)?

 

From the details you have provided it is impossible to tell whether you will be able to get over the first and most important hurdle, which is to prove the seriousness and length of the relationship.

 

If the above does not work as an option, then you may seriusly want to consider the 3 months of seasonal work. A bit of fruit pciking is not much to ask for a further 12 month cheap and uncomplicated working holiday visa. If you need time to gather enough evidence of a relationship, this may be your only option.

 

Other options may include the employer sponsored visa (ie: you obtain your own 457), although these are harder to come by these days, or a student visa, although this is quite an expensive option.

 

I hope that makes things a little bit clearer, but you really should contact an onshore agent to have a chat.

 

Cheers,

Veronika

[Guest hwyl]

Thank you for your response.

 

I'm living with him now and we are discussing marriage in the near future. Will my time living with him now count towards a "de-facto" relationship?

His employer is willing to sponsor me, as they have many other 457 visa holders who are here but only difference is that they included their partners on the original visa. I just wanted to get all the information together some how so that they don't need to do much research.

 

Would you know how long this process would take? for example do I need to start on this now? I don't want to go over my allowed time here. I love it here and just want to do things the right way.