Guest Leonard Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Hi I am coming to live and work in Perth on a sponsorship 457 visa in Sept/Oct 2011, this will soon be applied for the company employing me. Once I gain my 457 visa I would like my transgender girlfriend to be added to it as a defacto partner. Our situation is somewhat unique though and trying to find out if this is a possibility is proving very difficult. I am British, male 31. My partner is 22 Filipino and Male. The facts: We are in a same-sex relationship, I am male and my partner male but transgendered and living as a female. We met on an internet dating sate in April 2010. I lived in the uk and my partner lived in Italy. I flew out to Italy in May 2010 so our relationship I assume officially began from then. Between May 2010 and Jan 2011 I travelled to Italy at least once a month (sometimes twice) to visit my partner in Italy. We have full records of all flights/hotels/photos. We also had 3 short breaks to Eurodisney Paris, Tuscany & Rome, again which we have records of. This year we have been on vacation to Verona and Sabbiadoro in Italy, not sure if this is relevant but we have records of these trips as a couple. My partner was granted a six month visa for the UK in November 2011 and has travelled to the UK twice to meet my family and friends. We have photos & records of flights/visa docs to prove this. Whilst in our "long distance" relationship we continued to stay in touch virtually everyday via internet and telephone. We have full records of our conversations that record our internet communication (700 pages of A4 paper) and records from October 2011 to Jan 2011 for using a long distance phone service. I left my job in the UK and emmigrated to Italy in Jan 2011 to live with my partner. Because of the language barrier (I didn't speak Italian) this has caused massive difficulties in me finding work in Italy. We have lived at my partners family home with her mother since Jan 2011 to date (approx 8 months). I am now resident in Italy and no longer resident in the UK, this is obviously a large commitment I made towards our relationship so we could live together. I anticipated the difficulty in finding work in Italy and saved money to live on before I came (approx 6k euros), I've used this to pay her mother for rent. My partner also pays her mother rent and all our services are included in the rental fee and paid for directly by her mother so we don't have proof of joint utility bills for electric/gas etc because of this. We have however recently opened a joint savings account in preparation for my partner and I to save money to cover the costs of coming to Australia. We also have rent receipts produced. We also don't own a car as public transport is good here so don't have joint car documents. We do have lots of official paperwork though in seperate names to our address at my partners mothers house in Italy proving we've lived together. My partner speaks and writes fluent English her occupation is an apprentice hairstylist (with 3 years experience). Providing statements and witness statements of our relationship from friends wont be a problem. We want to, but can't register a civil partnership here, as Italian law doesn't recognise civil partnerships, does this grant us any special circumstance waivers? Although our relationship started in May 2010 I was previously married (but seperated for some time and awaiting divorce), my divorce was finalised in Jan 2010 before I moved to Italy. So technically I was still married whilst we were together in a relationship. Will this have a negative effect on the way our relationship is viewed for the period? e.g. will they only consider our relationship from the date of my divorce. Q 1) I am concerned whether the defacto visa is the right one for us at this stage and because of the 12 month cohabiting rule that we don't meet (at the moment) and looks extremely strict..... or is our case so unique that we have a good chance of being accepted? Q 2) Or would a better option be for my partner to apply for a tourist visa to come and "visit" me in Australia and live together there making up the shortfall of time cohabiting? If we did this, would the time spent living together on my partners tourist visa count so we meet the 12-month cohabiting rule thus enabling us to apply for a defacto visa eventually? Q 3) Are there any other better options? Please help! All the information I'm getting conflicts!!!!!!!!! thx Leonard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Sorry I'm not qualified to answer your questions but want to wish you both luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Hi, the main issue that you have with your plan is that you cannot sponsor your partner for a defacto visa until you become a permanent resident (i.e. move to a different visa than a 457). Your partner may be able to added to your 457 as a secondary applicant (the living together rules are less stringent for this). The best advice I can offer is to speak to a MARA registered agent to get proper advice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Leonard Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Thanks for the reply Peach, the company are indeed going to be putting my partner on a 457 visa as the second applicant. How do you know that the living together rules are less stringent for this all the documentation??? I've read on the immi website says 12 months for defacto partners on the fact sheet 35. I must be missing something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 From the checklist for 457 visas : http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skilled-workers/_pdf/457-application-checklist.pdf De facto partnerIf you have a de facto partner you must provide independent evidence of a mutually exclusive relationship. Evidence you can provide to the department may include, but is not limited to: • evidence of co-habitation • joint bank accounts statements • joint ownership of property • billing accounts in joint names. You will note that the 12 month requirement is not listed. Fact sheet 35 relates to permanent residents and citizens wishing to sponsor their partners for permanent residence. Certain people wanting to settle in Australia permanently as the de facto partner of an Australian sponsor are required to be in a relationship with that sponsor for at least one year before they can apply.You are not a permanent resident and your are not sponsoring your partner, hence this rule is not applied to you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Leonard Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Ahh right, thanks Peach that's good news that's where I was getting panicky looking at the fact sheet 35 for the PR's didn't realise that :embarrassed:. Love the loophole this 457 gives us, avoiding the 12 months will certainly help us out, we'd also rather do it this route than mess around with tourist applications etc as that may look dodgey. My new company is also going to be using a registered agent for the process so I'll be getting some legal advice soon on the specifics of our application...... thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Thanks for the reply Peach, the company are indeed going to be putting my partner on a 457 visa as the second applicant. How do you know that the living together rules are less stringent for this all the documentation??? I've read on the immi website says 12 months for defacto partners on the fact sheet 35. I must be missing something. There is no living together rule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittsantos Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Hi there, I may have the same issue. Me and my partner met in 2009 and have been in a relationship for 6+ years now. He lives in the Philippines and I was based in Singapore for 6 years and couldn't be together permanently, especially with both countries not having equal rights to live together. I moved to Canberra with a 457 visa We also have a joint bank account My questions are: 1. Do we need statutory declaration for us and friends/relatives as witnesses? I found that it doesn't have any options for us for long distance. Or this doesn't apply to my situation? (https://www.border.gov.au/Visasupport/PublishingImages/Trav/Visa/Appl/Partner/stat_dec_sponsor.pdf) 2. I called immigration and said i need to provide a letter from my sponsor they are willing to include my partner as secondary applicant @Leonard How did your application go? Thanks very much, Kitt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisella Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Hi Kitt - I'm not sure if you've noticed but the orginal post (and corresponding advice) was from 2011 so the original poster may no longer be on the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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