This article is useful if you hope to understand how to get your partner a visa for Australia, where one partner is an Australian citizen or permanent resident (or an eligible New Zealand citizen).
If you are looking for a visa that allows both partners to be temporary residents in Australia, this article is not for you. In that instance, you will almost certainly require a dependent work visa or a dependent student visa. In such instances, one partner becomes a dependent in the visa application of the other partner. Book a call with me to discuss your circumstances.
If you are worried about a visa refusal then read my guide on avoiding a partner visa refusal here.
One common question I get asked is what to do in these circumstances:
“I have found my partner and wish to get married to this person. What visa application do I lodge and do I make an offshore application for a partner visa or do I bring that partner onshore and lodge the application onshore …. and one more question… Do I get married first overseas and if I do get married, can the marriage be a court marriage or a ceremonial marriage or both?”
The short answer to this question is that if you have a choice of making an onshore application compared to an offshore application, I would always advise seeking to make the application in Australia.
One reason for this is that you would ordinarily get a bridging visa if an application is lodged within Australia.
Another reason is that if you do suffer a refusal then it is typically much easier to appeal against the refusal because all parties can attend a hearing in front of a Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal who re-considers the visa refusal decision.
Of course, the main reason is that you and your partner can stay together whilst Immigration is processing your visa application, rather than one partner being onshore and the other partner being offshore for the duration of the processing time.
My current experience is that visa processing times for offshore and onshore visa applications are 21 months give or take 7 months.
Use this link to check out the current partner visa processing times as published by the Department of Home Affairs.
One really basic question is whether the offshore partner can come to Australia on a visitor visa or a similar temporary visa.
Let’s take an example of an Asian partner who is easily able to obtain a visitor visa to come to Australia. If the visa granted to the Asian partner is not impugned with an 8503 “no further stay condition”, then the common practice is for the offshore partner to grab a visitor visa to enter Australia and then lodge a partner visa immediately after arrival.
Let’s take another example of a partner from the Middle East who is finding it difficult to get a visitor visa to enter Australia. In such a case it might be quicker to simply lodge an offshore partner visa application.
If it is expected that any visitor visa will be refused (as is not uncommon from Middle Eastern countries at present) or if any visitor visa that is granted will be encumbered with a “no further stay condition”, then you should proceed directly to lodging an offshore partner visa application.
The condition means that even if you can get a visitor visa to bring your partner into Australia, there is a restriction on making any partner visa application onshore.
So there’s no point really if you are focused on getting a visa as quickly as possible, you might as well lodge offshore.
Of course, you need to be in a genuine and continuing relationship. This relationship needs to be at the exclusion of others.
Sham marriages, contract marriages, fabricated de facto relationships or simple boyfriend and girlfriend relationships will not meet the requirements to be “genuine and continuing” for the purposes of a partner visa.
I often get asked whether or not arranged marriages meet the definition of genuine and continuing relationships. Of course, they do! In fact, I myself had an arranged marriage. Some people prefer to call it an introduced marriage.
There is nothing in Australian migration law that prevents partners who have had the benefit of friends and relatives arranging their introduction, from meeting any genuine and continuing relationship requirement.
Similarly, there is nothing in Australian migration law that prohibits partners of the same sex (homosexual couples) from being in genuine and continuing relationships for the purposes of a partner visa.
Generally, you need to go through a set of questions for the partner who is sponsoring and another set of questions for the partner who was being sponsored for this visa.
The first question I would like to know is whether or not the partner who is seeking to sponsor is in fact an Australian citizen or permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.
The second question is whether or not the sponsor has been previously sponsored for a partner visa or sponsored another person for a partner visa. This is important because there are restrictions on how many times you can sponsor or be sponsored and if you are to do it more than once then there is a period of 5 years that must elapse between the sponsorships.
An important third question is whether the sponsor has any criminal record particularly if it relates to domestic violence. In Australia family violence and domestic violence, I mean the same thing.
The 5th question is whether or not the sponsor can meet his or her obligations in supporting the partner.
Please share your comments with me.
I’d love to know more about your experience with applying for this visa subclass!
Read more about De Facto Visa (Partner Visa) Tips for Refusal
View Comments
my name is john gardner i married a filipino woman in november 2019 and she was given a resident visa in 2022 but we are now seperated and will be divorced as i was taken advantage of in a very big way she has returned to the philippines on 7/3/2023 so im asking can the visa be canceled as i no longer wish to be envolved with this person or my sponsership of her .thank you .john gardner
Hey there, I have an ex partner on a defacto partnership visa for 15yrs and we broke up 10 yrs ago. I want him off my visa, anything I can do?
Hi Nilesh
I am an Australian citizen been here 30+ years from uk, I have reconnected with my precious parter in the UK and we intend to live together in QLD Australia with the potential of getting married, I am 62 my UK partner is 64, what is the best and cheapest way we can make this a reality for us?
My ex and I were on 482 and 186 visas, I was the secondary applicant.
And after we had our citizenship, we broke up after 6 years of being together.
Could he or I still be able to sponsor 2 partners in our life after that? Thanks
Hi Nilesh,
Thank you for an informative article. Me and my partner of 6 years are in a bit of cross roads as to what Visas would apply to us. We're both Maltese nationals. My partner is 33, a bachelor graduated mechanical engineer and has 9 years experience in the field, so a skilled Visa 189 is suitable to him. However, I am 31 and just graduated with bachelors last June in IT (Multimedia) so I have no experience yet. We would like to permanently move to Australia.
We're thinking maybe he applies for the skilled 189 and sponsors me as a partner. What do you think is the best way for us to move forward please?
Any help is highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Mandy
Hello, at the moment is it likely for Russian citizens to get a no further stay on their visitor visa? I wish to get my partner here on a visitor visa because we have not met face to face before, so we do not yet meet the requirements for a partner visa. If I were to get my partner here on a visitor visa, marry, and then apply for an onshore partner visa, would that be a viable pathway? Thank you
Good Morning Nilesh,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to ask you important inquiries.
I am an Australian Citizen. I am Genuinely married for almost 2 years. I am about to lodge my wife's permanent Visa application in a few week's time. Someone told me that my wife needs to do the IELTS test with a required score if I lodge the application after the 1st of July 2021. Is that correct?
Hi Nilesh,
What’s the difference between
-Date applicant and sponsor committed to a shared life together to the exclusion of all others
And
- Date committed de facto relationship began
Out of these two, where should i put moving in together date and where should i put the date about officially announcing relationship beyond dating?
Thanks & Happy Easter
Hi Nilesh,
Am Australian citizen now and looking to sponsor my partner as a defecto. We have been in relationship over 2 years and have sufficient proofs to verify our relationship. We are also going to register our relationship to be on safe side. We both were married before and currently divorced. I was sponsored by my ex partner on partner visa. My lodgement date was dec 2012 but my visa was granted in Jan 2018. So i want to ask 2 things:-
1- does 5 year rule applies on me too?
2- if yes, from when they will start counting 5 years, from the date i applied for visa which was dec 2012? Or the date i was granted the visa which was Jan 2018?
Garry
1. Yes.
2. 2012.
Thanks
Nilesh
Thank you Nilesh for your swift reply.
I’s applying for a partner or marriage visa going to let my partner come to Sydney with the border shut