Top Tips for lodging an Australian Partner Visa

With over 60 years of combined experience in the immigration industry, here are out top tips to consider when lodging a partner visa to maximise your chances and a successful application.

Choose the right partner visa

• Subclass 309 – Partner (Provisional) Visa- offshore
• Subclass 100 – Partner (Migrant) Visa – offshore
• Subclass 820 – Partner Visa (Temporary)- onshore
• Subclass 801 – Partner Visa (Permanent)- onshore
• Subclass 300 – Prospective Marriage Visa- offshore

Don’t assume that you are guaranteed visa approval

Regardless of whether you are married or have your relationship registered, no applicant is guaranteed success. It is extremely important that you provide a range of evidence sources to support your application, as your relationship will be assessed on your ability to demonstrate commitment and genuineness.

Make your relationship known to friends and family

It will be quite difficult to prove that you are in a genuine and continuing relationship if you can’t provide letters of support from family and friends, or photos of you and your partner at social outings or events.

Communicate with your partner regularly

Particularly if you have been in a long-distance relationship, it is extremely important that you communicate with your partner regularly and maintain records of your communication. This will not only verify the duration of your relationship, but it will also show the case officer the nature of your relationship and degree of commitment. Your relationship will seem a lot more genuine if you communicate with your partner regularly and can show evidence of this.

Share your finances

One of the things, a case officer, will look into to determine the genuineness of your relationship with your partner is finances. It is, therefore, crucial to show how you and your partner share and manage your finances as a couple. The best way to prove this is to open a joint bank account. Buy your groceries, pay rent and other expenses from that bank account. If you are unable to open a joint bank, evidence of money transfers between your account and your partner’s account can also be great evidence.

Update the address of your bills & letters

It is a requirement of a partner visa that the applicant and sponsor live together or do not live separately and apart on a permanent basis. For this reason, it is important that you can show evidence of joint residency. Updating the address on the bills and letters is a great way to show that you and your partner are living in the same address.

Keep records

While you wait for the Department to process the second stage of your partner visa, remember to keep a record of the relationship. This is because the Department is likely to ask for further documents to show the continuity of the relationship. Remember to save all the photos of you and your partner at social events, family gatherings and travels.

Decision ready application

Partner visas can take years to process. However, you can prevent further delays by ensuring that you lodge a ‘decision-ready’ application. Decision-ready application is essentially lodging all the relevant supporting documents at the time of application. If all relevant documents are submitted, it will prevent the case officer sending out a request for information which adds to the delay of the processing time.