Working holiday > partner visa? Any other way to migrate?

[Guest georgie2810]

Hi everyone,

 

A bit of help here would be so appreciated!

 

I (native Adelaidean) met my partner (Brit) about 9 months ago while travelling in Kenya. A bit of a cliche, but it was love at first sight and after 3 cross-continental trips (I'm in beautiful West Sussex at the moment!) he has made the decision to migrate to Australia.

 

As he is 25, our rough plan is for him to come over temporarily on a working holiday visa to live in Adelaide while we meet the 12 month de facto relationship criteria. However, we are concerned that this may be 'frowned upon' by DIAC when we finally apply for the partner visa.

 

Alternatively, he currently works in Project Administration which is on the CSOL list, but only with 18 months experience (states it requires 3 years, or a degree/diploma). He does have a degree, but it is in an unrelated field (Environmental Science) so I'm not sure if he would meet the criteria as required by Vetassess.

 

I'm not sure if anyone can give us help as to question one (would it be a bad idea to get a working holiday visa and then apply for a partner visa?) or question two (could he count his environmental science degree toward the requirements to meet the CSOL list, even though it is an unrelated field?)

 

Thank you so much in advance

 

Georgie

[Blossom]

If I were you I'd go for the WHV. It isn't frowned upon at all, or they wouldn't let people do it.

The other way is just going to be very hard and long drawn out with his lack of experience etc. I'm guessing you want to be together sooner rather than later.

Get as much evidence of you living together now, even if you are travelling together, then you can apply just before the WHV runs out. A bridging visa will then be issued until the partner visa is approved.

 

Good luck.

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

Yep agree with Blossom......we have a couple of friend who started out on WHV, met partners here and then went onto partner visas, wasn't a problem for either.

[snifter]

Yes, the WHV is fine.

 

Be aware you need to account for 12 months de facto prior to lodging your application. 11 months and a 15-20 days won't cut it. SA does not register relationships so there is no waiver on this as there is in other states. However, if you were to live in a state that does register relationships, then the 12 month aspect isn't a worry (see the partner visa migration booklet link below for more on this). But you'd need to reside in that state for it to be a viable option.

 

If you are going to be living in SA there are two ways to go about the partner visa application, either do as Blossom suggested and start gathering your de facto evidence from now (and prior if you can prove you were a couple as in more than BF and GF). This means if you are sharing an address currently in the UK and getting official post to one or the other or both of you (but it needs to be both of you getting the post, not just one), like NI or tax stuff, bank statements (joint or single and if single accounts, showing you transferring funds to each other would be useful there), named driver on the others car insurance, mobile phone bills to you both, one paying the internet bill, the other the gas bill, anything that will be recognised as supporting evidence putting you as living at the same address at the same time, preferably something from each month. Simply saying you were/are living together won't cut it for your CO. You need to be able to show this in a paper trail. If you've been travelling together, as a couple, show travel itinerary, flights taken together and passports stamped on entry and departure, travel insurance naming you both. Bookings where you are sharing a room in the hotel/hostel etc. All those are good. Listing each other in wills or on life insurance policies is also good. You can then lodge short of the 12 months of the WHV as you'll have evidence supporting your de facto status for 12 months and more if you can starting gathering it from now. Apply once you reach the 12 month mark de facto mark or wait a bit till nearer the WHV running out and lodge then, so you'll have time to gather more evidence to chuck in. Personally, I'd lean toward the latter as I'd like to cover more than just 12 months on the dot and have an extra month, two or three to cover and supply evidence for.

 

If you cannot gather the supporting evidence you'll need later on prior to arriving in Aus, then consider your partner doing the 3 months regional work to gain the second year and then using that to its fullest so you can lodge closer to the end of the second year. The whole of SA is classed as regional so finding the work required to gain the second year should not be difficult. Just ensure its the correct listed regional work and its all officially logged and your partner gets salary slips showing hours worked etc to ensure he can prove his 3 months/hours/days worked to apply. It gives you a chance to both be named on a property lease, to have all the things required for your application.

 

Lodging on shore, once the current visa expires, a bridging visa with full work rights is issued. On shore applications are currently running at about 13 months, give or take.

 

If you've not read it, make the partner visa migration booklet your bedtime reading http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1127.pdf

[Guest georgie2810]

Wow, thank you SO much everyone for all your assistance. We are so appreciative! Makes our dream sound a bit more realistic now.

 

I'm living here in England for the next 3 months on a tourist visa, I am already named on the lease agreement & car insurance, but we will also look at collecting other documents too. Sounds like we will be starting up a folder! This is also good news for us because the partner visa is very expensive, especially after a number of trips between Australia and the UK, so it will be good for us to have a year to save for it.

 

Again thank you so much for your help!