Partner Visas remain one of the most common methods of permanent migration to Australia. Each year, approximately 45,000 people migrate to Australia on the basis of a partnership with an eligible sponsor for Australian migration. There are three main types of partner visas. The first is for married couples, the second is for defacto couples, the third is the prospective marriage visa which is also known as the fiance visa. For all of these types of visas, the requirement for sponsoring partner is that they are an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen. The predicted trend is also that partner visa applications are also predicted to rise in the future years and for this reason the government projecting upwards of 50,000 partner visa applications being granted every year.

What do you need to be able to get a partnership visa?

Apart from being in a relationship with the categories of people referred to above, the relationship must be genuine and ongoing. You must live with your partner or, if you do not, any separation must be only temporary. Both parties must freely consent to the relationship.

You might be able to be granted this visa if:

your relationship breaks down and there is a child of the relationship
your partner dies and you can show that your relationship would have continued if your partner had lived and you have close business, cultural or personal ties in Australia
your relationship breaks down and you or members of your family unit have suffered family violence.

De facto applicants

Usually your de facto relationship must have existed for at least 12 months before you apply for this visa. Time spent dating does not count towards a de facto relationship. In some circumstances, you can also get a partner visa with a relationship shorter than 12 months if you can demonstrate compelling and compassionate circumstances, such as having dependent children or where your de facto relationship has been registered in Australia.

You also need to meet the standard health and character requirements for permanent residency in Australia which are common to all forms of permanent residency in Australia.

Requirements for Sponsors of Partner Visa Applications

There are some basic restrictions on partner visa sponsors. Generally, you cannot sponsor someone for a partner visa if you yourself were sponsored for it in the last 5 years. Also, if you have already sponsored two people for partner migration to Australia, you are unlikely to have a third sponsorship application granted. And if you sponsored someone in the last 5 years, you will also be unlikely to be able sponsor someone again.

What is the 457 Visa?

The 457 is a temporary work visa granted to people that have a sponsorship from an eligible Australian employer. It is a very common pathway for the achievement of permanent residence when it is coupled with the Employer Nomination Subclass 186.

It it possible to gain employment through the 457 skill select system by submitting an expression of interest to the skill select system. This makes your application available to employers to look at and can result in an offer of a job and an employer nomination for your visa.

Applying for a 457

To apply for this type of visa, you must be nominated to work in an approved occupation on the Skilled Occupation Lists and meet the skill requirements for the nominated occupation as well as the registration and licensing obligations. You need to have a nomination from an approved business and prove that you can speak vocational English as proven by an IELTS result above 5. To show that you have the relevant skills, you may need to submit a skills assessment or evidence of your professional licensing in conjunction with employer references. People with passports from from Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom or the United States of America are exempt from the English language requirement.

You will also need to pass health examinations which are valid for 12 months from the time that they are done. A person on a 457 Visa is responsible for all their own medical expenses while they are in Australia because they are not eligible for Medicare unless their country has a reciprocal health care agreement with Australia. Usually, there is a need to have health insurance to cover the gap where there is not any Medicare cover available which is the most common scenario. You also need to make sure that you have met the character requirements for the visa.

Permanent Migration through the Subclass 186

Once you have been in Australia for longer than 2 years, it is possible to make an application with the Employer Nomination Subclass 186 Visa which is the most common way that people on 457s become permanent residents. Because most people on a 457 visa do not change their employers, the employer is happy to arrange sponsorship for the Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Visa after a worker has been with the business on a 457 visa. It can aid the business because the person has a proven record of working with the business and if they gain the security of having permanent residency, this aids the business with retention of valuable staff.

If you would like more information about using the 457 Visa as a pathway to permanent residency, we have a number of lawyers that are experts in this field who can assist with the process.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has announced a planned reform to Australia’s Significant Investor Scheme. Currently, the scheme simply requires that $5 million is invested in Commonwealth, state or territory government bonds or ASIC-­regulated ­managed funds or invest directly in an Australian proprietary company. However, the new minister for immigration has promised that a range of other investments will become available under the changes currently being planned by the government. At the moment it takes 9 months for these visas to be processed but the minister wants this drastically reduced because the long processing time is putting off would be SIV applicants and causing them to look for alternatives in other countries.

The minister also highlighted that Australia needs to be able attract migrants who have demonstrated great skills of entrepreneurship and have the potential to grow and expand the economy, create jobs and increase the wealth of Australia and its future generations. It was also highlighted that there is a need for the visa to allow citizens to emigrate to Australia whilst remaining free to operate businesses which almost certainly have a global dimension. The government is outlining a scheme to ensure that the department of immigration’s capacity to assess these visas is also increased to avoid delays in processing.

We are pleased to be able to offer premium immigration services to those looking to immigrate to Australia on the basis of a significant investor visa. Our firm has a long experience of the immigration system and we have staff fluent in a variety of languages to assist clients with the migration process.

We are pleased to announce a new partnership with our friends at Rand Rescue who specialised in liberating savings trapped by the mountain of government regulation in South Africa. There is a long history of immigration from South Africa to Australia and our South African clients have almost made it clear to us that one of the great difficulties with leaving South Africa is knowing what will happen to your savings when you leave because of the immensely restrictive foreign exchange laws in operation in South Africa.

We are pleased to have been able to form a personal relationship with the founder of the business, Mr Rudi Stander, who is consummate veteran of the banking and foreign exchange industry. The core values of the business are to provide practical, swift and cost effective solutions to South Africans wanting to be re-united with their funds. They also assist with the liberation of funds from other jurisdictions although their speciality is in the South African market.

Contact:

info@randrescue.com
Web: http://www.randrescue.com

Phone:

(New Zealand): +64 9 972 0857
Address: 18 Canaveral Drive, Albany, North Shore 0632

Why Study in Australia?

As a proportion of its overall population, Australia has the greatest number of international students in the world. For its population, Australia also has the largest number of the worlds top 100 universities of any nation. In fact, Australia is ranked number eight in the world for its Tertiary Education System on an absolute basis. In 2012, over 500,000 students from overseas enrolled to study in Australian Universities.

Also, there are a number of indications that the living environment for students in Australia is excellent when you look at the top rated cities in the world for students. This analysis was based on a combination of factors like the availability of accommodation, quality of living standards and job prospects subsequent to graduation. There are also a number of scholarships provided by the Australian government to international students.

The breadth of subjects available to study in Australia is also vast. In the humanities, sciences, technology, medicine and law there is at least one university operating at the highest possible level globally located in Australia. There are nearly 3 million people living in Australia who were once international students but subsequently settled and found work in Australia. Some of the examples of innovations from Australia which have improved the lives of millions of people around the world include wifi, penicillin, IVF, the bionic ear, black box flight recorders and the vaccine for cervical cancer.

What do you need to study in Australia?

If you are considering pursuing your education in Australia, you will need to think about the requirements that this country and most universities have for studying here.

The first is that you will usually need to be able show that you have a sufficient level of English when assessed against the IELTS standard. The only exception to this may be when you are applying from a country where the native language is English. This is usually both a requirement of the student visa system and the University entry requirements in place with most universities.

The next thing that you will need to think about is what level of academic qualification you will need to have to gain admission to the course that you want to study. You need to consult the requirements of the course provider for the course that you intend to enrol in and carefully examine whether you meet the requirements. Also, course providers will almost always provide information about entry into the course to prospective students. Most courses require at least a basic grasp of English. Different courses will also have different requirements relating to school attainment, prior tertiary education, work experience, professional qualifications and vocational training.

What Visa Do You Need?

There are a variety of different student visas for different types of courses. However, you will need a few general items such as an electronic Confirmation of Enrolment (eCoE) certificate, proof of funds available for airfares, course fees and living costs, English language test scores, a health test, a police check and suitable student health insurance. We can assist with the process of obtaining a visa and if you are interested in applying for a student visa to Australia please do not hesitate to contact us using the contact form at the top right of this page.