Making the transition to permanent residency once you are in Australia is an important step that entitles you to a number of benefits and cements your place in Australian society with almost all of the rights of an Australian Citizen.  You gain entitlements to medicare, social security benefits, the right to sponsor others to come to Australia and free education for your children.  You can become a full citizen after 4 years of living lawfully in Australia and 1 year of being a permanent resident.  It also gives you the right to stay in Australia for 5 years after which you apply for a resident return visa which is a relatively simple matter.  You also gain the benefit of being able to live in Australian independently from the requirements of a temporary visa such as employer sponsorship the requirement to study or having to consistently renew your temporary visa.

One of the most common paths to permanent residency in Australia is achieved when people are currently working on a 457 visa in Australia and then apply for a Employer Nominated Subclass 186 Visa.  One of the main reasons for this is that by working on a 457 visa for more than 2 years is accepted by the government as having proved the value of your skills in the Australian labor market.  There are basically two ways to achieve permanent residency through the Subclass 186 Visa if you already have a 457 visa.  The first is called the ‘Temporary Residence Transition Scheme’, the second is called the ‘Direct Entry’ Scheme.

Temporary Residence Transition

If you have been working in Australia under a 457 visa for 2 years with the same employer in the same nominated occupation, you are most likely eligible to apply for the Subclass 186 Temporary Residence Transition Scheme.  You will need your current employer to nominate you for a permanent position.

Direct Entry

The direct entry scheme is for people that have not been working for 2 years or more.  It requires you to obtain a skills assessment for the nominated occupation that you are applying under and to be able to demonstrate that you have more than 3 years work experience in the relevant field.  The direct entry stream also requires a nomination from an employer for a valid position.

Together, the direct entry and temporary residence transition scheme are the two most common ways of transitioning to permanent residency in the Australian migration program.  If you would like to discuss your options in relation to migration further, or your require assistance in the preparation of your visa application we would welcome your inquiry.

The Working Holiday visa (subclass 417) is a short-term visa for young people that would like to holiday and work for as much as a year. It’s a short-term visa that supports closer ties and cultural exchange between Australia and states that are eligible.

First Working Holiday visa: You have to be outside Australia when the visa is determined and when you apply to your first Working Holiday visa.

This visa permits one to:

stay in Australia for as many as 12 months
Work in Australia with each company for up to six months
study for up to four months
Leave while the visa is legal, and re-enter Australia any number of times.

You might be able to get this visa if you:

– are at least 18 but not yet 31 years of age
– have not previously entered Australia on a Work and Holiday (Temporary) visa (subclass 462)
– hold a valid passport from a country associated with the Working Holiday Program with Australia
– are a genuine visitor who wants to truly have a holiday in Australia
– Have enough cash to support yourself on a working vacation (about AUD 5000)
– Have enough cash to buy onward travel ticket or a return at the conclusion of your stay
– Will not be accompanied by dependent children at any given time during your stay.

Second Working Holiday Visa

To submit an application for a second Working Holiday (Temporary) visa (subclass 417), you must:

– Have complied with all the conditions on the first visa
– Haven’t previously held more than one Working Holiday visa
– Have completed three months of stated work in regional Australia while on your own first Working Holiday visa.

If you’re in Australia, and desire to remain onshore, you should apply for a second Working Holiday visa before your first Working Holiday visa expires.

Health requirements

You have to meet certain health conditions. The health assessments you need depends on your own personal circumstances, including your amount of stay, state time spent in another country through the last five years as well as your planned actions in Australia. The outcomes of your health examinations are usually valid for 12 months.

Health insurance

You’re responsible for all of your health costs when you are in Australia. You may not be covered by Australia’s national health scheme (Medicare) unless your state has a reciprocal healthcare arrangement with Australia.

We recommend that you just take out health insurance each time you travel to Australia.

Character requirements

You have to meet character conditions. You should be prepared to supply a police certificate from each country you’ve lived in for 12 months or more during the past 10 years after you turned 16 years of age. Do not arrange for police certificates until we request you to.

To apply for this particular visa, you should hold a valid passport from a country involved with Australia in the Working Holiday Plan. Eligible states are:

Belgium
Canada
Republic of Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (including British National Overseas passport holders)
Republic of Ireland
Italy
Japan
Republic of Korea
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Sweden
Taiwan
United Kingdom.

Lately a visa has been created by the Australian Government for Engineering Graduates from Australian Universities to remain in Australia. You do not need a skills assessment to acquire this visa for those who own a degree recognized in the visa system. You can most likely work under this particular visa and create yourself before trying to get permanent residency in the end of the 18 month span.

The Skilled — Recognised Graduate visa (subclass 476) enables recent engineering graduates of universities that are eligible to gain up to 18 months of proficient work experience in vocations. It is a short-term visa. A New Zealand citizen who holds a Special Category visa (subclass 444) can be in or outside Australia when the visa is determined.

This visa allows you and your loved ones stay in Australia for as much as 18 months. You can while in Australia:

– travel
– work
– enrol in further studies that are professional
– study to develop your English skills.

You may manage to get a Proficient — Recognised Graduate visa (subclass 476) if:

– you can present your English language skill
– you meet health and character requirements.

Your engineering qualifications

In the two years before you apply, you have to have finished among these qualifications in engineering:

bachelors degree
masters degree
doctoral degree
postgraduate diploma.
Your qualification must have a major sequence of specialisation or study in engineering, for example:

civil engineering
structural engineering
chemical engineering
environmental engineering
Electric and electronics engineering
Mechanical, production and plant engineering
mining and material engineering.

Recognised institutions

You must have completed your engineering qualification in a recognised educational institution. Study at college or an institution that is affiliated using a recognised institution doesn’t satisfy this requirement.

English language skill

Otherwise, you need to attain a score in all the four components of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or another language test and score assigned by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Your evaluation must be completed by you before you apply. From a test, the score has to be from 1 July 2012 before you apply, that you sat no more than three years.

The IELTS comes with an academic test and a general training test. You need just take the general training test.

Health conditions

You must meet certain health conditions. The health evaluations you need is determined by your personal circumstances, including your state of citizenship, time spent in a different country through the past five years and your planned activities in Australia. Your health examinations’ outcomes are usually valid for 12 months.

This applies to you and any dependent family members contained in your application.

You can organise your health examinations upfront.

Character requirements

Specific character requirements must be met by you. You need to be willing to give a police certificate from every state you’ve got lived in for 12 months or more during the previous a decade after you turned 16 years old. Don’t arrange for police certificates until we request you to.

This also applies to all dependent relatives in the use who are 16 years old or older.

Debts

You should have no outstanding debts to the Australian Government or have arranged before this visa may be granted to repay any outstanding debts.

This also applies to all dependent family members in your application who are 18 years old or older.

For General Skilled Migration to Australia, you must have the capacity to meet the following fundamental requirements:

Age

You must be less than 45 years old when you apply.

English language

To work in a skilled occupation in Australia you must have an acceptable level of English.  To get a General Skilled Migration visa have to have ‘competent’ English. A further exception applies to applicants who will satisfy with the English language threshold if they have ‘concessional qualified’ English and therefore are sponsored through an eligible relative or a participating state or territory. For some professional vocations, the evaluating authority will demand a higher level of English included in their abilities evaluation procedure.

You’ve up before the time of decision to give evidence that you just meet with the English language requirement.  Still, it is best to provide evidence that you meet the English language condition at the time you use as a decision on your own application will not be delayed if evidence does not accompany the application. A determination on the after the application was received according to the program might be made without evidence available.

In addition, you meet with the English language threshold in case you are, and hold a passport that is valid from a citizen of, among the following countries:

— the United States of America;
— Canada;
— New Zealand.

Qualifications

You should have already been awarded a post secondary qualification that is at least Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) certificate III or IV. In addition you need to have your skills assessed by the relevant assessing authority as appropriate for working in your nominated profession.

In exceptional cases if an applicant without a post secondary qualification
Nominates a very specialized 60 point skilled profession and has wide-ranging proficient work experience this may be accepted. This may only be looked at if the evaluating authority has issued a favorable skills assessment on the basis of the applicant’s work expertise in that occupation.

Nominated vocation

When you apply, you should nominate a skilled occupation which fits your abilities and qualifications. Your nominated occupation have to be to the Skilled Occupation Lists (SOL) or the Consolidated Skilled Occupations List. If your nominated occupation is not on the SOL or the CSOL you cannot apply.

Recent work experience

This necessity is different to the demand to have your skills assessed as suitable for your nominated occupation before you apply.  If your nominated occupation isn’t on the Specified Trade Vocations list, you have to supply evidence that you’ve been in paid employment in almost any skilled occupation on the Skilled Occupation Lists (SOL) for at least 12 months in the 24 months immediately before implementing.

In both instances, this period of employment will need to have been accrued when you were in the workplace. This consists of any extended paid leave for example maternity or other family leave. If you’re employing skilled work experience developed in Australia to fulfill this requirement, when and that work must have already been undertaken in the appropriate skill level you held a visa that allowed one to work.

For many skilled professions you may need to really have a longer interval of work experience that is special to be issued with a skills assessment. Recent work experience exemption:

You should note that the 6 month period commences from your exact date of conclusion of the qualification, rather than from the exact date the qualification was conferred, in the event you intend taking advantage of the concession. This exemption cannot be employed to waive any specific work experience requirement imposed by an assessing body within a skills appraisal.

Abilities assessment

You should have had your abilities evaluated as suitable for your profession, before you apply by an evaluating authority. You also should figure out if the occupation you’ve got nominated demands you to be registered, licensed, or be an associate of a professional or industry organisation. An Australian qualification must have already been granted as an effect of undertaking a full time CRICOS registered class while being the holder of an eligible student visa, where it is employed as the basis for a skills appraisal.

These evaluating authorities are not employment agencies, and are responsible for undertaking skills evaluation for migration purposes. The evaluating authorities will not respond to requests for job placement. Nor can they give advice on the allocation. Besides your skills appraisal, you might need before you’re able to work in the state or territory where you settle, to acquire licensing or enrollment in your profession. You can also require additional training or membership of a certain business association. Informative data on licensing, registration, industry associations along with a number of other abilities acknowledgement matters for all occupations on the Skilled Occupations Lists is available from a skills appraisal isn’t required when applying for the Proficient Accepted Grad (subclass 476) visa.

Partner migration is the second most popular method of achieving permanent residency in Australia. Nearly 50,000 couples apply for the partner visa in Australia every year and have their applications granted meaning that it is second only to the employer sponsored visa as a method of gaining permanent residency in Australia.  The benefits of permanent residency are that you can then gain access to social security payments and medicare which is the system of public healthcare funding in Australia.  It also allows you to sponsor other people to come to Australia and you can eventually become an Australian Citizen if you have been living in Australia for at least 4 years on a lawful basis with more than 1 year as a permanent resident.

The 2 principal application forms for applying for partner migration are:

– Form 47SP serves as an application for both the temporary and permanent partner visas and, likewise,
– Form 40SP serves as a sponsorship application for these visas.

Therefore, when you are granted a Partner visa that is temporary, you do not want to lodge another form 47 SP in order for consideration of your permanent visa to occur. At time of publication of this article, the position is that the department may request another completed form 40SP from your sponsor.

In case you are a Prospective Marriage visa applicant, in addition you use the form 47SP and form 40SP. However, if you were granted a Prospective Marriage visa, enter Australia and then marry your fiance(e) while your visa remains legal, you will have to lodge another form 47SP and form 40SP so that you can be considered an applicant to get a Partner visa.

Partner visa application forms are available:

— as PDF files from the department’s website printed out and then filled in; or
— in paper format from your closest office of the Australian immigration department.

Partner Visa Process:

We can advise you on the partner visa process in detail – please contact us about this using the contact forms available on this page.

Supporting documentation

You should make sure that you’ve read through before you lodge your Partner visa application (including Supporting documentation) for your migration to Australia. You should tell the office when you expect to be able to offer them and what records are missing, if you are unable to supply all of the supporting documentation when you lodge your partner visa application. The department may make a decision on the basis of the information you’ve provided in the event you don’t supply all of the required records. Thus, it is in your interests to support your partner visa application at the time you lodge your application with just as much information as you can.

If you are an international student in Australia chances are that you will want to have a path to permanent residency in Australia. There are a lot of options for doing this but it will require some planning. The earlier you start planning to stay in Australia the more likely it is that you will achieve your goal.

There are a number of visas that could lead to permanent residency if you are an international student which include the Subclass 189 Skilled Independent Visa, the Subclass 186 Employer Sponsored Visa, the Subclass 489 Regional Sponsored Migration or, if you develop a relationship with an Australian PR or Citizen, the partner visa. Also, it always a good idea to keep in mind that you could get a Temporary Graduate Subclass 485 Visa which allows you to stay in Australia for 18 months if you have a Bachelor Degree or up to 4 years if you have a Post Graduate degree. Another option that you should consider is applying for a job as a 457 holder and then becoming a permanent resident after 2 years of working for the same employer.

Basically Permanent Residency in Australia is based on the following factors: English language ability, skills in demand from the skilled occupation list, age, educational qualifications and work experience. Under the points test system, there are also points available for state or territory nomination.

1. English Language Ability

This is evidenced by an IELTS Test or OET exam. The minimum score for PR is an IELTS of 6 in all bands or a minimum of B in the OET exam. You can claim more points under the points test if you have higher results in either of these tests.

2. Skilled Occupation List

For independent skilled migration, you need to consider the impact of the skilled occupation list. For sponsored visas, you need to look at what is in the consolidated skilled occupation list. The consolidated list is much longer and should allow you a far greater breadth of employment options.

3. Age

For general skilled migration, you will need to be under 50 years of age which is not a problem for most international students. You can claim points on the points test for being between 20 and 30 or between 30 and 40 as well.

4. Educational Background

Higher education either here or overseas can be claimed for points on the points test. You can claim more points for degrees completed in Australia and even more points for higher degrees such as a master or PhD especially if completed in Australia.

5. Work Experience

If you have overseas or local work experience which is relevant to your nominated occupation, you can claim points for this on the points test. In some cases this will need to be verified through the process of obtaining a skills assessment.

We have helped a number of students navigate the immigration system in order to become permanent residents in Australia and we would be happy to help you achieve the same thing. Please get in contact with us if you would like to know more.

A permanent resident can live, work and study without constraint in Australia.

A permanent resident has most of the rights and entitlements of a citizen, yet there are differences:

Australian Government elections can be voted in by a citizen. In most cases permanent residents cannot, yet if a permanent resident was registered to vote (as a British subject) prior to 1984, they may not remain ineligible to vote.

Qualification for both citizens and noncitizens, for Australian government services and benefits, is the duty of the government agency with policy responsibility for gain or the service.

Following are a few examples:

Social Security

Advice about eligibility for services and benefits ought to be gotten from the Department of Human Services (Centrelink). More information can be found in the Department of Human Services.

The Health Insurance Act 1973 governs eligibility for the Medicare system in Australia. In some instances visitors are eligible to some level of cover by way of a Reciprocal healthcare Agreement between Australia and another country. Eligibility ought to be verified together with the Department of Human Services (Medicare).

Education

Each state government handles the school system within their state. This means they provide resources and regulation for their schools. Both public schools and private schools exist in each state. The program taught in each state or school may vary but the learning places would be the same in all.

The national government supplies the capital for universities in all the states. Each is independent in its governance. They establish class content and their classes. A professional body must support a class for this . Generally, a university class takes four or three years.

Electoral

Eligibility to enrol to vote in federal elections or referendums is restricted to Australian citizens. Permanent residents who have been already registered (as British subjects) as at 25 January 1984 may continue to be qualified to vote. More advice is available at the Australian Electoral Commission.

Citizenship conferral

Qualification for Australian citizenship is regulated by the Australian Citizenship Act 2007. Qualification is available to a “permanent resident” as defined in that Act. More info is available on the Citizenship web site.

Migration sponsorship

Qualification to sponsor a man for a long-term visa is governed by the Migration Regulations 1994. Eligibility can be obtained to Australian permanent residents, Australian citizens and Eligible New Zealand citizens.

The Resident Return visa enables you to regain or keep your status.
All non-citizens need a visa which allows them to enter and remain in Australia.
You cannot apply for this particular visa if:
You were issued among the following records which still remains valid now:
An Authority To Return (ATR) between 30 October 1979 and 1 March 1976, or
A Return Sanction (RE) between 1 November 1979 and 31 December 1986.
These records still ought to be valid now if:
They’ve not been cancelled
They have not been stopped by the grant of another visa
you have returned to Australia within 3 years of each departure
you have not become an Australian Citizen.
You are sent a notice regarding the possible cancellation of your most recent permanent visa under section 134 of the Act and no cancellation decision has been taken.
Your most recent permanent visa was cancelled under section 134 of the Act and the cancellation conclusion is not set by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
You may be able if you should be to be granted this visa:
an Australian permanent resident
a former Australian permanent resident whose last permanent visa had not been cancelled
A former Australian citizen who lost or renounced your citizenship.
A ‘former Australian permanent resident’ includes anyone who was recognised as a permanent resident under the migration arrangements that employed at time they were in Australia.
Subclass 155 Resident Return visa
You might be able to be granted this visa
Have spent a period totalling two years in the past five years as citizen or an Australian permanent resident (the ‘residence requirement’).
Have not spent two of the last five years as a permanent resident or citizen in Australia, but can fill the processing officer that you have considerable business, cultural, employment or personal ties of advantage and:
Are lodging while in Australia and can show convincing reasons for any continuous absence from Australia of over five years;
Are lodging while overseas, were a permanent resident or citizen when you last departed Australia and can show convincing reasons for any constant absence of more than five years from Australia;
Are staying while overseas, were citizen or a permanent resident in the last ten years and can show convincing reasons for lack(s) over five years;
Prerequisites for considerable ties of gain to Australia
Business ties: If you are claiming business ties with Australia, you will need to provide proof of the ties and they are of advantage to Australia. You will have to prove you have considerable ownership interests in the business and are involved at a senior grade in the day to day operations and direction of the business that. The business activity needs to be ongoing, routine activity that has an intention to make a profit, is commercial in nature and has a system of record keeping and management that substantiates the business activity asserted.
Ethnic ties: There are a range of religious, sporting or intellectual, artistic pursuits that are not strictly of an employment or business nature but may be thought of as a cultural tie to Australia. Oftentimes it’s not unlikely that the reasons asserted as cultural ties would not be inconsistent with the foundation for the grant of your original visa that is permanent. If you are claiming ethnic ties, you may have to supply evidence your function is adding to Australia’s cultural life. This can include publications you’ve got written, your membership of cultural associations, any media articles about you or evidence of your performances.
Employment ties: To demonstrate you have employment ties to Australia, you must show that you are currently employed, or have a formal offer of employment in Australia, or are employed abroad by an Australian organisation, or can show your employment by a non-Australian organisation has a demonstrable advantage to Australia, for example, working as a representative of Australia for an international organisation.
Personal ties: Large personal ties may be of benefit to Australia if you happen to be, or have been, a participating member of the Australian community and economy. Residing abroad with an Australian citizen associate or living in Australia for a substantial period of time is taken into consideration. Evidence of personal assets or family could also help illustrate personal ties in case you are competent to reveal both of them are considerable and of advantage to Australia.
Subclass 157 Resident Return visa
You might be able to be granted this visa
Have lawfully spent a minumum of one day in the past five years
Journey facility
You have lived in Australia for at least two years of the previous five years and are granted a Subclass 155 Resident Return visa if it’ll have a five year travel facility from date of grant.
In case you are granted a Subclass 155 Resident Return visa because you are a relative of someone who holds a Subclass 155, or who has also applied for Resident Return Visa and meets criteria for grant, in that case your travel facility will be for either per year or under a year from date of grant.
If you’re granted a Subclass 155 Resident Return visa on the basis of your substantial ties of gain to Australia, in that case your travel facility will be from the date of the grant for a year.
Have been an Australian citizen or a permanent resident for the whole interval spent in Australia
Can reveal a compassionate and compelling reason for having to leave Australia or, if you are outside Australia, for leaving when you did
If you have been living outside Australia for over three continuous months immediately before applying, you must also show that you were absent for a compelling and compassionate motive.

The travel facility will be for 3 months from date of grant if you are allowed a Subclass 157 visa.

The temporary Partner visa (subclass 820) lets you live in Australia if you’re the spouse or de facto partner of:

an Australian permanent resident

an eligible New Zealand citizen.

In some conditions the visa can be given where your partner relationship has ended.

You lodge one application form for the long-term and temporary visas and pay one application fee. Your application is processed in two stages, about two years apart.

The temporary Partner visa (subclass 820) is the first stage towards a long-term Partner visa (subclass 801). You must be in Australia when you apply and also when this visa is determined.

You must be married or in a de facto relationship with:

an Australian permanent resident

You must maintain a relationship that is ongoing and genuine. You must live with your partner or, if you don’t, any separation must be just temporary.

The relationship must be freely consented to by both parties.

You may be able to be granted

your relationship breaks down and there is a kid of the relationship

Your partner dies and you’ve got close business, cultural or personal ties in Australia and you can demonstrate that your relationship would have continued if your partner had lived

Your relationship breaks down and you or members of your family unit have endured family violence.

Applicants that are married

Your marriage must be valid . Same-sex marriages, polygamous and underage aren’t legal in Australia. The union could not be invalid under limited conditions if one person is younger than 18 years old. Same-sex couples can apply for this particular visa according to their de facto relationship.

Usually your de facto relationship must have existed for at least 12 months immediately before you apply for this particular visa. Time spent dating doesn’t count towards a de facto relationship.

You can be given a visa

You can attest compassionate and compelling circumstances, such as having children that are dependent

Your partner has been granted a permanent humanitarian visa and your de facto relationship existed before it was given, before the visa was granted and you told us about the relationship,

your de facto relationship was registered in Australia (this isn’t available in all states and territories).

You must also be older than 18 years old and not be related to your partner by family. This implies you cannot have a parent in common, or be an ancestor or descendant of one another.

Expansion of partner visa qualification in Australia

You are barred by this section from applying for another visa while in Australia, except for certain prescribed visa categories, for example a Protection visa or a visa that is Bridging. However, from 14 September 2009 you may be qualified to apply for a Partner visa in Australia if you fulfill particular criteria.

Added standards that should be fulfilled by applicants that are affected in order to make an application that is valid in Australia

For those who have had a visa cancelled or refused since you last entered Australia, there are four criteria that you would need to meet to be able to lodge a valid Partner visa application in Australia. These are:

You must not have had a partner visa refused since you last entered Australia.

Note: Meeting with the criteria will simply enable you to lodge a valid application. In addition, you will be subject to other eligibility conditions for the Partner visa. Once you have made a valid application, you will be assessed against the legislative requirements in the exact same manner as all Partner visa applicants who apply in Australia. Information about applying for a Partner visa in Australia is available.

You must supply with your application two statutory declarations from Australian citizens, eligible New Zealand citizens or Australian permanent residents (other than your partner) supporting the existence of your relationship.

Health requirements

You must meet certain health requirements. The results of your health examinations are normally valid for 12 months. This applies to you and any dependent family members contained in your application.

You are able to organise your health assessments upfront before lodging a visa application.

You might not need to have a health examination if you hold a Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300).

Character conditions

You must meet with particular character conditions. You must supply a police certificate from each nation you’ve lived in for 12 months or more during the previous ten years after you turned 16 years of age.

This applies to all dependent members of the family in the application who are 16 years old or older.

You might not have to provide police certificates if you hold a Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300).

Debts to the Australian Government

You must have no outstanding debts or have organized to refund any outstanding debts before this visa can be granted.

Provide biometrics

You might be asked to supply biometrics (a scientific type of identification) as part of the application. Nations and visa subclasses contained in the biometrics program has more advice.

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.