You will find that every year, applicants in the thousands apply for an Australian partner visa as they want to unite with their partners to bring them to Australia. Sometimes, even when relationships are real and genuine, some applications get rejected, and many applicants cannot find the reason.
In such cases, you may need the help of partner visa lawyers to identify the reasons for visa refusal. In this guide, you will learn about the importance of a partner visa and why you need to apply for it.
Reasons Why Australian Partner Visas Get Rejected
The reasons why your Australian partner visa application gets rejected:
- Inability to provide adequate relationship evidence such as social, financial and being unable to define the relationship and household commitment nature.
- Providing wrong information in the interview.
- Submitting the files in improper formats.
- Unable to pass the character test.
- Not adding the details of your child in an accurate manner.
It is essential for you to provide proper information and documentation to Australia’s Department of Home Affairs. You need to know how to lodge your Australian partner visa properly.
What Visa Category Are You Eligible For?
If you have a partner or a spouse who is a PR resident or an Australian citizen, you will be eligible to apply for a partner visa and can successfully lodge it. Some of the types of partner visas are:
- Subclass 820/821 Visas
These onshore partner visas allow de facto partners or a spouse/de facto partner of an Australian permanent resident or citizen to live in the land of kangaroos. Under these onshore visas, you can live in Australia for around two years.
- Subclass 309/100 Visas
These are provisional offshore visas; subclass 309 visa is a temporary visa, and subclass 100 is a permanent visa. The 309 visas are granted to partners to stay in Australia for two years. After that, an applicant can apply for the subclass 100 visa for that duration.
- Subclass 300 Marriage Visa
This visa is granted to applicants who are engaged and want to get married to a PR resident, eligible New Zealand or Australian citizen. If you apply for this visa, you can stay in Australia for around nine months.
Preparing Applications And Documentation
For a partner visa application, you will need to provide various documents to the immigration department, such as health/character criteria, passport photographs, identity, relationship and sponsor documents.
- Subclass 820/821 Visas
For these partner visas, you can include the following visas:
- Dependent stepchildren or children in the partner visa application.
- Dependent family members will have the same rights and visa conditions as the applicant.
- Subclass 309/100 Visas
For these visas, you can include the following:
- Children or stepchildren in your visa application.
- Dependent family members can also be added to the application.
- You can include them when you lodge your partner visa application.
- You can also add another dependent child after you successfully lodge your application.
- Subclass 300 Marriage visa
Under this visa, you can include the following:
- A dependent child or stepchild in your visa application.
- The family members will have the same visa conditions and rights applicable to you after you are granted the visa.
Criteria that Need to be Met
Both you and your sponsor must be above 18 years of age to apply for the partner visa. It has to be a minimum of two-year sponsorship; some of the criteria for different partner visas are:
- Subclass 820/821 visas
This visa allows your de facto spouse or partner of a permanent resident, Australian or New Zealand citizen, to temporarily live in Australia. When you receive this visa, it will be the initial step towards a permanent Australian partner visa, but you must be in Australia when applying for it.
- Subclass 801 visa
This permanent partner visa in Australia can allow a de facto partner or the spouse of a permanent resident, Australian citizen or eligible New Zealand citizen to live in the beautiful country of Australia. This visa is meant for you if you hold a subclass 820 temporary partner visa.
- Subclass 300 Marriage visa
- For visa applicants
- You need to be 18 years old or more and need to be outside of Australia when you are applying for the visa and when the visa is granted.
- You need to meet the relationship criteria.
- You also need to meet the health and character criteria.
- You also must be sponsored by your partner or fiancé.
- You must repay or make arrangements to repay debts to the Australian government.
- For the sponsors
You have to be the fiancé or partner of the visa applicant or need to hold a specific visa.
Communicating with a Case Officer or DoHA Officer
The Australian Department of Home Affairs might ask for further documentation or evidence; the need for those documents may depend upon your circumstances or visa application. You can view such requests on your immi.gov profile, and you may also be notified by email by the case officer.
You need to respond to those in 28 days; sometimes, you may also be requested for an interview with the department. The case officer can choose to verify your claims with the witnesses who are listed in your application. You need to take care of the following things:
- Do not provide improper or misleading information
You must be honest about the claims that you made in your partner visa application, such as the dates when both of you met, the time you both became partners and the time both started living together.
You need to proofread your application or take the help of an expert to ensure that everything provided in the application is correct. You may be barred from applying for another visa if misleading facts are found.
- You must double-check facts before processing the time of the visa
You must ensure that you take a look at the facts properly before you submit your application to the department. The department will carefully check all the details to ensure everything is provided. The processing time for a partner visa can range from 18 to 28 months, depending on the visa.
Bottom Line
The information provided above can help you to successfully lodge your partner visa application. If you think you have doubts, you can take the help of a certified migration lawyer in Perth to fill up the application form properly. They can ensure that your visa is not rejected by checking all the details are filled in properly and that documents are provided.
