Partner/Family Visas

Partner visas are for people who are married or in a de-facto relationship with an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or an eligible NZ citizen. These visas are under heavy scrutiny by the Department of Home Affairs, hence it is critical that your application is comprehensive with all the required evidences to prove that you relationship with your Australian partner is genuine and continuing.

Obtaining the permanent Partner visa is a two­-stage process. You apply for both the permanent and temporary visas at the same time and pay only one visa application fee. Once your initial partner application is granted, generally you are issued with a Temporary Partner Visa.

You need to be outside of Australia at the time of visa application and you are either married to your Australian partner or you can prove that both of you have lived together for at least 12 months prior to lodging your visa application. One your 309 visa application is approved, this will allow you to travel to Australia to continue your life with your partner in Australia. You will also have full work and travel rights, as well as access to Interim Medicare during this time.

Two years after lodging your temporary (309) visa application, you are able to apply for the second & permanent stage of the visa application (100). This second stage application is made whilst you are in Australia and if approved it provides you permanent residence in Australia.

This visa allows you to enter Australia and marry your fiance & to-be-spouse within the visa’s 9-month validity period. You may be eligible for a 300 visa if you are living outside of Australia and have physically met and are currently engaged to your Australian partner. You both may have met through an introduction off or online, but it is important that there are tangible evidences that can prove that your intention to marry your Australian Partner is genuine and legitimate.

Once your Prospective or Fiancé visa (300) is granted, you will be entitled to full work rights for the duration of the visa and will have 9 months to get married to your Australian partner. Once you are married, you will be eligible to apply for permanent residence through a “partner visa – onshore” (hyperlink to Partner Visa – Onshore).

Whilst you embark on the most crucial step of your life, we at Hotspot can take away all your worries with regards to the Prospective and Partner visa applications. Save your time and energy to focus on your big day and life ahead with your partner in Australia, and let us help you.

This visa allows a non-New Zealand family member of a New Zealand citizen to live and work in Australia. You must be sponsored by a New Zealand citizen and can be in or outside Australia at the time of application.

You can only make an application whilst in Australia if you have not been issued an ‘8503 – No Further Stay’ condition on your visa. You and New Zealand partner must be married or be able to prove that you both have been in a de-facto relationship and lived together for at least 6 months.

This is not a permanent residence visa.
The 461 visa is for a temporary stay in Australia and grants you 5 years’ temporary residence in Australia and can be renewed once this period comes to an end.

Even if you relationship with the New Zealand citizen break down, you can still apply for a renewal of this visa if you still hold a 461 visa, provided you have not become a member of the family unit of any other person in Australia.

If you are interested, you may also be eligible to pursue other pathways which may lead to permanent residence.

The Remaining Relative Visa is a permanent visa for people whose entire family is living permanently in Australia have no close relatives in their home country outside Australia. There are long waiting times for this visa due to the low number of places available in the migration program.

The applicant must be related to an Australian Citizen, Permanent Resident, or an eligible New Zealand Citizen. A parent, brother or sister, nephew or niece are eligible to sponsor a family member on the remaining relative visa. In order to sponsor for a Remaining Relative visa, the Australian sponsor must be over 18 and “settled” in Australia (generally means having lived in Australia over the last 2 years).

The applicant must not have any brothers, sisters or parents living outside Australia. If the applicant is married or has a de-facto partner, the partner must also not have any brothers, sisters or parents living outside Australia.

As ‘Assurance of Support’ is required in all cases.

Your parents must be outside of Australia to lodge this visa application.
This is a permanent residence visa which involves making a non-refundable deposit of $43,600 (per migrating parent) to the Australian government. This visa takes about 18-24 months to process currently. This deposit is requested by the Department case officer once the parents have passed health and police checks, prior to the grant of the parent visa. The parents become permanent residents when the visa is granted.

Additionally, the parents are also required to obtain an ‘Assurance of Support’ (AoS) of $10,000 for single parent and $14,000 for two parents as part of the visa application. This AoS is a refundable bond deposit made to Centrelink for a period of 10 years as a legal commitment by the sponsoring child (the assurer), to provide financial support to the parent applying to migrate (the assuree) so that they will not have to rely on Australian social welfare payments (Centrelink).

This visa lets parents of a settled Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen live in Australia temporarily. This is a two-year temporary visa which is about half the cost of the permanent contributory parent visa. If you are granted this visa and want to stay in Australia permanently, you can then apply for a Contributory Parent Visa (Permanent) (143). Generally, applicants apply for the permanent contributory parent visa within the 2-year validity of the visa. The total cost of applying is slightly more than applying for the contributory parent visa (permanent) (143) directly, but it provides the flexibility of having the deposit payment split into two visa applications.

If one of your parents is aged 65 years or over, and they come to Australia on a Visitor visa (600) or Electronic Travel Authority (601) and the visa is WITHOUT the 8503 “No Further Stay” condition; and the ‘Balance of Family’ test is met (i.e. 50% of the parents’ children are ‘settled’ in Australia as permanent residents or citizens or more of the children live in Australia than in any other country);
the parents can then lodge an Aged Parent visa application whilst in Australia.

This non-contributory aged parent visa has an extremely long processing time of over 30 years, but the parents can live in Australia until a decision is made on their visa. They will hold Bridging Visa A. They will need to apply for a Bridging Visa B if they wish to depart Australia temporarily.

Given the processing time of 30 years or more for the non-contributory aged parent visa (804), the realistic pathway for permanent residence is the contributory aged parent visa (864).

If one of your parents is aged 65 years or over, and they come to Australia on a Visitor visa (600) or Electronic Travel Authority (601) and the visa is WITHOUT the 8503 “No Further Stay” condition; and the ‘Balance of Family’ test is met (i.e. 50% of the parents’ children are ‘settled’ in Australia as permanent residents or citizens or more of the children live in Australia than in any other country), the parents can then lodge a Contributory Aged Parent visa application whilst in Australia.

If the aged parent is not able to obtain a visitor visa without the 8503-condition, they can also lodge an offshore contributory aged parent visa.

This is a permanent residence visa which involves making a non-refundable deposit of $43,600 (per migrating parent) to the Australian government. This visa takes about 18-24 months to process currently. This deposit is requested by the Department case officer once the parents have passed health and police checks, prior to the grant of the aged parent visa. The parents become permanent residents when the visa is granted.

Additionally, the parents are also required to obtain an ‘Assurance of Support’ (AoS) Bond of $10,000 for single parent and $14,000 for two parents as part of the visa application. This is a refundable bond deposit made to Centrelink for a period of 10 years as a legal commitment by the sponsoring child (the assurer), to provide financial support to the parent applying to migrate (the assuree) so that they will not have to rely on Australian social welfare payments (Centrelink). Any balance amount remaining at the end of ten years, is refunded back to the assurer.

In the case of the adoption of children from overseas by an Australian citizen, or permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen, then they may be eligible to bring the child on this visa.

Note: If the child was adopted before the parents became an Australian citizen, the Australian permanent residents, or an eligible New Zealand citizen they are unable to apply for this visa. They can then only apply for a Child visa (101)

The applicant must not have any brothers, sisters or parents living outside Australia. If the applicant is married or has a de-facto partner, the partner must also not have any brothers, sisters or parents living outside Australia.

As ‘Assurance of Support’ is required in all cases.

For overseas children whose parents are deceased, permanently incapacitated, or whose whereabouts are unknown and who have an eligible Australian sponsor, this visa may be suitable.

For children whose parent hold a temporary partner visa and the parent is in the process of obtaining a permanent partner visa, this visa is suitable.