This is a very popular visa with our clients – which only goes to prove how popular Australians are as spouses!

We include here some useful information on this visa from the Immigration Department (DIAC):

“This visa is for you if you want to enter Australia on the basis of your of your married or de-facto relationship with your partner. Your partner must be one of the following:

•  an Australian citizen
•  an Australian permanent resident
•  an eligible New Zealand citizen.

This visa allows you to enter or remain in Australia on the basis:

•  on a temporary visa (usually for a waiting period of approximately two (2) years from the date you applied for the visa)
•  on a permanent visa if, after the waiting period (if applicable), your partner relationship still exists and you are still eligible for this visa.

Your partner must provide sponsorship for you.

 

What does the visa let me do?

The table below gives a summary of what you can do in Australia if you have a temporary or permanent Spouse visa.

Visa Type What You Can Do In Australia Spouse temporary visa (subclass 820) remain in Australia with your spouse, until a decision is made regarding your permanent visa work in Australia study in Australia , but you will not have access to government funding for tertiary study enrol in Australia 's medical benefits expenses and hospital care scheme, Medicare. Spouse permanent visa (subclass 801) remain permanently in Australia with your spouse work and study in Australia enrol in Australia 's medical benefits expenses and hospital care scheme, Medicare eligible to receive certain social security payments apply for Australian citizenship (subject to the residency eligibility criteria)

Note: You may also be eligible to enrol in Medicare, if you are married and have applied for, but not yet been granted, this visa. “

The important part of this visa application is actually proving that your relationship is “genuine and ongoing”. This requires compiling substantial documentary evidence about your relationship.

Many visa applicants make the wrong assumption that this visa will be almost automatically granted to them just because they know that their de-facto or married relationship with their Australian/New Zealand partner is genuine and likely to last long-term.

This is not the case at all.

We always advise spouse visa clients that DIAC operates from the presumption that you are “guilty until proven innocent”. That is, they do not accept or believe anything about your relationship until you have proven to them that it is true.

That is where our skill as lawyers comes in. We know how to prove this and have successfully done so for many spouse visa clients for over 13 years.