Where best to apply

[Linden]

I am Australian married to a south African, currently living in South Africa. We want to apply for residency for my husband, (partner visa) but are unable to find clear advice on the website as to restrictions depending on which country you apply in.

 

Ie if you apply in South Africa can you come and go to Aust as often as you want whilst waiting approval.

Must you be in South Africa when you are approved?

 

All experiences/advice gratefully received...

 

[MrsB]

Hi Linden

 

We are currently waiting on the 309 Partner visa for my husband. I am dual Australian/South African and my husband is dual British/South African and are currently living in South Africa. We applied for my husband through his British passport but as we are living in South Africa the visa is being processed through the Pretoria office. We applied March 2018 and have still not heard anything about the visa and they say the current wait time is 12-16 months.

 

When we applied for the visa some people were getting them in 3-4 months and it was much quicker than applying in Australia for the 802 partner (Onshore visa) so hence why we went that route but then time frames for processing blew out to 21-26 months and have been changing every month and now currently sit at 12-16 months wait time so it is a bit of a guessing game as to how long the visa will actually take to be approved. I will say you will need a lot of patience for this visa as it is a long process and nothing seems to be able to fast track it as my husband has a job lined up in Australia, I am 6 months pregnant with our 2nd child and wanting it to be born in Australia so are quite desperate to get to Australia but every time we contact Pretoria they just inform you that you are still within the processing time and there is nothing they can do.

 

When applying for the 309 Partner visa it does not allow your partner to come and go to Australia as they please and they will need to apply for a visitor visa. Through the various forums I have heard of many partners that have been denied visitor visas while waiting on a partner visa so it is not a guarantee that it would be granted. We applied for a visitor visa for my husband at the end of last year as I wanted to ensure he could be in Australia for the birth of our child if his partner visa hadn't been approved in time and we had to provide a lot more evidence than we have in the past in order for him to have his visitor visa approved and in the end he was granted a 12 month visa but he can only stay in the country for 3 months at a time. He is also not allowed to work while in the country until his partner visa is approved.

 

One of the requirements for the 309 visa is that you have to be out of Australia when they want to approve it but you do not need to go back to the country that you applied from so if his needs to be approved while he is in Australia then he will just go to New Zealand or somewhere closer than South Africa for a couple of days to get the approval as they approve it almost immediately when you leave Australia.

 

If you are wanting to get to Australia quite quickly then it might be worth looking at the 802 onshore partner visa. I think your husband could go over on a visitor visa and then apply for the partner visa but you need to ensure that the visitor visa doesn't have any restrictions for any further visa applications on it. I think it's quite complicated going that route so I would highly recommend chatting to a registered agent about it before attempting that route.

 

If you have any other questions I am more than happy to try and help answer them but good luck if you do decide to apply!

 

[Linden]

Thank you so much for all that info. Hugely appreciated!
 

My husband already has a visitor's visa and has been back and forward on it to Australia.
 

Question 1: if he applies from SA and happens to be in Aust when approved, how much warning do you get that approval is imminent?

You mention that it would not be necessary to return to SA in order for approval. Do you mean that once you are flagged by the passport authorities as having left Australia, immigration would then approve partner visa?

So, in your opinion is applying better in SA or is it 6 of one half a dozen of the other.
 

Question 2: once you have partner visa is there a limit to the time you can spend back in SA whilst waiting for permanent residency? (He has an elderly mother here, so needs to keep returning)

 

 

[MrsB]

Not a problem! Glad I could help as know there are not a lot of people applying for Partner visas from South Africa as most apply for the skilled visas.

 

Question 1: When your visa is about to be approved your case office will email you to say that it is decision ready and they will give you a time frame for leaving the country. You will need to exit Australia and land in another country but does not need to be the country from which you applied from. Most people go to Bali or New Zealand as quickest and cheapest places to go. I want to say its 28 or 30 days notice but I can't seem to find any info about this so stand to be corrected on this time. Factors such as your medical examination might effect this as they are only valid for 1 year and I have read online of people being given a couple of days to leave as their medical was about to expire or the other option to do a new medical exam and have longer to leave the country. You will need to just ensure that you let the Pretoria office know of your dates in Australia if your husband is ever there in case they decide to approve the visa. In terms of leaving Australia to get your visa approved you would just inform your case office of your flight details and dates out the country and then most people seem to email their case office to say they are now out the country even though I am sure they are linked to the passport authorities and then seem to get it approved almost immediately. I think the case officer will advise to book a trip for at least 3-5 working days in case there is any delay in getting the visa approved.

 

Question 2: I am not entirely sure about this answer but think you can come and go as you please but if you are applying for a 309 partner visa and you have been married for at least 2 years and have a child together then you are eligible to be granted permanent residency immediately when they approve your 309 visa so if you meet this criteria then you would not need to worry about waiting for permanent residency. They have changed the Australian home affairs website since we applied and I can't seem to find this exact info so I'm not sure if this has changed since then as just read that if you are in a long term relationship they will consider granting permanent residency (100 visa) at the same time as the 309 visa so it may now be at the discretion of your case officer if you meet this requirement.

 

In terms of where is best to apply I am not entirely sure as it mostly comes down to each individual circumstances but both ways need a lot of patience as neither is a quick process! I have heard of lots of cases where the Australian has no rights to live in the country where their partner resides and so they spend their entire time separated while waiting for the visa to be approved and when you don't know how long it is going to take can be very frustrating. In our case as I would like our baby to be born in Australia it is looking like myself and my son are going to have to leave South Africa without my husband as I am running out of time to fly and then comes the tricky part of trying to work out when my husband should fly out to ensure he is actually there in time for the birth so in hindsight I wish we had applied from within Australia!

[Linden]

So, can I ask would have been different for you if you had applied in Australia?

[TeeTMI]

14 hours ago, Linden said:

I am Australian married to a south African, currently living in South Africa. We want to apply for residency for my husband, (partner visa) but are unable to find clear advice on the website as to restrictions depending on which country you apply in.

 

Ie if you apply in South Africa can you come and go to Aust as often as you want whilst waiting approval.

Must you be in South Africa when you are approved?

 

 

If you apply for a partner visa outside Australia - your husband can still visit Australia on another visa.  

 

As above, when the department is ready to grant the visa if in Australia at this time you will be provided with a timeline to depart so that the visa can be granted.

 

2 hours ago, Linden said:

So, can I ask would have been different for you if you had applied in Australia?

 

You have mentioned your husband has a mother that he will want to visit regularly. It is worth noting that if applying in Australia once his visitor visa expires he would need to obtain a Bridging Visa B to travel outside of Australia during processing.

 

[Linden]

Is this the same scenario if he applies in SA?