What happens after I have lodged a visa application while I am already on a visa?
Bridging visas are designed to bridge the gap between your current visa and the time when your pending visa/review application is finalized (assuming that the pending visa/review application is capable of generating a bridging visa).
For example, John is currently on a student visa which expires on 01/01/2023. He is currently in Australia, and he applied for a partner visa on 01/12/2023. A bridging visa A is granted immediately after Immigration acknowledges the partner visa application.
In this scenario, John’s bridging visa A will come into effect only after when his current visa expires, i.e. on 02/01/2023.
I am on a visitor’s visa and have applied for a student, work and temporary visa in Australia. What happens now?
As mentioned in re to the previous question, after having lodged another visa application, you will still be on your current visa until it expires, gets cancelled, or your new visa application is granted.
In the meantime, as you are still on your current visa, you will still be bound by all its conditions.
For example, Jane is currently on a student visa that expires on 01/03/2023. On 01/09/2022, she applied for a partner visa onshore. The Bridging Visa A was granted on the same day. Therefore, between 01/09/2022 and 01/03/2023, and assuming that the partner visa application is not granted during this time, she would still be on her student visa, and therefore must continue to comply with all student visa conditions (most notably in relation to attendance, overseas student health cover, hours she would be allowed to work and etc.).
However, if her partner visa application was granted on 01/12/2022; what this means is that, from 01/12/2022 onward, she would no longer need to comply with all student visa conditions, because her student visa was superseded by the partner visa.
I am currently on a bridging visa in Australia, and would like to leave Australia for a short period of time. What should I do?
It is recommended that you apply for a Bridging Visa B prior to your travel outside of Australia, and DO NOT depart Australia before the Bridging Visa B is granted.
The reason for this is that usually most bridging visas granted do not have travel facility. If you were on a bridging visa (for example, Bridging Visa A), left Australia on the Bridging Visa A, then you would not be able to return to Australia on the same bridging visa.
Holding a Bridging Visa B would allow you to depart and re-enter Australia during the validity of the Bridging Visa B.
More information about the Bridging Visa B (including costs) can be found on Immigration’s website here. It is therefore highly recommended that, if you are currently on a bridging visa and would need to leave Australia, you apply for a Bridging Visa B at least 1 month ahead of your intended travel time.
In the unlikely scenario where you have to leave Australia due to some urgent event (such as the passing of a family member overseas), you can leave Australia, apply for a visitor’s visa offshore, wait for that visitor’s visa to be granted, and then return on that visitor’s visa.
If you are from a country that is eligible to the Electronic Travel Authority (hereafter “ETA”, subclass 601), you would be able to re-enter Australia on an ETA. However, please note that, if you re-entered Australia on a visitor’s visa or an ETA, you would not be able to work until the stay period on your current visitor’s visa/ETA expires, given the nature of these visas.
I have lodged a visa application and would like to know about the processing time frame.
The Department of Home Affairs publishes its processing time frame, which you could find here.
Do we have to get married to lodge a partner visa in Australia?
No, you do not need to get married before you can lodge a partner visa application in Australia. You can have partner visa granted as a de facto couple, which is treated the same legally as a married couple in Australia.
Do we have to cohabitate to have a partner visa granted?
No, you do not have to cohabitate in order for a partner visa to be granted.
According to the most recent migration policy and jurisprudence in this matter, Immigration cannot find that your relationship is not genuine and/or continuing, simply because:
According to the most recent migration policy and jurisprudence in this matter, Immigration cannot find that your relationship is not genuine and/or continuing, simply because:
you have never lived together before when the visa application was made;
you were not living together at the time of application; or
you were not living together at the time of decision.
You can still have a partner visa granted, as long as you are not living two separate lives. There are many legitimate reasons that couples can have a genuine and continuing relationship without living together. For example, they can have different work and/or family commitments; their religious beliefs might not permit them to live together before marriage; or they might have been in a long-distance relationship during the period of time when Australia’s borders were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, having said this, it is important to note that, not living together might create difficulties for collecting relationship evidence. In particular, you might have difficulties in collecting relationship evidence to support the nature of your household.
Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any further question about this.
If we are not married, do we have to be in a relationship for more than 12 months before we can lodge a partner visa application?
It depends on where you are in Australia. If you are in the Northern Territory or Western Australia, the only two jurisdictions in Australia that do not permit de facto couples to register their relationship, then you must have evidence of a de facto relationship of more than 12 months prior to the date of application before you can lodge a partner visa application.
Otherwise, you do not need to have been in a relationship for more than 12 months prior to the date of application before you can lodge a partner visa application, as long as you have registered your relationship at the State/Territory where you are currently residing.
I just have the first-stage partner visa granted, and how long would we need to wait before we can be eligible for applying the second-stage?
There is usually a 2 years’ waiting period (starting from when you lodged the first-stage partner visa application) before you can apply for the second-stage partner visa application.
However, you will be eligible for an exception to this rule, if you can prove that:
1) You have been in a relationship with your partner/spouse for at least three years; or
2) You had a dependent child together (other than a step-child), and you had been in a relationship for at least 2 years.
2) You had a dependent child together (other than a step-child), and you had been in a relationship for at least 2 years.
2) You had a dependent child together (other than a step-child), and you had been in a relationship for at least 2 years.
2) You had a dependent child together (other than a step-child), and you had been in a relationship for at least 2 years.
I already hold the first-stage partner visa, but I am currently suffering from domestic violence from my sponsor. What options do I have?
Yes, there are visa pathways for you to obtain permanent residency in Australia without you having to stay in a toxic or violent relationship. Please refer to further information from Immigration here.
Are you a registered migration agent? Do you have a law degree?
Yes, I am a registered migration agent, and you can find my registration details here.
Yes, I have a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from the Australian National University in Canberra.
Please explain about the client account
Client account is a bank account where I keep your payment of professional fees and disbursement on trust for you. These fees will only be released to my general business account after having received your express written permission.
Please walk me through what happens for a standard client of yours, from first contact to when all professional work is completed.
A typical client with us usually needs to go through the following stages in our journey with you:
1) After having completed this initial assessment form, you will receive an email from arthursmigration@outlook.com (please whitelist this email address), informing you whether your matter is something that we can assist with. If yes, you will receive the link to a separate form for you to book an initial free consultation with us, amongst other things;
2) During the initial consultation, we will discuss your potential options, answer any question you may have, discuss the costs & fees as well as progress & time-frame;
3) After the initial consultation, you will receive an initial email in relation to your matter. This will usually include a form 956, a client service agreement for you to review & sign, a detailed to-do list and document list, a summary of what we’ve discussed, amongst other things. In particular, we use Google Drive for you to share files with you. The link to your exclusive Google Drive folder is encrypted, and the password to the Google Drive is usually sent to you separately text or messages;
4) After the initial email, you will receive a separate payment instruction email with the payment details for you to pay for the relevant fees. In most cases, your fees will be paid into our client account, which will hold the fees on trust for you, until professional work on your matter has come to an end;
5) As the professional work on your matter progresses to an end, I will send you a draft for you to review & confirm all details in the application before lodgement. Application(s) will only be lodged for you after receiving your written confirmation;
6) Once professional work has come to an end, you will receive a fund transfer consent email from us. If all professional work has been completed, the email will provide you with a statement of services, which is a summary of the professional services that you’ve received (as well as outline all the disbursements that we’ve spent on your behalf), a copy of the client service agreement you signed (counter-signed by me).
The email will also inform you if there is any further action that needs to be taken (such as biometrics collection, immigration health examination, police clearances and etc.). If all professional work has been completed, all the lodged application forms and attachments will be uploaded onto a separate folder in your exclusive Google Drive folder for your record.
In the end, the email will ask for your written consent to release the part or all of the professional fees which you initially paid into our client account. All you need to do is to copy a set of prescribed text and email it back to me as reply.
7) After all professional work completed, I will also perform incidental work on your matter (which is usually provided to you for free), including forwarding email correspondences from Immigration, following up on the visa applications and the like.