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Our clients lodged a Prospective Marriage Visa (Subclass 300) in Pakistan through another migration agent. Our clients’ history was quite unusual in that they had been married before, and they had four children together. They had divorced many years ago, but had been talked into rekindling their relationship by their older children. Love at second sight if you like!
Subclass 300 Prospective Marriage Visa application was refused
The Prospective Marriage Visa application was refused, on the basis that the case officer in Islamabad did not consider that the couple had a genuine relationship (!!). On their behalf, we lodged an application for review with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), and whilst waiting for the hearing, my clients were married over the phone, with the sponsor in Australia and the visa applicant in Pakistan. Despite the unusual circumstances of the marriage, the marriage certificate was legitimate, and was accepted by the AAT as such.
Application remitted by the AAT
There is a very advantageous section in the Migration Regulations which states that where a Prospective Marriage Visa has been applied for, and the couple marries before the final decision on the Visa, the Visa application must be treated as an application for a Partner Visa (Subclass 309). As the AAT is bound by the same Regulations, once we informed the AAT that our clients had married, the Tribunal immediately remitted the application with the instructions that it must be processed as a Subclass 309 Partner Visa application.
A quick decision followed the remittal by the AAT
The application was remitted by the AAT in June 2020, and the Subclass 309 Partner Visa was granted at the beginning of October 2020, after we promptly responded to requests for further information from the case officers.
Needless to say, our client couple was delighted, as were the children, two of whom will be emigrating with their mum to Australia to join their older siblings, who are already Australian citizens.
By way of a bonus, our clients received half of their AAT application fee back, because the application was remitted by the AAT. Any application remitted by the AAT receives half of the AAT application fee back from the Tribunal once the application has been remitted.
