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Nick and Carol* came to us earlier this year looking for advice on an Australian partner visa.
Carol is an Australian citizen, and had moved to the USA for work. There she met her partner Nick, and they had been together for 2 years as of 2020. The couple had thought about whether their futures lay in the USA or Australia, and ultimately decided that they would like to settle in Australia.
Given the couple had no immediate plans to relocate to Australia for at least the next 12-24 months, we advised that the most suitable option for them would be to apply for an offshore partner visa (subclass 309/100). Our advice to pursue the 309 visa was based on the processing times (currently approximately 17 to 23 months) approximately aligning with their planned relocation to Australia. Also factored in was the fact that Nick already held a subclass 600 Visitor visa, having previously visited Australia on holiday with Carol. Given Nick held a substantive visa (the 600 visa) at the time of lodgement for the 309/100 visa, this would entitle him to apply for and obtain a Bridging Visa A (BVA) should he decide to relocate to Australia before the 309 visa was granted.
The BVA would allow him to remain in Australia until the Department was ready to finalise the 309 visa application. After entering Australia, Nick would also have the ability to apply the no-work condition on his BVA to be waived, which would have effectively allowed him to look for a job and permanently relocate to Australia before the 309 visa was granted.
We proceed to lodge the subclass 309/100 visa on behalf of the couple in June 2020.
In September 2020, the couple decided that they wished to bring forward their relocation to Australia, given the deteriorating pandemic situation in the USA and how well Australia had fared in comparison. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia had introduced travel bans, with travel exemptions required for non-Australian citizens/permanent residents looking to enter Australia.
We applied for a travel exemption for Nick to enter Australia as the immediate family member of an Australian citizen, which includes de facto partners. As Nick already held a subclass 600 visa, only a travel exemption was required for his entry to Australia. The travel exemption was approved in less than 24 hrs, and the couple began planning their move to Australia.
During this time, we made the strategic decision to direct the couple to action all outstanding requirements for their visa application, including providing all police clearances and completing health examinations. Police clearances and health examinations are valid for a period of 12 months only, and ordinarily, we would have advised they be completed at a much later date, to ensure they remained valid at the time of visa decision in 17 to 23 months.
However once police clearances and health examinations were completed and the application was ‘decision-ready’, we wrote to the Department of Home Affairs and requested priority processing of Nick’s visa application. The basis of our priority processing request was that Nick be allowed to enter Australia on a subclass 309 visa, given he would be arriving on a 600 visa regardless.
The applicant’s subclass 309 visa was approved less than 24 hrs after the request was submitted to the Department. Nick was able to receive his subclass 309 visa in approximately 5 months, and has since relocated back to Australia with Carol. The couple was understandably over the moon when we called with the good news!
*Names changed
