New Amendments to Partner Visa

November 29, 2021

Earlier this year, the Australian immigration department announced that they would implement specific changes to the Partner Visa by the end of 2021. The latest article highlights the changes made to the partner visa and how can it affect your application. Read more below

The New Rule

The Australian Government will now assess the sponsorship application separately and approve it before lodging the Partner Visa application, as per the sponsorship framework set out in the Migration Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Act 2018 to the Partner visa program.

New Sponsorship Framework

The latest framework:

separates the sponsorship and visa application processes.
supports information disclosure relating to domestic and family violence to the sponsor or the applicant
enables sanctions imposed on sponsors who breach sponsorship obligations.

Point to be noted- the sponsorship application will be assessed separately and will need to be approved before the lodge of a valid Partner visa application. Once this rolls out for Partner visas, it will significantly impact whether an Australian Partner visa application can be lodged whilst the applicant (partner or spouse) is in Australia.

The new sponsorship policies will adversely affect the onshore Partner visa applicants who wish to lodge a visa application before expiry. This is because the sponsorship must be lodged separately and approved before the partner visa.

Other significant changes in this bill are as follows:

segregate sponsorship assessment from the visa application process for family-sponsored visas;
require the approval of persons as family sponsors before any relevant visa applications;
impose statutory obligations on persons who are or were approved as family sponsors and provide for sanctions if those obligations are not satisfied;
facilitate the sharing of personal information between parties identified in a sponsorship application;
enable the refusal of a sponsorship application and the cancellation or barring of a family sponsor in certain circumstances;
enable the regulations to prescribe details for, and concerning, the operation of the sponsorship framework; and make consequential amendments

Case Study

Adam is an Australian married to Julia, who is not a citizen of Australia. Adam is residing in Australia while Julia is offshore. Adam wants to sponsor Julia to bring her to Australia with him. Can he lodge the sponsorship application along with the Partner visa application?

No. According to the new framework, Adam has to lodge the sponsorship application first. After his sponsorship application is assessed and approved, provided all the requirements are met, Adam can now apply for the Partner Visa (Subclass 309 or 100).

Partner visa applications can be a complex process. But, when applied through an experienced migration agent, it can ease the process. Get in touch with E-Help Consultants today to lodge your applications on time.