avanti

Dear all,
wondering if you can help me. I recently arrived in Aus on a skilled migration visa, my other half is keen to come out to, we are going out with each other 20 months been living with each other for 12. My question is should she apply inside or outside the country, and if she applies inside the country and they give her a bridging visa, does that mean she can work. What I am really concerned about is her haveing to do nothing all day as it is not like we have a huge social circle and she really likes to be busy.

much appreciate anyone who has gone throught the same situation to give me time lines for de facto visa granting etc

Thanks a lot

bondipom

If your partner arrives on an ETA and applies for a partner visa she will be issued with a bridging visa with no work rights. I am not sure what the onshore processing time is and it seems to vary from state to state and officer to officer.

The danger of your partner applying on an ETA is that immigration sometimes turn away people who might apply for a further visa.

Straight forward front end loaded visas without character issues get processed in as little as a few days, more likely to be a couple of weeks, but up to 4 months. That is for London.

For more timelines try www.austimeline.com .

BTW a front end loaded visa is where application is lodged with the medicals and pccs included.

avanti

thanks for all the advice so it looks like no work for her then for a while. #However I have heard nightmare stories that the granting of the visa took over a year

bondipom

I have heard that for some onshore visas. I have also heard of visas being issued onshore straight after an interview. Good luck whatever you may decide to do.

Simone

But, why not get it via London House?
As Bondi says, it's faster, and it's also less expensive I believe.

If she starts now, she could have it in a couple of weeks!!!!
Start now: apply for police certificate, make appointment for medicals, do medicals, get all evidence for you relationship (proof of the 12 months living together etc etc), fill in the forms, get police check and medical results, send everything to London: get the visa back (a few days to a few weeks usually)......

bundy

Yep, it can happen. Got a mate who married an aussie on a 3-month ETA which came on the back of a one year Working Holiday Maker's visa. She got married, lodged her application and is still waiting on a non-working bridging visa - she applied at the beginning of November. She and her husband have been grilled by DIMIA on several occasions, she is constantly checked up on to ensure she isn't working, they keep requesting more info and have basically been stringing the process out. She has been told that she faces a visa refusal and may be told to come back to the UK.

Had she just come back to the UK and applied here, she would probably have had it through in a couple of weeks.

Getting a de facto visa on an ETA does work for some people, but it seems to make DIMIA suspicious. Better to apply off-shore, in my opinion