Welshbird

I am a UK citizen and my partner is a NZ citizen and we are hoping to move to Australia to live and work for a couple of years before moving to NZ. After doing a lot of digging around on the internet it appears that I need to apply for a Subclass 461 visa on the back of my partners Special category visa. Is this correct and how difficult is it to apply for one?? I have read that I also need to provide evidence of funds and also evidence of medical insurance for the duration of the stay, is this also correct??

Thank you in advance )

Alan Collett

This visa is a long term temporary visa with a validity of 5 years ... suggest you might call my colleague John Sylvester on UK number 023 80 488777, as John has dealt with applications for this visa in the past ... documentation required is similar to that for a spouse visa ...

Best regards.

JAJ

There are issues with using this visa to live in Australia long term, but it's ok as a short-term stopgap.

You should also look at your eligibilty for one of the permanent visas, either through general skilled or employer nomination. If you can get Australian citizenship (after 2 years on PR) it would make moving to NZ easier too if you still wanted to later on.

The 461 visa should be obtained from the AHC London before leaving the UK. As far as I'm aware, medical insurance is required when in Australia.

Jeremy

Welshbird

That's great, thank you for the info!!

Welshbird

Thanks for the info Jeremy.

The current plan is to live in Australia short term, say 1-2 years. I have over 10 years experience as a software developer so I think I would be able to apply for skilled migration but as we are only planning to stay in Australia temporarily I thought that the 461 visa would be the cheaper/easier/quicker option.

If I applied under skilled migration for Australia how long would it take to get PR?? Would it be easier to move to NZ with Australian citizenship or by applying for spouse residency??

Sorry about all the questions, this is all very new to me

JAJ

That's up to you to decide. Do you qualify for points tested migration? Or can either of you get an employer in Australia to sponsor you for PR?

You can apply for a 461 and skilled migration at the same time. Or the NZ citizen partner can apply for points tested migration onshore, or either of you could go for employer nomination onshore.

You should probably talk to a good migration agent about the options. With an Australian passport you can live freely in NZ, but the law could always change, and you've got to stay resident in Australia (and plan to remain so) right up to the point of being sworn in as an Australian citizen.

If your plan is to live in Australia for 1-2 years, and you qualify for PR, why not make it a longer time period? Get your citizenship and then think about whether you still want to move to NZ (you may not at that point).

Jeremy