samjcave

Hi,
I have moved to Australia 4 weeks ago and loving it. I have got a job and bought a house but wondered if anyone could give me some advice about visas?

I have got an independant sub class 126 which I got in 1998. I got this visa with my previous partner and it said that there was no initial entry before him. We made the initial entry in 1999 and I am now here with my 2 children who also have visas and my partner who is on a tourist visa. We have been together since Jan 2002 and want to know what to do regarding applying for residency for him. He is on a 6 month tourist visa which expires in February. Should we lodge an application now or wait? What application should we do spouse or independent? Should we use a solicitor or an agent? Any advice would be really helpful.

Thanks a very confused Sam

Jaj

Hi Sam

A few things:

- In order to sponsor your new partner you need to have been living
together for 12 months, or you need to be married.

- Your partner may be able to lodge an onshore spouse application,
depending on circumstances. There will be real problems with this if
he waits until his tourist visa expires before applying - he must make
sure he's lawful if he wants to apply onshore.

- Your partner, if successful, will get a two year temporary visa, and
will only be eligible for PR if you're still together at the end of
the 2 year period.

I suggest you talk to a migration agent, or an organisation like IARC
http://www.iarc.asn.au (if you're in Sydney,
there are other similar
bodies in other cities).

You yourself will need to be careful about travelling overseas. Your
126 visa will have an expiry date in 2003, and if you're outside
Australia on that date - or if you leave after that date - your 126
visa won't let you back into Australia. This applies even if you've
just spent a few days on holiday in New Zealand.

You will need a Resident Return Visa if you want to travel overseas
after your 126 expires. As you haven't lived for 2 years in
Australia, getting an RRV won't be especially easy, and you should
again consider getting some professional advice before applying for
one.


Jeremy

    >On Sat, 21 Sep 2002 22:25:54 +0000, samjcave wrote:
    >Hi,
    >I have moved to Australia 4 weeks ago and loving it. I have got a job
    >and bought a house but wondered if anyone could give me some advice
    >about visas?
    >I have got an independant sub class 126 which I got in 1998. I got
    >this visa with my previous partner and it said that there was no
    >initial entry before him. We made the initial entry in 1999 and I am
    >now here with my 2 children who also have visas and my partner who is
    >on a tourist visa. We have been together since Jan 2002 and want to
    >know what to do regarding applying for residency for him. He is on a 6
    >month tourist visa which expires in February. Should we lodge an
    >application now or wait? What application should we do spouse or
    >independent? Should we use a solicitor or an agent? Any advice would
    >be really helpful.
    >Thanks a very confused Sam
    >--
    >sam
    >Posted via http://britishexpats.com