paddyb157

Hello everyone,

I am currently on a spouse visa (been on it for 18 months now) which entitles me to have a medicare card.

My 175 visa application has recently been granted and i'm going to leave and re-enter Oz to activate my PR.

Ususally when a 175 visa is granted you have to wait two years before you can claim medicare assistance.

Does this mean that i will lose my rights to have medicare assistance or would i still be entitled to it as i'm married to an Oz citizen.

Thanks in advance.

Pollyana

Don't know where you got that idea from. Permanent residents are entitled to Medicare as soon as they arrive in Australia, whether on a Spouse Visa or a Skills Visa.

Alfresco

As Polly says, no you won't.

But, just out of interest, why did you apply for a 175 visa if you already have a spouse visa?

paddyb157

I applied for the 175 in march 2009. After having both working holiday visas expired, my wife and i decided to get married in January 2010.

Thanks for the info everyone. My thoughts were that i wasn't entitled to medicare for a certain period of time but i guess i was wrong.

Alfresco

Ah! that explains it. All the best!

JAJ

Because a 175 is much better than a temporary spouse visa?

Alfresco

Thanks. I didn't know a spouse visa was only temporary.

So if people split up, the spouse visa is no longer valid?

Pollyana

Most spouse visas are temporary for 2 years at first. PR is only granted straightaway if they have been together (married or cohabiting) for three years, or two years if they have children. After two years DIAC revisit the application and as long as the relationship is still ongoing, the Spouse gets PR.
If the relationship breaks up while on the temp part of the visa, then in the majority of circumstances the visa holder has to leave Aus as the visa is no longer valid. There are a few exceptions - if it breaks down because of domestic violence, or if the Aussie Spouse dies, but generally if the rel'ship is over, the visa is cancelled.

Hence if a Spouse Visa holder qualifies for PR under a Skills visa its often a lot quicker route to PR. They can enter Aus on the temp Spouse, apply for Skills PR and be "safe"a lot faster - no need to rely on the rel'ship lasting.

Alfresco

Cheers. I though it would be something like that. Stopping visa convenience marriages and the like.

Pollyana

Thats the idea yep, doesn't always work though.....remind me to tellk you about the Russian I used to work with sometime; apparently spouse visa scams from Russia used to be seriously big business.