Paulandamy

A friend of mine is looking into possibility of applying for a permanent skilled visa. He has a girlfriend and they have a young child together, but there is no other evidence of them living together and I understand you have to prove the relationship is genuine but need to have lived together for 12 months. Can anyone offer any advice on what route he can take?
Could he apply as sole applicant and then sponsor his g/f and baby once he has his visa and made the move, or if he included g/f and baby in application as de facto, would they accept the fact there is no evidence of living together?

mlbonner

I think you/he will find that without the relevant evidence it'd be hard to get her on his visa. If his visa is for PR though, he would then be able to sponsor his girlf over as a de facto. As his visa is likely to take 12 months, they would be able to collect evidence over those 12 months (if they lived together) to meet de facto requirements. De facto visas often are through within 2-4 weeks, so there would be only a small delay. HOWEVER, this does seem a bit of a messy approach, so it may be worth doing some research into the various routes open to them before they start anything.

Vegemite Kids

Do they actually live together ???

If so, even if there is no "evidence" in the form of lets say bills in joint names etc, then it may be possible to do it through stat decs of friends and neighbours.

Even if they dont live together I'm sure it could still be possible, cos after all you get folk that want to get married but for religious reasons dont live together before the wedding and they still get a visa.

Might be worth while doing a search on here or asking a migration agent for more advice

Vegemite Kids

Found this for you on the dimia website


De facto relationship requirement -
For migration purposes, you and your de facto spouse partner must have been in a spouse-like relationship for 12 months immediately prior to applying for your spouse visa, unless:

your partner was granted a permanent humanitarian visa and was in the relationship with you before that visa was granted and this was declared to the department at the time; or

you can establish compassionate and compelling circumstances - these include having dependent children from the relationship.



Living together
Living together is regarded as a common element in most on-going relationships and is one of the criteria prescribed in the Migration Regulations. It is a major factor in demonstrating that the parties have a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of any other spouse or interdependent partner. Partners who are not living together may be required to demonstrate a high level of proof that they are not living separately and apart on a permanent basis.

Some of the factors to be considered in deciding whether the partners satisfy the requirement include:

knowledge of each other’s personal circumstances

financial aspects of the relationship, such as any joint ownership of real estate, joint bank accounts or other major assets

the nature of the household, including living arrangements such as joint residential receipts or joint household accounts
the social aspects of the relationship, provided in statements (statutory declarations) by parents, family members, relatives, friends and other interested parties

joint membership of organisations or joint participation in sporting, social or other activities, and

joint travel.


Waivers
It is possible for the one-year relationship requirement to be waived in compelling or compassionate circumstances, for example:

in the case of a de facto spouse relationship, where there is a child from the relationship, or

in the case of an interdependent relationship, where cohabitation was contrary to law in the applicant's country of residence.

Commonly-asked questions

Q. I have been in a de facto spouse relationship for less than a year but my de facto spouse has a child from a previous marriage. I also want the child to migrate to Australia. Can the requirement be waived in my case?

A. An example of compelling and compassionate circumstances under which the one-year requirement may be waived could be where there is a child from the de facto spouse relationship of the applicant and sponsor. Where the child is not a mutual child, you may not be eligible for the waiver unless you can demonstrate that you are also a legal parent of that child, for example, through adoption.



would still suggest you check it all out with a migration agent though !

MrsMangle

The above post sounds pretty promising, but in the meantime (sorry if I'm stating the obvious!) I would suggest your friends start to collect evidence immediately, the visa process can take months, so why not be gathering evidence in the meantime....is there any reason they can't put their names on joint bills now?

Paulandamy

Hi,

Thing is they don't live together, so he doesn't reckon they are in a de facto relationship, but was wondering if the child would alter the 'view' of the relationship. Could he go it alone, declaring the common child from the relationship, emigrate, then could his g/f apply for pro spouse/partner visa?
Thanx

JAJ

It would be ok to do this *provided* he was completely up-front with DIMIA when applying for PR. In other words say to DIMIA something like, look I have a partner and think she should be accepted as de-facto, but accept it if the answer is no.

If the partner is declared and DIMIA accept that the requirements of the Migration Regulations are not met at that stage, it's quite ok to sponsor for a spouse visa later on.

What's not ok is to migrate as a single and then try to sponsor a spouse/partner that's been there all along and not declared to DIMIA - they can freak out and cancel a PR visa for something like that.

Jeremy

Paulandamy

Thanks JAJ - Having said that, if the partner was NOT accepted, would he, the main applicant, still get his visa??

JAJ

As long as spouse skills were not being relied upon for points - yes. And as noted, he could sponsor for a spouse visa later on once he was usuall resident in Australia, provided he had been honest with DIMIA from the start.

Jeremy

Paulandamy

Thanks Jeremy.Would he include his girlfriend in the application as his 'de facto', even though the 12 month cohabitation rule would not apply, or just put a note in expalining the situation, ie. mutual child but not living together.

It is confusing in that if he still got his visa, how could he sponsor for a spouse visa later as the 12 month cohabitation would stil not apply as he would be in Australia, while his g/f and child remained in UK. Maybe he needs an agent!!