Keff McCulloch

Hello there,

My wife and I were married for 10 years and I was granted a permanent
residency visa which allowed me to go and live in Sydney. I am a UK
citizen and she was an Australian citizen. We moved over to Sydney in
2001 but unfortunately, after 18 months, things started to go wrong
and we parted. I came back to live in the UK and we are now Divorced.

My question is, am I still allowed to use my permanent residency visa
to visit Australia or is it made null and void as a result of the
divorce? I have two years left to run of the visa. I am visiting
Sydney in August and want to know if I should apply for a visitor visa
or whether I can still use my permanent visa.

Also, would I still be allowed to live and work there - with a friend
who has offered to sponsor and support me until I got back to work -
using the permanent visa?

I would be very grateful for any help.

Thanks

The Keffster

George Lombard

Hi Keff,

Your visa is quite valid and your divorce does not affect it.

Cheers

George Lombard
--
www.austimmigration.com.au


"Keff McCulloch" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hello there,
    > My wife and I were married for 10 years and I was granted a permanent
    > residency visa which allowed me to go and live in Sydney. I am a UK
    > citizen and she was an Australian citizen. We moved over to Sydney in
    > 2001 but unfortunately, after 18 months, things started to go wrong
    > and we parted. I came back to live in the UK and we are now Divorced.
    > My question is, am I still allowed to use my permanent residency visa
    > to visit Australia or is it made null and void as a result of the
    > divorce? I have two years left to run of the visa. I am visiting
    > Sydney in August and want to know if I should apply for a visitor visa
    > or whether I can still use my permanent visa.
    > Also, would I still be allowed to live and work there - with a friend
    > who has offered to sponsor and support me until I got back to work -
    > using the permanent visa?
    > I would be very grateful for any help.
    > Thanks
    > The Keffster

Jaj

Your visa is still valid and your divorce won't affect it.
However if you let your visa expire without moving to Australia you
won't get another one, unless you qualify some other way.

Assuming your visa was granted in 2000 or so, I'd look to move back to
Australia asap. You should aim to have 2 years in Australia prior to
the expiry of the re-entry facility on your visa (normally 5 years from
grant - check it). If you can't clock up that much time, you must at
least settle in Australia before that date and don't think about leaving
the country (not even for a holiday) in NZ after that point without a
resident return visa. If you actually settle in Australia and can show
this (job, accommodation etc), you might be able to get an RRV on
concessional grounds - but don't count on it.

If you don't move to Australia before the expiry date, you will likely
lose your PR. If you have 730 days in the last 5 years as a PR in
Australia, you might be able to get an RRV now, but on the basis of what
you say you're short of the criteria for an automatic acceptance, which
isn't flexible.

If you want to keep Australia open long term as an option, the only way
is to become a citizen by living here for 2 years as a PR and then applying.

Don't even tthink about applying for a visitor or any other temp visa -
it would override your PR visa (an ETA excepted) and you'd be in a
complete mess.

Jeremy

Keff McCulloch wrote:
    > Hello there,
    >
    > My wife and I were married for 10 years and I was granted a permanent
    > residency visa which allowed me to go and live in Sydney. I am a UK
    > citizen and she was an Australian citizen. We moved over to Sydney in
    > 2001 but unfortunately, after 18 months, things started to go wrong
    > and we parted. I came back to live in the UK and we are now Divorced.
    >
    > My question is, am I still allowed to use my permanent residency visa
    > to visit Australia or is it made null and void as a result of the
    > divorce? I have two years left to run of the visa. I am visiting
    > Sydney in August and want to know if I should apply for a visitor visa
    > or whether I can still use my permanent visa.
    >
    > Also, would I still be allowed to live and work there - with a friend
    > who has offered to sponsor and support me until I got back to work -
    > using the permanent visa?
    >
    > I would be very grateful for any help.
    >
    > Thanks
    >
    > The Keffster