Spouse Visa - Query
 

My husband (Australian citizen with permanent residency in UK) & myself (UK citizen) are planning to move to Australia after my husband living in the UK for ten years.

I am so confused with visas & unsure where to start. For background, we have been together & lived together for 8 years & married for 4. I will turn 30 in October this year.

I am looking as to whether get either the working holiday visa or spouse visa. I had somewhat naively assumed the spousal visa would be simple being that we have been
together so long - I understand it is expensive, but am also concerned with what sound like extremely long wait times. Is someone able to explain the benefit of applying from
outside Vs within Australia (I understand I could come into the country on a tourist visa & then apply for spouse visa?) - & what the restrictions are. Ie - if I apply from within Aus
am I limited from leaving the country etc?

Is the time limits a guideline where you literally join the back of the queue, or if you have a 'simple' case it gets granted sooner?

Many thanks for this!

Re: Spouse Visa - Query
 

The timeline is down to annual quotas. You’re joining the back of the queue but the queue is much shorter if you apply from outside Australia than onshore. I’ll be lodging your partner visa from the UK and applying to naturalise as a British citizen at the same time. By the time your visa is granted you’ll be a dual citizen so the door to return to the UK will always remain open to you.

Re: Spouse Visa - Query
 

Yes definitely the above. Get your husband aa UK passport and apply for souse visa offshore. Without his UK passport his ability to return to the UK will expire eventually and UK spouse visas are harder to get now than Aussie ones. And even if you plan to stay in Aus forever things change, don’t burn bridges if you do not need to.

Re: Spouse Visa - Query
 

My situation is similar to yours other then my OH has both Australian and UK citizenship (Something you should do to give you choices in the future).

I applied for the Spouse Visa form the UK. My PR visa came through in March - 8 months after we applied. At the time the processing times were much longer.
Of course that's by no means a guarantee but it is what happened for me.
Application process wasn't too bad. Lots of documents to prove relationship and interdependence but as we'd been together for a good number of years and married for 6, actually quite straight forward.