In the past year or so, there has been an explosion in the number of people deciding to lodge their partner visa applications in Australia.
As a direct result of this explosion, the onshore DIBP partner visa processing times have blown out to approximately 16 months for the 820 visa and 16 months for the 801 visa. That means you could be waiting well over three years to be granted permanent residence if you lodge your application in Australia.
Every cloud has a silver lining! We’ve been advised that “Decision Ready” partner visa applications lodged at some of the Department’s overseas offices could be granted in record time due to their seriously reduced caseload. For example, we understand partner visa applications lodged in the UK are likely to be processed in under 6 months. We’ve heard recent reports of partner visa applications being granted in less than one month in the UK and an incredible 24 hours turn around in Berlin!! The DIBP’s Berlin office is well known for it’s incredible efficiency and so if you happen to live in one of those 19 European countries that the Berlin office deals with … maybe consider lodging in Berlin?
If you apply for your partner visa overseas, you need to be overseas for it to be granted. If you apply for your partner visa in Australia, you need to be in Australia for it to be granted. These are important considerations.
A partner visa application is processed in two stages – the temporary partner visa stage and the permanent partner visa stage. There is one DIBP fee to cover both stages and both visas are applied for at the same time. The temporary partner visa is granted first and your eligibility to be granted a permanent partner visa is considered about two years after you lodged your application.
If you’ve been in a long-term relationship, as long as you provide DIBP with the right type of evidence, you could get your temporary and permanent partner visa applications granted on the same day! Depending on your circumstances, it might be possible for you to lodge a partner visa application this month and be granted Australian permanent residence next month! How cool would that be?
Partner visa applications can be reasonably straightforward or unbelievably complicated. Our lives are seldom simple! Many of us have been married before. Some of us are separated and not yet divorced. We may have dependent children living with us or living with others. We may have brushed with the law at some stage in the past or have serious health concerns. These are just a few of the many issues you need to consider before lodging a partner visa application.
You can use our Partner Vis Eligibility Checker to see if you may be eligible for a Partner or Prospective Marriage visa, or call us on +61 8 9429 8860 if you would like to get up to date advice on what might make sense in your situation.