Do we need to live under the same roof for 12 months de facto for an Australian Partner Visa?

I want an Australian Partner Visa as a De Facto Couple

Do we need to live together for the full 12 months with no breaks?

Do we need to live together for 12 months?

Can we spend time apart because we cant get a 12 month tourist visa?

Do you want to apply for an Australian Partner Visa for your lady from the Philippines, China, Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia? Do you want to apply as a de facto couple? Do you need to live under the same roof for 12 months without a break?

If you are in an established de facto relationship for 12 months or more (ie if you have been in an established shared-life relationship over a 12 months period and have evidence of this), then yes with guidance we can most likely help you….if you follow directions and sound experienced advice. But the question is whether you need to arrange to live together in the same house for 12 months with no gaps in that time? What if you can’t get a 12 month visitor visa to make it happen?

IF you have a Registered Relationship Certificate? Yes, this will shorten the time required to be in the relationship to approximately 6 months. But the issue of whether you can have breaks in that time still remains.

What if you have to go back after three months on a multiple-entry tourist visa? No, you don’t need to be together for 12 months with no gaps or breaks in that time. You may have time apart during the 12 months (or lesser time with a registered relationship certificate) if you need to. You just need to ensure that your de facto shared-life relationship continues, and that you are only apart as long as you need to. This is OK under the rules, as long as you can otherwise show the existence of a committed relationship. And you need to START the relationship by setting up a home together.

Partner Visas to Australia

Partner Visas to Australia are (or will be!) PERMANENT visas! These are specifically for those couples who have made that commitment……repeat, COMMITMENT….to each other, and intend to stay together and share their lives together in a permanent relationship.

That means:

• Marriage
• Engaged with the intent to marry within 12 months of the visa grant (Prospective Marriage Visa)
• Established de facto relationships

Again, note the word “commitment”! These are NOT something you can “have a crack at” for a while and then wander out of if it gets boring. We get couples wanting to get a “de facto visa” (which is in fact a Partner Visa BASED on a de facto relationship, in the same way as you can apply based on a marriage). They want this “de facto visa” because they think they can have a go at living together, but want to leave the back door open so they can walk out of it easily if they want to.

Well, you can’t! Partner Visas are for committed couples. Partner Visas are for those who intend to lead a shared-life and exclusive relationship hopefully forever. Do partner visa relationships fail? Yes, sometime they do. We do get clients separating and divorcing. But happy to say it doesn’t happen too often!

Who are Down Under Visa? Who is Jeff Harvie?

Jeff Harvie and the Down Under Visa team have been doing this for a lot of years! Down Under Visa have brought thousands of couples to Australia from South East Asia over the years. Mostly from the Philippines, but we help increasing numbers of couples where the visa applicant is from China, Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia.

And what this means is we see a lot of success….and we also see failures when people go it alone after talking to their mate, or their relative, or that minimal-care-no-responsibility Facebook group run by Steve and Maribeth based on their own visa application! One application, and they feel qualified to advise others! It’s not even LEGAL to do that!

Want to bring your sweetheart to Australia from The Philippines, China, Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia? Get a FREE VISA ASSESSMENT today! It will take you five minutes.

Jeff Harvie is a Registered Migration Agent from Australia, but resident in Philippines since 2010 with his Filipina wife Mila and large extended family. Experienced with the Philippines culture, cross-cultural relationships and bureaucracy as well as Australian visas and Australian Migration Law, he writes with authority and fortunately with enough informality and humour that the average Aussie gets it!