De Facto Visa

if you are in a relationship with an Australian citizen, Permanent Resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen for more than 12 months , You may be eligible to apply for a De Facto partner visa, including those in a same-sex-relationship. You can make a request to waive this 12 months period if you are able to demonstrate compassionate and compelling reasons, such as having children with your de facto partner.?or all the following circumstances:

• your partner holds or has held a permanent humanitarian visa
• prior to this visa being issued, you and your partner were in a relationship that qualifies as a de facto relationship
• prior to the permanent humanitarian visa being granted the department was informed of your De Facto relationship

You must be 18 years or over at the time of lodging your application.?

You must not be related in any way to your De Facto sponsor. This means your sponsor and you cannot:

• Be a descendant or an ancestor of one another
• Have a common parent

De Facto Partner visa allows you to live, work and remain permanently in Australia.
Initially eligible De Facto partners will be granted temporary De facto Partner visa and after a specific period of stay, a permanent Partner visa will be granted, once they satisfy the required criteria.

 In most cases, you will be issued with a Temporary De facto partner Visa. This Temporary De Facto Partner Visa will allow you to stay in Australia with full work and travel rights, as well as access to Medicare.

 After the two-year period, the Department of Immigration will consider to grant you a permanent partner visa
You may be eligible to make a request to waive this 2-year period before applying for permanent residence:
In some circumstances Department of Immigration will consider your request:

• if you have been in the relationship with your partner for three years or more at the time of application; or
• if you have been in the relationship for two years where there are dependent children of the relationship; or
• if your partner was granted a permanent visa under the humanitarian program or was granted a protection visa and was in the relationship with you before the visa was granted and this relationship was declared to DIAC at the time.

You may be eligible for permanent Partner Visa even if your relationship has broken up before the end of the 2-year period. These circumstances include:

• If your partner has died during this period; or
• If you and your Australian partner have children under 18 years of age; or
• If you or your dependents have been subject to domestic violence during this period

There are few major categories of Spouse/Partner/De Facto visas depending on the type of relationship you are in. For more details and to get a proper assessment contact: De Facto Migration Lawyers & Solicitors on 0451 043 288

De Facto Migration Lawyers wishes to advise you that the information on this website is current at the time of writing. Significant changes within immigration policy and legislation occur constantly and De Facto Migration Lawyers accept no liability for the changes. This page was last updated on the15 March 2012.