# Two year waiting period:- Spouse to Permanent Visa



## kim (Oct 4, 2011)

Hi All,
Currently, Iam on spouse visa (subclass 309) residing in Australia with my husband, who is an Australian citizen. I have been in a relationship with my husband for more than 4 years(long distance - He was in Australia studying and I was in India working) prior to my lodging of application for spouse subclass 309 visa . 
I am having trouble in finding a suitable job in my field here as most of the employers ask for Permanent Residency or Australian citizenship. As per the immigration website, it is mentioned that:-
In most cases, permanent residence cannot be granted less than 2 years from when you lodge your application. You may, however, be granted a permanent visa without having to fulfil the usual two-year waiting period if:
• at the time you apply, you have been in a partner relationship with your partner for 3 years or more, or 2 years or more if you and your partner have a dependent child of your relationship.

Since I have been in a long term relationship with my partner at the time I applied for the initial subclass 309, Can I now apply for permanent residency visa without having to fulfil the usual 2 year waiting period?

Thanks,
Kim


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## Lisa84 (Nov 13, 2010)

I think those new regulations came into effect about a year ago (March 2010), prior to that, you had to be together 5 years to meet the requirement. So I think you would have applied before that date and your application was still processed with the 5 year requirement.

You can't submit a seperate application for PR now. All oyu could do is applying for the 309/100 again, submit all the documents and pay the fees, and hope that the PR will go through this time. Alternatively (and i reckon this is the easier and cheaper option), wait until the two years are over. By the time an onshore application will go through, it is likely that your two year waiting period is over anyway.



kim said:


> Hi All,
> Currently, Iam on spouse visa (subclass 309) residing in Australia with my husband, who is an Australian citizen. I have been in a relationship with my husband for more than 4 years(long distance - He was in Australia studying and I was in India working) prior to my lodging of application for spouse subclass 309 visa .
> I am having trouble in finding a suitable job in my field here as most of the employers ask for Permanent Residency or Australian citizenship. As per the immigration website, it is mentioned that:-
> In most cases, permanent residence cannot be granted less than 2 years from when you lodge your application. You may, however, be granted a permanent visa without having to fulfil the usual two-year waiting period if:
> ...


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## kim (Oct 4, 2011)

Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your reply. I got married and applied for the visa in Jan-2011 and my subclass 309 visa was granted in April-2011. I have been in a relationship with my partner since Feb-2006.Currently I am in sydney, living with my husband. Is there anyway ,I can get my PR without having to fulfil the 2-year waiting period ?


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## voebe (Apr 15, 2011)

I think now that you have already got the temporary visa, there is no way you could get the PR without skipping the 2 year period.

If you had asked to be considered for PR when you applied then they could have poosibly given it to you in April 2011 when you got your visa.

If it helps maybe you can explain to propective employers the concept of a spouse visa and let them know it is only a matter of time before you get PR.


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## dusty_springfield (May 19, 2011)

Hi Kim,

I get your mean, but as my understanding - their 3 years partner relationship/ 2 years + a child together are counted from the date you start your de facto relationship (living together) or your marriage. And bcoz you applied for spouse visa, so have to be count from the date of your marriage.

Cheers


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