# Partner Visa 820 and 801 & Living Overseas Question



## gingerboy (May 4, 2010)

Hi,

I am doing some long term planning and have a slightly long-winded question for everyone please...

I have PR here in Australia, but it expires in Nov 2012. I will however be getting an RRV in 18 months to 2 years time - because I have fallen outside the applying for citizenship residency requirement rules by being outside of Australia for an accumulated total of just more than 12 months in the last 4 years, sadly. I know I need an RRV to come back in the future then, and it shouldnt be a problem to get one as I am employed here, mortgage here etc.

However my question is not about me, but I needed to give that background for the rest of the question:

My girlfriend and I plan to get married in April 2011. She is Indonesian and currently here in Australia with me on tourist visa. I am aware of the Partner Visa subclass 820 and will be applying for this, having met all critera by April next year when we will be married by (applying offshore, granted offshore, etc etc.).

What I am planning in early 2012, however, is to leave Australia and live in Indonesia for a few years, within the confines of my RRV (hopefully it being 5 years validity from when I get it in late 2011/early 2012).

This being the case...if we apply for Partner visa subclass 820 in April 2011, and are granted it by say July 2011, can we happily leave Australia in 2012 and apply for the subclass 801 visa after 2 years of marriage even though we are living overseas? Or is there a requirement to have been resident in Australia whilst waiting to convert from Temporary 820 to Permanent 801? I will be able obviously be able to return on my RRV (hence mentioning it), but how do we go about getting my partner/future wife(!) back onto Australian soil if we are away for longer than the 2 yrs temporary subclass 820?

I'm sorry if this is in the documentation or on Immi, but I always like to get a 2nd/3rd opinion on a slightly more complex query, before also ringing Immi for clarification!

Cheers.


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

You probably ought to have a nother read of the Immi information for you seem to have mixed up your 820/801 intent a bit with being offshore/onshore.
The 820/801 is for an onshore application and PR can be granted whilst the applicant is offshore as you'll see from Partner Visa: Onshore Temporary and Permanent (subclasses 820 and 801) even if there is some misleading general terminology about entering/remaining.

So if you are planning on having eligibility met when married in April 2011 and she is in Indonesia, it'll be the offshore visa to be applied for.
Family - Visas & Immigration
The PR can also be granted whilst she is offshore.

Ideally, to have an RRV granted, you do want to be in Australia and so if you are planning to leave for an extended period whilst you still have PR, I would clarify what needs to be done with your Immi chat as you cannot hold two visas simultaneously and so you'll need to find out whether there are options to have an application pending to be processed whilst you are overseas, whether you can just apply from overseas or in fact you may need to make a trip back before your PR expires and wait for expiry and then apply for the RRV.

You'll likely find that the partner visa could take more than just a few months to be processed.


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## gingerboy (May 4, 2010)

Hi Wanderer,

Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry, I must have mixed up the numbers and offshore/onshores, its been a while since I read the partner migration booklet, I do have it though (and have read it a few times plus the application forms) and just hastily uploaded my question, apologies...I guess the point I was trying to get to was whether we'd be losing any chance of her coming back to Australia as my partner if we live overseas for an extended period - or what visa we would have to apply for if the temporary visa expires?

Also thanks for the tip about RRVs and PR - from what I read on Immi last night it seemed quite easy to get an RRV (within 24 hrs almost) and I thought also you could get it before your PR expires. But I will double check.


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