# Partner Visa without living together



## Frenchee (Sep 17, 2012)

Hi !

I'm from France, he's from Australia, and I met him in November 2011 during my first working holiday visa. 
We've been in a relationship since April 2012 (six months) and my second working holiday will be valid until November 2013. 
After this visa, I definitely want to stay here with him and we're thinking to apply for the partner visa next year so I won't have to go back to France.

I already did lots of research, and the problem could be that we don't want to live together. 
I'm actually living at his mother's and he's living at his work and come back for the week end or sometimes during the week.

My question is: How can we prove our relationship without sharing a house, sharing bills, or having our own household etc...?

Thank you


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## GermanGirl (Aug 19, 2011)

Co-habitation is in pretty much a mandatory requirement. You need to live like a married couple in order to get the visa. I strongly recommend living together, otherwise the visa is highly unlikely to be granted.


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## Frenchee (Sep 17, 2012)

If we register the relationship here in Victoria, we won't have to prove a 12 months relationship (so in the visa application there is no need to prove we lived together for 12 months, is there?)

We will still have to prove a genuine and continuing relationship, which is not a problem for the "social aspects of the relationship" and the "nature of the persons’ commitment to each other", but I worry about the "financial" category and one called "nature of the household". Hard to prove without actually living together no?

Thanks a lot


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## GermanGirl (Aug 19, 2011)

Frenchee, unfortunately Victoria is reluctant to register anyone's relationship how is not a permanent resident or citizen already. As far as I know this is only possible if you live in NSW (and maybe QLD, but I don't have information on that). And even if you register your relationship, you still need to live together, it just waives the full 12-month requirement. 

Prooving the "nature of the household" without living together is pretty much impossible since there is no "household". Is there any specific reason why you can't live together? If you don't have a very good reason Immi will most certainly reject your application. If you simply don't want to live together, have you thought about applying for a different type pf visa? Is there any work related visa that you are eligible for?


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## Frenchee (Sep 17, 2012)

Thank you, I understand now.

It's a little bit complicated why we can't live together : he can live at his work for free (so it would be silly to pay a rent) but I'm not allowed to live with him, and his mother needs him on week ends (she's old). 

If we manage to live together before my visa ends in November 2013, then we should try to get registered, so we could apply for the visa without 12 months living together, is it correct?

Yes, there may be some possibilities for me to get a sponsorship or a skilled visa, as I finished my studies in France to be a teacher. 
I'm afraid I will have to look that way from now on, thank you very much for the information.


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## GermanGirl (Aug 19, 2011)

You can always try to get your relationship registered but I don't think it is possible in Victoria since you don't have PR. 
However, I think you might have a chance of getting a work visa through your teaching qualification, I really recommend looking into that.


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## dingo144 (Dec 5, 2011)

As far as I am concerened you need to be living in victoria for 12 months and live together with your significant other (no need to live together the whole 12 months though) then you can register your relationship...

Anyways the registration only waives the 12 months living together not the 12 months relationship requirement...

So I think it will be very unlikely to get the 820 approved...

maybe look into a different visa or start living together...

All the best cheers


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## Frenchee (Sep 17, 2012)

Hey,

Are you sure Dingo144, when you say "Anyways the registration only waives the 12 months living together not the 12 months relationship requirement..." ?


It's getting obvious I won't get any sponsorship as a teacher as it is very rare. The skilled migrant visa is not for me either as I only am a graduate teacher, without any experience.

We are now thinking about having an appointment with a migrant agent, some people told us it is pretty rare not to get the visa when you do the application with one of them...so even if it costs some big money, it may be worth it, 
what do you guys think about that?


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## kttykat (Oct 30, 2012)

Frenchee said:


> Hey,
> 
> Are you sure Dingo144, when you say "Anyways the registration only waives the 12 months living together not the 12 months relationship requirement..." ?
> 
> ...


Yeah my understanding is that you don't need a 12 month "relationship" requirement. If you can register your relationship or for those who are married, you don't have to have been together for 12 months, you do however need to prove that you are together and plan to stay that way. Certainly the longer you have been in a relationship the easier it is to prove.

Kttykat


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## kttykat (Oct 30, 2012)

With that 12 month rule for example, people who have met but haven't started a relationship as they won't until they are married, get an SC300 PMV then marry and apply for an 820 have the right to do so even though they haven't been together 12 months. The 12 month rule more applies to de facto couples who are trying to prove marriage via common law IE in effect married even though not with the piece of paper. 

Kttykat


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## CollegeGirl (Nov 10, 2012)

Frenchee said:


> Hi !
> 
> I'm from France, he's from Australia, and I met him in November 2011 during my first working holiday visa.
> We've been in a relationship since April 2012 (six months) and my second working holiday will be valid until November 2013.
> ...


Frenchee, don't want to make any assumptions, but are you a female? If so, and if you're willing to marry after you arrive in Australia (but no later than 9 months after), sounds like a Prospective Marriage Visa (subclass 300) might be a better option for you, as Kttykat said.


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## Frenchee (Sep 17, 2012)

Thank you,
So it would waive the 12 months relationship but not the 12 months living together. As we don't really live together (we did for 3 months, as I was able to live with him on his workplace, but he's not paying any rent there), we are not recognised at all as a relationship. We are just considered as boyfriend/girlfriend.

It is getting hard to realise how hard it will be to stay together, my visa ends in 9 months and we feel lost.


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## Coral2013 (Jan 9, 2013)

You don't need to be in a relationship for 12 months, I'd been in one for 8 months and registered with NSW BD&Ms and got approved for an 820.

I don't think you need to both be a PR or Citizen to register either.

I do think you need to either prove compassionate grounds why you aren't living together or live together in order to apply though.

If you're a teacher, I would probably go the skilled migrant route.


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## CollegeGirl (Nov 10, 2012)

Frenchee said:


> Thank you,
> So it would waive the 12 months relationship but not the 12 months living together. As we don't really live together (we did for 3 months, as I was able to live with him on his workplace, but he's not paying any rent there), we are not recognised at all as a relationship. We are just considered as boyfriend/girlfriend.
> 
> It is getting hard to realise how hard it will be to stay together, my visa ends in 9 months and we feel lost.


Frenchee - what about the Prospective Marriage Visa? Is that not an option? You have to apply for it offshore, so you would have to leave Australia for a while, but you don't have to live together to qualify for this visa. Then, once you've applied for the Prospective Marriage Visa, you can look into possibly getting a tourist visa in order to be with your fiance for at least part of the time while it's processing. Then once your visa was approved, you'd go back to AU and marry within nine months. Is that doable?


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## kttykat (Oct 30, 2012)

Frenchee said:


> Thank you,
> So it would waive the 12 months relationship but not the 12 months living together. As we don't really live together (we did for 3 months, as I was able to live with him on his workplace, but he's not paying any rent there), we are not recognised at all as a relationship. We are just considered as boyfriend/girlfriend.
> 
> It is getting hard to realise how hard it will be to stay together, my visa ends in 9 months and we feel lost.


The living together is really important to immigration, they actually ask if you are living separately and apart on a regular basis. If you can prove it is only due to work or study commitments then you still have a chance. The partner visas are not for girlfriend/boyfriend relationships they are for committed couples living together as a household.

Kttykat


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## CollegeGirl (Nov 10, 2012)

Coral2013 said:


> You don't need to be in a relationship for 12 months, I'd been in one for 8 months and registered with NSW BD&Ms and got approved for an 820.
> 
> I don't think you need to both be a PR or Citizen to register either.
> 
> ...


Coral, whether or not your can register and the circumstances under which you can register are different in each state. NSW has one of the most lenient policies. It's different where the OP is.


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## Coral2013 (Jan 9, 2013)

CollegeGirl said:


> Coral, whether or not your can register and the circumstances under which you can register are different in each state. NSW has one of the most lenient policies. It's different where the OP is.


Yes, in Vic it's the same though I think - it says "you can both prove that you are ordinarily resident in Victoria", not PR or Citizen.


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## CollegeGirl (Nov 10, 2012)

Coral2013 said:


> Yes, in Vic it's the same though I think - it says "you can both prove that you are ordinarily resident in Victoria", not PR or Citizen.


That contradicts what someone else said (twice) on the previous page. I'll have to see if I can find the information somewhere.


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## Coral2013 (Jan 9, 2013)

Register a relationship - Births, Deaths & Marriages Victoria

That explains it.


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## CollegeGirl (Nov 10, 2012)

Yep, I was just looking at the FAQs on that site, here: Relationships FAQs - Births, Deaths & Marriages Victoria

"To be eligible to register your relationship you must be ordinarily resident in Victoria. To establish this, we request that you provide evidence that both parties to the relationship have been living here for at least the last 12 months. However, each application is assessed on its merit."

So... it at least APPEARS to be possible. Maybe someone else will chime in who knows for sure.


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## Coral2013 (Jan 9, 2013)

I think I have read of people doing that on here...and 12 months you could be on any visa really. Good luck Frenchee


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## Frenchee (Sep 17, 2012)

Thank you to both of you.

Yes I am a female, but we don't want to marry.

So maybe we should register our relationship very soon, and in 8 months apply for the onshore partner visa.
We're living most of the time at this mother's place (so no rent or bills with both names).
From November to January, we lived together at his workplace (but no rent or bills either).
How can we prove we actually are in a commited relationship ?


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## Coral2013 (Jan 9, 2013)

I would suggest opening a joint bank account for finances
Stat decs from Aus citizens about your relationship
Proof of trips together etc
Email/Skype/Facebook correspondance
Things addressed to the both of you
Photos

I would register the relationship now as it takes a few weeks, then you can decide what to do about the rest.

But really it is quite important to live together, or have very good reasons why you aren't.


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## Frenchee (Sep 17, 2012)

Thanks for that, but to register the relationship, I may have a problem for the evidence of a Victorian residential address, as I already said, we live at his mother's.
Can she write a paper saying it's been more than a year I have been living there?

We will open a joint account very soon too.


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