# Is there an age difference between u and your partner?



## chicken999 (May 2, 2013)

Maureen asked me to start a new thread where we could talk about the age difference between partners and how this may or may not affect diac and how they view our applications. If you add in a partner from a high risk country this usually rings alarm bells with Diac so would love to hear others views on this particularly those who have already had their visas issued.


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## Maureen (Mar 27, 2013)

Great thread Chicken. I'm 27yrs, Ghanaian female and my partner is 43yrs Aussie male. Could this be a red flag for Diac?


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## chicken999 (May 2, 2013)

I no when we were rejected on our first 300 visa they definitely raised it though I think it's worse when the woman is older as society still doesn't seem to accept 'cougar' relationships as being genuine. Diac say they won't base their decision on this factor alone but I'm sure they scrutinise the applications more closely than they would if the partners are of similar age


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## Whitney (Jan 4, 2013)

My partner and I are just over 7 years age difference. It's never really been apparent (except for when I hang out with his son, who was born when I was 14 - haha!). But we had the same lifestyle when we met and have developed our relationship together with those same core values (active living, sport, travel, etc.). I doubt the DIAC would take a second look at our relatively small age difference.


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## kmarees1986 (Apr 23, 2012)

I'm almost 27 and my husband is 40 so its nearly 14 years between us. I certainly hope this isn't going to be viewed unfavourably!! Anyway we've been living together for nearly 4 years and married for 2 with a baby on the way so I don't believe our relationship is in question. They really can't discrimintate but I guess if you already have some markers that make your relationship seem un-genuine then an age difference might matter.


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## ccpro (Feb 2, 2012)

My husband and I are of 10.5 years age difference. We have been together for four years, married for two. I got my 820 last May, waiting to apply for 801 soon. *Fingers cross* I don't think there is any issue if you can show immi that you are a genuine couple with lots of evidence. I don't think I had evidences as much as others on this forum and I still got my visa.


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## jmcd16 (Aug 5, 2012)

While my partner and I are very close in age - a good friend of mine is a 40- something mother of two teenagers and is in the process of getting her 22 year old partner a visa for Australia. He is Swedish. They've been living together since the beginning of his first WHV, and she has spent time with his family in Sweden. They have retarded amounts of evidence since they knew it would be a tough road with their age difference. As soon as they realized it was serious between them, they saw a migration agent who counseled them on the evidence they needed to acquire and things they could do to make a stronger case.
They were lucky though, he was able to get the second year WHV, which afforded them the luxury of time...


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## CollegeGirl (Nov 10, 2012)

For what it's worth, I have read a couple of posts here from people for whom DIAC did say a significant age difference was _part_ of what led them to believe the relationship was not genuine. These were both (if I recall correctly) instances where the male partner was 20+ years older than the female partner. So it absolutely can be a red flag, in my opinion, but I also don't think a relationship would be found to be not genuine JUST because of that.


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## sanoptic (Nov 30, 2012)

My partner the 820 applicant is 2 years younger than me ,she is 56 & i'm 58 so not much of a gap.
Getting close to 14 months wait now but we are hoping it won't take too much longer!!

Cheers


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## Editor (Oct 30, 2012)

There is no doubt that immigration services do use the age difference between partners as some kind of flag for potential problems but is this fair?

The simple fact is that love has no age and no barriers and unfortunately it is perhaps the minority of people who abuse the system, with sham marriages, who again spoil it for the rest.


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## jmcd16 (Aug 5, 2012)

Unfortunately, case officers are people... And people suffer from all sorts of prejudices and intolerance...


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## Eizzi (Feb 25, 2013)

I'm 14 years (15 years for some of the year) younger than my partner. We didn't have masses of evidence and we didn't address the age difference anywhere in the application. Got granted our 820 in 9 days. As for "flagging", some say it's if the man is much older, some say it's if the woman is; we're a same-sex couple so perhaps that wasn't as much of a factor? Who knows. We're both of European descent. You could argue that there was a risk of personal prejudice (same-sex couple - that's a different topic though!) affecting the decision too, though I suppose DIAC would have a harder time justifying that than if they thought the age difference was suspicious. Which is unfair, but there you have it. Clearly there is evidence that age does sometimes factor into their thinking.


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## tigerstu (Apr 9, 2013)

My wife is 8 years younger than me and is from a high risk country, but it doesn't seem to have affected our application (*touches wood). Not sure at how many years it would start to stand out and possibly influence a decision. Personally I always though a 10 year difference would be my limit in a relationship, but now my mother-in-law is only 10 years older than me... scary though!


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## aussiepinay (Jun 1, 2013)

Im 35 and my hubby is 54. so 19 years age difference. NO Problem with DIAC at all.
Thank God, I am PR now.


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## dunan (Oct 5, 2012)

I personally know 2 couples with 20-30 years differences that got visas last year...we have 6 years...


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## F&J (May 23, 2013)

I am 8 years older than my fiance and was wondering if this would raise any red flags considering the way us older women are viewed in society (I'm 50 he's 42). The fact that he looks 25 doesn't do much for my ego either lol. Oh come on botox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## aussiesteve (Mar 16, 2012)

I think it is not so much the age difference but how old each partner is.I have just helped a friend process his partners prospective spouse visa, their age gap is 25 years and she is from a high risk country, but it went thru in about 4 months.He was 65 and she was 40.if she was 20 and he was 45 it may have been a different story


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## mrs brown (Jul 5, 2011)

My husband is 71 and i am 55 so 16 years difference.
We are on our last phase of the spouse visa as have sent all the details that they have asked for.
So we should be hearing from them very soon.
We are both keeping fingers crossed that they will grant our spouse visa.


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## 18302 (Nov 23, 2011)

I'm a guy and aussie sponsor, almost 3 years younger than my wife.. no problems at all. It seems to usually be the other way around but that's okay.
We have had no problems with DIAC at all and the 820 was approved in 14 days.

I don't really think DIAC take too much notice of age unless they suspect something really fishy is going on.


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## nida (Jan 3, 2013)

Hey friends, now here the prob is i m 7 year older than my husband(sponsor) like i m 28 and he is 21, its love marriage , n i have mention every thing but still worried about it.


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## Patriot_In_Oz (Aug 31, 2011)

I'm 23 (From USA) and my Australian partner is 42. So there's a 19 year age gap. We applied in August 2012 and were approved in April 2013. I have no idea if the age gap made them look at us harder or not, all I know is that we were approved!


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## minky (Feb 3, 2012)

My partner is 7 years younger than me, but his certificate shows him as being 12 years younger. Wondering how that will go, guess time will tell. Good to hear of others experiences. I think it is something they take into consideration especially as one member pointed out about if its the woman being the older one.


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## ozzy (Jun 8, 2013)

Wow some age gaps on here! Lol there is 9 months between my and my bf lol


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## chicken999 (May 2, 2013)

Minky is ur partner African? That's what we call a 'football age' very common. Say nothing.


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## minky (Feb 3, 2012)

chicken999 said:


> Minky is ur partner African? That's what we call a 'football age' very common. Say nothing.


Yes he is! Football age? lol never heard of that, what does it mean? Ive begged him to get his 'real age' certificate


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## Jarana (Jan 18, 2012)

I just turned 36 and my Pakistani hubby is 22. This being coupled with the high risk country is just about the only thing I've worried about. I'm sitting here putting the application together as we speak and it's a whopping pile. We've been married two years this October and I've lived with him that entire time, plus a year before we were married. Because I'm not a resident of Malaysia (he's here on a student visa and I'm just here on a social visit pass), we can't get joint bank accounts but I'm highlighting everything to show that we share finances, etc.


Another worry of mine is that I have been married before. I am an immigrant to Australia myself, having moved to Tassie with my (then) Aussie husband. We divorced down the track but I got my citizenship. I have been married...*cough*...a few times before him. So my previous marriages worry me that they will look negatively on that.


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## carolannbavage (Jun 18, 2013)

Its a really interesting question - surely if you can prove the length and breadth of the relationship - shared responsibilities & finance etc then age shouldnt be relevant?


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## CollegeGirl (Nov 10, 2012)

I think I said it earlier in the thread, but I don't think age difference is ever the ONLY factor. But if they already have doubts for other reasons that your relationship is legitimate, it can be one more red flag to them. If the rest of your evidence is compelling (and with three years of living together, you probably have tons, Jarana!) age by itself shouldn't be an issue.


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