Are you considering lodging a Partner Visa in Australia?

When you lodge a visa application with the Department of Immigration & Citizenship, it is usual practise for an Immigration officer to request further information from you if they are not satisfied that you have met the visa requirements. However, it has come to our attention recently that Immigration officers are refusing partner visa applications which are lacking in evidence very quickly after they have been lodged, and without asking for any more documents. On reviewing the correspondence provided by a client who lodged their own application, we noted the following passage on the decision letter:

An acknowledgement of Partner Visa Application letter was provided to you. This letter states that:

“Please be aware that the department may make a decision on your application without requesting additional information so please ensure you have provided us with all necessary information.”

What this means is that if you lodge a poor quality application with the Department, you could find yourself having your visa refused, even if you do have a whole lot of documents which you were planning on sending in later on. Not only will you have just lost $4575.00, you will then be in the position where you cannot lodge another partner visa while you remain in Australia. You could then face the prospect of applying to the Migration Review Tribunal which means an 18 month wait and no certainty of getting visa granted, or you would have to leave Australia and reapply from overseas with limited chances of being able to come back to Australia until the visa is finalised, which could be over 12 months.

Don’t risk lodging a poorly prepared application. Our Migration Team can assist you with getting your application right the first time. Contact us to discuss your options.