2020 Budget - Partner Visa Applications

October 13, 2020 Josie Marr

Last week, the 2020 Budget announced there would be an 82% increase in spaces given to the Partner visa program taking the category from 39,799 places in 2019-2020 to 72,300 in 2020-2021.

The Budget also indicated that the Australian Government was looking to finally move on long anticipated changes and introduce new requirements in an effort to raise $4.9M over the forward estimates (next three financial years). Although the particulars are yet to be detailed and implemented, we are highlighting them here because some of the (already) passed and proposed changes will impact many Australian families when they take effect.

Current Process

Currently, the partner visa application requires the visa applicant to lodge the application before their Australian sponsor can lodge a partner sponsorship application. This generally occurs one immediately after the other.

If the partner visa applicant is in Australia and holding a valid substantive visa, they will automatically receive the grant of Bridging Visa A (BVA). This is extremely useful for a number of reasons:

The average processing time for the provisional partner stage can average 2 years
The partner applicant’s current visa may expire within that time
The BVA will take effect when the partner applicant’s current visa expires. It will allow them to remain lawfully in Australia while the partner application is in process
The BVA holder will be entitled to Medicare and will have full work rights
The BVA provides for the application of a Bridging Visa B (BVB) with a travel facility

Expected Changes

For a long while, we’ve been waiting for The Migration Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill to take effect – it was passed through Parliament on 10 December 2018. Until it comes into play, partner visa applications are processed under the current requirements and processes.

However, it is important to be aware of these changes and when the Bill will take effect because when it does it will require the Australian sponsor to lodge their application and have it approved before their partner can submit the partner visa application.

For onshore partner visa applicants, this will be significant because:

The grant of a BVA follows lodgement of a valid, visa application. It is not granted on the basis of the Australian lodging their sponsorship application
The partner visa applicant risks becoming unlawful if their current visa expires before the sponsorship application is approved
This may force the partner visa applicant to depart Australia and lodge from overseas, remaining there until the sponsorship and visa applications have been decided. This separates the family, particularly difficult if children are involved
It is unclear what the processing times will look like for Australian sponsorship applications

For offshore partners, the overall processing times are predicted to be longer than what they are at present.

2020 Budget Announcements

The Budget also indicated that the current lengthy processing times for onshore partner visas will decrease while further measures implemented to help raise revenue would include the introduction of English language requirements for both Partner visa applicants and their Australian permanent resident sponsors (unlikely to apply to Australian citizenship sponsors but, unsure on eligible New Zealand citizen sponsors).

Conclusion

There are strong concerns that the proposed measures, especially the English language requirements, are going to disadvantage many and keep families apart.

As the details are yet to be released, it is unclear how these measures would accommodate those living in remote and isolated communities with no access to technology, and/or those who have had very little education.

The Migration Institute of Australia will be meeting with the Department of Home Affairs this week to discuss the Budget and to object to some of the disclosed measures.

Our recommendation is to lodge a partner visa application as soon as you qualify and make sure you do it right – there are no provisions for a refund of the visa applications.