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I want to apply for a partner visa but we are not living together at the moment - what can we do?

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I want to apply for the partner visa as my partner is Australian, however we are not living together at the moment and we have not been together for 12 months. We are having troubles finding out the way to make this work. Is there anything that we can do in order to apply for the partner visa? Like applying for the relationship certificate, would that help? Or there is no other way at all? If there is, please advise and also what should we do so as to make our application stronger? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
J.

Answer provided by Migration Agent

Hi J.,

Thank you for your email for giving us the opportunity to assist you on your visa matter.

To apply for a partner visa, usually, your de facto relationship must have existed for at least 12 months immediately before you apply for the visa.

You and your partner are in a de facto partner relationship if all of the following applies:
- you are not legally married to each other
- you are committed to a shared life to the exclusion of all others
- your relationship is genuine and continuing
- you live together or do not live separately and apart on a permanent basis
- you are not related by family.

However, you would be exempt from the 12-month requirement if you register your relationship in an Australian state or territory. You would need to show that you are living together and provide the usual evidence of relationship factors, but not necessarily for 12 months.

Without being together, it would be hard to prove you are in a de facto/partner relationship.

Living together is regarded as a common element in most on-going relationships. It is recognized that, for various reasons, couples may sometimes have to live apart. Provided the separation is temporary and the couple had, at some point since commencement of the relationship lived together, their relationship might still satisfy the requirements of a de facto relationship.

For this reason, the one-year relationship criterion does not require the couple to have physically lived together for the entire 12 months, but rather to have been in a de facto relationship for that period.

Partners who are currently not living together may be required to provide additional evidence that they are not living separately and apart on a permanent basis in order to satisfy the requirements of a de facto relationship.

You will be given an option to contact me to hire my services once this question has been finalized.
If you need further services from myself or a registered migration agent, please contact Amy at amy.jacobson@ask-an-agent.com.au or visit https://www.ask-an-agent.com.au/visa-quote - and don't forget to mention your Question ID so that I can keep providing immigration services to you.

Best Regards
Migration Agent

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