RPM Immigration Lawyers in Adelaide, South Australia | Legal service

RPM Immigration Lawyers

Locality: Adelaide, South Australia

Phone: +61 8 8528 9187

Address: Level 3, 97 Pirie Street 5000 Adelaide, SA, Australia

Website: http://www.rpmlawyers.com.au

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25.01.2022 Police checks for partner visa applications. Police checks are required for all partner visa and prospective marraige visa applicants as part of the application process. They are also required for sponsors of partner visa and prospective marriage visa applications....Continue reading

22.01.2022 Partner visa applications and 'site visits'. Do site visits by immigration officers happen? Yes, they do. It's not common, but from time to time immigration officers will visit the home of partner visa applicants and/or relatives of partner visa applicants, in Australia or overseas.... For example, the parents of a partner visa applicant may be visited at their home and interviewed by Australian immigration officers about their knowledge of their son's/daughter's relationship and partner visa application. They could also be asked about the contents of any form 888s and other documents they may have provided for the partner visa application. How likely is this to occur? Not very. However the chances of it occurring increase significantly if the immigration department has doubts about the genuine nature of the partner visa applicant's relationship and visa application. Will there be advance notice from the immigration department of a planned site visit? Possibly, but there is no guarantee that advance notice will be given. Should we be concerned about this? As long as your relationship and partner visa application are genuine, you should not be overly concerned. In fact, it can be an opportunity for the genuine nature of your relationship to be confirmed by others that are being visited and interviewed. Feel free to contact me to arrange a consultation if you would like to discuss this in more detail. Regards. Ross McDougall Solicitor & Registered Migration Agent. www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at July 8th, 2020. But, keep in mind that immigration law changes from time to time. Information (or the lack of it) contained here does not take into account anyone’s individual circumstances and should not be relied upon as immigration assistance or legal advice.

22.01.2022 Priority Processing of a Partner Visa application. Is priority processing possible? Yes, potentially it is. This is what the immigration department publishes in regard to priority processing:...Continue reading

17.01.2022 Need to live in South Australia to register your relationship there? yes and no. Registering a relationship for de facto couples For de facto couples who have not lived together as a de facto couple for a year or more at the time they lodge their partner visa application, registering their relationship with the State Government can strengthen their application.... The South Australian Relationship Registration Residency requirement The requirements for registering a relationship differ slightly from Australian State to State. Some States require both of the couple to live in the State when they register their relationship. However, South Australia does not. The South Australian requirement is that at least one of the couple must live in South Australia. Why is this important? It is important because it can be useful for de facto couples who want to register their relationship to strengthen their partner visa application, but only one of the couple is currently living in South Australia. The other of the de facto couple could, for example, be living overseas and be lodging an offshore partner visa application based on their de facto relationship. Some points to keep in mind: Your relationship can't be registered if you or your partner are: - married - already in a registered relationship - in a relationship as a couple with another person - related by family - younger than 18 years old. Couples may apply for registration irrespective of their sex or gender identity. For the purposes of strengthening a partner visa application, couples can register their relationship right up until the date the Immigration department makes a decion on their partner visa application - the relationship doesn't necessarily have to have been registered at the date the partner visa application was lodged. Feel free to contact me to arrange a consultation if you would like to discuss this in more detail. Regards. Ross McDougall. Solicitor & Registered Migration Agent. www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at August 7th, 2020. But, keep in mind that immigration law changes from time to time. Information (or the lack of it) contained here does not take into account anyone’s individual circumstances and should not be relied upon as immigration assistance or legal advice.

17.01.2022 Waiting for the grant of your Prospective Marriage Visa may be best at the moment. In fact, if you are in the processing queue you may not actually want your Prospective Marriage visa to be granted at the moment. The reason for this is that Prospective Marriage visas last for 9 months - and Prospective Marriage visa holders can't travel to Australia at the moment.... A Prospective Marriage visa holder needs to enter Australia, marry, and lodge a partner visa application, all within the 9 months. At the end of 9 months from the date they are granted, Prospective Marriage visas expire. If the Prospective Marriage visa holder isn’t able to enter Australia within the 9 month period from when the visa is granted - say, because they can't enter due to coronavirus travel restrictions on entering Australia - the visa expires. At the moment the immigration department is not extending that 9 month period even during this time of coronavirus. The Upshot of this. The upshot of this is that we are currently seeing some Prospective Marriage visa holders who, say, may have been granted their visa 4 or 5 months ago but still haven’t entered Australia on the visa - and now can’t currently enter Australia due to coronavirus. The risk for them is that their Prospective Marriage visa will expire before they can enter Australia - due to coronavirus travel restrictions into Australia. That’s a bad outcome for them unfortunately they would then need to lodge a new Prospective Marriage visa application. Will the government fix this? Hopefully, yes. The Migration Institute of Australia has brought this problem to the government's attention. When, and if, the government will do something about this current problem for Prospective Marriage visa holders who are currently outside Australia, is not known at the moment. Let's hope so. I hope this information is of assistance. Take care out there! Best wishes, Ross McDougall Immigration Lawyer. www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at May 1st, 2020. But, keep in mind that the situation is changing and being updated regularly. Information (or the lack of it) contained here does not take into account anyone’s individual circumstances and should not be relied upon as immigration assistance or legal advice.

15.01.2022 The immigration department’s statistical report on the 2018-19 Migration Program was published this month. Unfortunately, the report shows that the Partner visa application pipeline (lodged partner visa applications waiting to be processed) had reached almost 90,000 applications - as at June 2019. The number of applications waiting in the pipeline is likely to increase further in 2019-20.... 39,918 partner visas were issued in 2018-19 around the same level as in 2017-18 but around 8,000 less than in 2016-17. With an increase in partner visa applications from 57,144 in 2017-18 to 61,884 in 2018-19, the pipeline of partner visa applications continued to grow to almost 90,000. With less than 40,000 partner visa places available in 2019-20, this pipeline of applications awaiting processing will seemingly grow further. The result of this is ever-increasing average processing times. The chart, below, illustrates the current mismatch between demand for partner visas, and the available supply. Note: This is a summary of an article written by Abul Rizvi and published on the Independent Australia website on 8/12/2019. Feel free to contact me to arrange a consultation if you need further information about this. Regards. Ross McDougall Immigration Lawyer. www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at December 9th, 2019. But, keep in mind that immigration law changes from time to time. Information (or the lack of it) contained here does not take into account anyone’s individual circumstances and should not be relied upon as immigration assistance or legal advice.

14.01.2022 Minimum Income required for sponsors and applicants? I'm often asked if there is a minimum income level that partner visa applicants and their Australian citizen or permanent resident sponsor need to have in order to be approved as the visa applicant or as the sponsor of their partner's partner visa application. The good news is that the answer is no, there is not....Continue reading

13.01.2022 A no-cost document translating service. The Australia government is now providing a free document translating service for some temporary and permanent visa holders. If you hold one of these (or numerous others) visas:... Subclass 300 (Prospective Marriage Visa) Subclass 309 (Temporary partner visa - offshore) Subclass 100 (Permanent partner visa) Subclass 820 (Temporary partner visa - onshore) Subclass 801 (Permanent partner visa) then you will be eligible for free of charge professional document translating into English, paid for by the Australian government, if: You were granted your visa within the last two years; You have not already had ten or more documents translated using this service. You can find out more about this very useful free governemnt service and apply here: https://translating.homeaffairs.gov.au//about-this-service/ Regards. Ross McDougall Immigration Lawyer. www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at February 17th, 2020. But, keep in mind that immigration law changes from time to time. Information (or the lack of it) contained here does not take into account anyone’s individual circumstances and should not be relied upon as immigration assistance or legal advice.

13.01.2022 Partner visa holders, applicants, and Coronavirus as at March 16th, 2020. The Migration Institute of Australia supplied the following information on March 16th, 2020, regarding Coronavirus and its potential affect on visa applicants and visa holders: Travel Bans... The current travel bans for those arriving from Mainland China, Iran, South Korea and Italy remain in place. As of midnight 15 March 2020, all those arriving in Australia are required to self-isolate for 14 days. Some states have already introduced heavy penalties for those who do not comply. Australian citizens and permanent residents Australian citizens and permanent residents are not prevented from entering Australia at this stage. Those arriving in Australia will also be required to self-isolate for 14 days. Immediate family spouses, minor dependants or legal guardians only holding permanent visas may travel to Australia, however, will be required to follow self-isolation guidelines. Partners and immediate families of Australian citizens and permanent residents holding temporary visas Partners and immediate families of Australian citizens and permanent residents spouses, minor dependants or legal guardians only holding temporary visas are being dealt with on a case by case basis by the Department. Before attempting to travel contact should be made with the relevant post using the Australian Immigration Enquiry Form provided on the Department’s website. Visa holders offshore required to enter Australia by a specified date Visa holders required to enter Australia by a specified date and prevented from doing so by the travel restrictions should contact the section of the Department that issued the visa and request an extension to the entry date. Bridging Visa B holders offshore Bridging Visa B holders offshore unable to return before expiry date may consider applying for a visitor visa to return to Australia. Bridging Visas A should then be applied for again when onshore. I hope this information is of assistance. Take care out there! Best wishes, Ross McDougall Immigration Lawyer. www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at March 13th, 2020. But, keep in mind that the situation is changing and being updated regulalrly. Information (or the lack of it) contained here does not take into account anyone’s individual circumstances and should not be relied upon as immigration assistance or legal advice.

09.01.2022 A new English language requirement for partner visa applicants and sponsors? possibly. In the Federal government’s budget which was delivered on October 6th, 2020, numerous planned changes to partner visas were announced some positive, some not so positive.... One of the most controversial planned changes announced was a new requirement for partner visa applicants and their sponsor (if an Australian permanent resident but not a citizen) to have either functional English language ability, or make a genuine attempt to learn English. This new requirement is planned to be introduced for partner visa applications lodged from mid-2021. There was very little detail about this planned English language requirement in the budget documents. However, Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge provided some further details on October 8th, 2020. He said that: What this will mean is that we will require an applicant and a sponsor to have met functional level English or to have at least made reasonable efforts to learn English. And, by reasonable efforts we mean for most people that would be doing about 500 hours of free English language classes. There has been a significant outcry about this planned English language requirement for partner visa applicants. Accordingly, it is quite possible that this proposal will be watered-down before it’s planned introduction in mid-2021. We’ll be watching closely. Feel freee to contact me if you would like to book a consultation for more information about anything mentioned here. Regards. Ross McDougall. Solicitor & Registered Migration Agent. www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at October 13th, 2020. But, keep in mind that immigration law changes from time to time.

09.01.2022 Pre-approval of partner visa sponsors - we have a commencement date. As some readers will be aware, for a long time now the immigration department has been planning to implement a requirement that partner visa sponsors be 'pre-approved' before the partner visa applicant can lodge their partner visa application. For a couple of years now, we have known that this 'pre-approval' requirement is coming - we just haven't known when.... The immigration department have now finally provided some guidance on when the sponsor pre-approval commence will commence - it's November 2021. What does that mean for potential partner visa sponsors and applicants? Well, if you intend lodging an offshore (from outside Australia) partner visa application, it won't necessarilly affect you much. However, if you intend lodging an onshore (from inside Australia) partner visa application, you could be adversely affected by this new requirement from November 2021. The reason for that is that we don't yet know how long the pre-approval of sponsors process will take - it could be weeks, it could be months - and it's more likely to be months. Until the sponsor is pre-approved the partner visa applicant won't be able to lodge their partner visa application. If the partner visa has a temporary visa (such as a visitor visa or a student visa) that expires soon - the time that it will take to pre-approve their partner visa sponsor could be a problem. Their temporary visa could expire before their sponsor is pre-approved. If the partner visa applicant has a long time left on their temporary visa - say, 6 months or more, then it's potentially less of a problem. What to do? Well it's best to think twice before rushing in to lodge a weak partner visa application just to avoid the commencement of pre-approval of sponsors in November 2021. Lodging a weak application is rarely a good option. There may sometimes be some short-term advantage in that, but it can come at the cost of significant long-term disadvantage. A refused partner visa application is best avoided. From November 2021 we will start to get a good idea of how long the sponsor pre-approval process takes. The process may be able to be speeded up by lodging a 'decision-ready' sponsor pre-approval application - with all necessary police checks attached, for example. Feel free to contact me if you would like to book a consultation for more information about anything mentioned here. Regards. Ross McDougall. Solicitor & Registered Migration Agent. www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at November 12th, 2020. But, keep in mind that immigration law changes from time to time.

07.01.2022 Timing the lodgement of a partner visa application. When is the best time to lodge? This is a question that I often discuss in my first meeting with clients....Continue reading

05.01.2022 Partner and Prospective Marriage Visa processing times during Covid-19 - what we're seeing. We're seeing that Covid -19 is definitely affecting the current processing times for lodged Partner visa and Prospective Marriage visa applications - sometimes in unexpected ways. ... Prospective Marriage visa applications Immigration is still accepting applications for Prospective Marriage Visas (subclass 300). However, the processing of Prospective Marriage visa applications appears to have been suspended currently. The suspension of processing is not necessarily a bad thing at the moment. This is because Prospective Marriage Visa holders are currently not allowed to enter Australia - and, their visa expiry date is coming ever nearer. That's a problem without an answer at the moment. Partner Visa applications - onshore and offshore (the temporary visa stage - subclasses 820 and 309) Immigration is still accepting applications for Partner Visas - onshore and offshore. The processing of temporary partner visa applications is continuing. However, delays are being experienced - particularly with offshore partner visa applications. The closure of many of Australian immigration's overseas offices due to Covid-19 would be contributing to the delays. Most of the overseas offices appear to have re-opened now. Partner Visa applications - onshore and offshore (the permanent visa stage - subclasses 801 and 100) The processing of permanent partner visa applications is continuing. We have seen some very quick grants of permanent partner visas that have been lodged recently - some within a month or two of lodging all of the forms, documents and evidence. However, some permanent partner visa applications (lodged pre Covid - 19) are still waiting for a decision - even though they have been 'decision-ready' for a year or more. What to conclude from this? - Immigration appears not to be processing permanent partner visa applications in the order they receive them. Whilst that's potentially good for applicants who have lodged recently, it's unfair for other applicants who lodged much earlier. Overall, it makes no sense. Feel freee to contact me if you would like to book a consultation for more information about anything mentioned here. Regards. Ross McDougall. Solicitor & Registered Migration Agent. www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at September 15th, 2020. But, keep in mind that immigration law changes from time to time.

04.01.2022 Temporary Partner Visa processing taking 2 years? - what to do. The Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) has provided the following information regarding partner visas that they received from the Immigration Department at a recent bi-lateral meeting between the MIA and senior department officials. Current Partner visa processing pipeline... 1st Stage (temporary) partner visa applications 82,000 applications are in the processing pipeline. 2nd Stage (permanent) partner visa applications 156,000 applications are in the processing pipeline. The Department confirmed that they are doing everything possible to facilitate the smooth transition to permanent residency for partner visa applicants, given the long processing times of the partner visas. The Migration program for 2019-20 allocates a total of 39,799 visas for the partner visa stream - far less than the number of partner visa applications in the processing pipeline - hence the long processing delays. What happens if the processing time for the temporary partner visa is more than 2 years? Partner visa applicants are eligible to be considered for the permanent partner visa 2 years after they applied for the temporary and permanent partner visas. In the past, the temporary partner visa would have been received well before the 2-year point - that's not always the case anymore unfortunately. The immigration department lists current average processing times for onshore apartner visa applications as being 21 to 28 months. So, it's possible that a partner visa applicant can become eligible to be considered for the permanent partner visa, before the temporary partner visa is granted. An applicant in that situation (being at the 2-year point before grant of the temporary visa), could potentially contact the Immigration department at the two-year point and requesting that they be considered for grant of the permanent partner visa immediately after the temporary partner visa is granted. The immigration department doesn't have to do this - but many applicants would have everything to gain, and little to lose, by requesting that they do so. Feel free to contact me for a consultation if you need further information about this. Regards. Ross McDougall Immigration Lawyer www.rpmlawyers.com.au Tel: 08 8528 9187 This information is correct at September 12th, 2019. But, keep in mind that immigration law changes from time to time. Information (or the lack of it) contained here does not take into account anyone’s individual circumstances and should not be relied upon as immigration assistance or legal advice.

01.01.2022 Partner visa sponsors who are Australian Permanent Residents - traps to avoid. Partner visa applicants need to be sponsored by their partner. The sponsoring partner needs to be an Australian Citizen or an Australian Permanent Resident or an Eligible New Zealand Citizen....Continue reading