After 3 long years of applying for the de facto partner visa to Australia, I am thrilled to announce I finally got my permanent residency!! Just over 3 years ago I was sat in a hotel room in Vietnam on the phone to Australian immigration, wondering what my options were in being able to move to the country to be with my Australian partner.
That time in the hotel room, we spent numerous calls asking immigration what we could do to get me into the country. In the end we worked out to come in on a 3 month tourist visa for Australia and apply for the partner visa from there.
If you are going through the de facto 820 or 801 visa process, you’ll totally understand that immigration can’t advise you on the million questions you have so it’s really difficult to understand if you are applying the right way which puts all this stress on you and your partner because you’re investing in so much money!! (Last time I saw it was about $8K all up to apply for this visa).
Here is my timeline of how long it actually took from start to finish….
1 February 2014 – I landed in Australia on a 3 month tourist visa. I knew I had 3 months to get everything ready to submit my application for the 820 de facto partner visa otherwise I would have to leave the country. During this time I couldn’t work because I was on a tourist visa.
30 April 2014 – The last day of my 3 month tourist visa, I had successfully submitted my 820 de facto partner visa after 3 months of hell and numerous calls to immigration wanting advice and reassurance of everything I was submitting was correct. It was a nightmare which is why I wrote the post about how I applied.
1 May 2014 – My tourist visa is now invalid BUT because immigration now have my 820 defacto partner visa application, I have now been put on a bridging visa meaning I now have full working rights and I can finally earn some money! I was sent an email as confirmation.
April 2015 – My 820 defacto visa application has finally been granted via email after 1 year of waiting!! Woo Hoo!! Bridging visa has now expired and I’m a temporary resident on this visa with full working rights.
Feb 2016 – I’m sent an email saying I’ll be able to apply for the Permanent 801 Defacto partner visa in April. The reason why is because you have to wait 1 year after you receive your 820 visa before you can apply for the permanent visa.
October 2016 – Between Feb and October I am absolutely confused as to why I have to go through this awful process AGAIN!! Why??? So I read a good post about it here and realised essentially I was having to do the same thing all over again yet this time round, I made sure I didn’t take 3 months to apply for the visa, I took 3 days to do the whole thing. To find out how I applied for this visa, see here.
January 2017 – I’ve not heard anything from immigration, not even confirmation that they have received my application so I give them a call. They told me that it would take about 12-15 months to approve. Here’s to another long wait then!
30 March 2017 – VISA APPROVED!!!! An email from immigration comes into my inbox granting me permanent residency! This means I can come and go from Australia as much as I like until 30 March 2022. I must be permanently living in Australia by that date, otherwise my visa no longer exists.
More Australia visa guides to read!
Need more help with your Australian visa process? Check out my guides here.
Australian Partner Visa Guides
- How I Applied for the Australian Partner Visa
- 13 Tips for Writing the Perfect Partner Visa Relationship Statement for Australia
- 8 Crucial Mistakes to Avoid for the Australian Partner Visa
- How I Applied for Part 2 of the Partner Visa to Australia (801 Visa)
- Can I Work on a Bridging Visa in Australia?
Australian Citizenship Guides
- From Applicant to Citizen: My Australian Citizenship Timeline
- My Australian Citizenship Ceremony Experience: A Glimpse Into What It Entails
- Everything I Learned About Applying For Citizenship In Australia
- 13 Tips for The Citizenship Test in Australia (And I Passed!)
Finding a migration agent and understanding the visa process
- Australian Visas You Can Apply For To Stay Long Term
- Best Migration Agent in Australia That We Have Personally Used
I do not work for immigration, I am just someone who has been through the visa process and have written this post to state what I did. I am not saying what I did is the correct way to apply for the visa, but it worked for me.
If you have any questions, I do advise you to contact True Blue Migration Services – my go to Migration Agents in Australia. They are the only people who can give you the most up to date and correct answers.
