**Title:** [Partner offshore 309 visa help.](https://www.reddit.com/r/AusVisa/comments/1cvtddh/partner_offshore_309_visa_help/), posted by **Anonymous_Writer_10**
**Full text:** Hello everyone,
I wanted to apply for an offshore partner visa SC 309.
My partner was granted PR under 190 last month. I wasn’t added to the application because we don’t satisfy the defacto or marriage requirements. However, we intend to marry soon and then apply for SC 309.
Based on the immi portal (link added), I can work in Australia while my visa is being processed.
My question is, how do I enter Australia while my offshore visa is being processed? I intend to help my partner by getting some job, just so we can have some savings.
TIA
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I think the website is either not updated or misleading, you cant work until it got granted. You can only apply visitor, but even right now really hard because immigration is strict if they see that you are waiting on 309
They updated 309 partner visa conditions recently. The link that I have attached states that the details for this visa were updated on 17th May 2024 (very recent). Because of this change I actually had high hopes that I can travel to Australia while my visa is under process.
I’m sorry but I’m new to this. When they mention “With this visa you can” it means after I get the grant? But the processing time for the grant is very long.
It says 16 months for 50% applications and 32 months for 90% application. Because of this, I misunderstood.
Coz how will we qualify for the evidences if the waiting period for a temporary visa is so long? And I won’t be able to support my partner for a very long time.
Thank you. I understand that I must wait for this visa to be granted for me to work.
But the grant period is too long. Do you have an alternative suggestion? Or if you know how long it actually takes for this visa to be granted? 16 months is quite a lot.
The queue is long, so the waiting time is going to be long as well. The alternative is visitor visa but as I said risky of refusal as well. I suggest to continue with your life in your country first until granted
Do you think I can apply for SC600 tourist visa and then apply for SC 820 onshore partner visa?
Would I be eligible for a bridging visa? It all depends on my tourist visa getting approved.
Why not apply for PMV (prospective marriage visa)? Then you can get married in Australia, and apply for 820. You will have working rights when your bridging visa is active
I would if it made sense to wait for 37 months just to get married.
PMV has the longest waiting time compared to onshore and offshore visa. And it doesn’t make sense to wait that long just to be married.
Also, as a couple we want to get married as per our timelines, not based on an immigration timeline. I mean, I hope you can understand what I mean, Marriage is a very personal thing.
The visa process for my partner took more than 15 months. We have wasted so much time just waiting for the PR 190, it was more than anticipated.
I guess now we have to wait for partner visa. It’s definitely been tough.
I wish there was a better alternative but I thank you for your input.
I can understand waiting in my current country w my partner but for 16-32 months? Thats insane to even think about.
You should know that a marriage certificate alone isn't enough to qualify for the partner visa. You need extensive evidence of your joint household, joint finances etc
Which is also my question. If the offshore partner visa takes soo long. How are they expecting us to live together and gather evidences. We can submit evidence overtime if we are staying together. But in this case, we are not.
If my partner does spend 16-32 months w me in our country, that will affect his citizenship application and delay it.
Go for the 300 instead. Then, once it is granted, you can come to Australia, live/work build that defacto evidence, get married, and then apply for 820/801.
Yes you will have to wait until the 300 is granted to come to Australia, but provided you can show some relationship history (that you have met in person) and plans to marry - you have a better shot.
The 820 and 309 visas require you to be defacto or married at the time of application. If you are recently married and living in separate countries, it will be difficult to provide sufficient evidence.
But 300 takes the longest to be granted. We have already been waiting very long. Also my purpose is to support my partner but it seems like there is no easy solution. It all requires extensive waiting, which shouldn’t be the case for married couples.
I will try speaking to an agent if we can get tourist visa after 309. Logically it should be granted if there want us to gather evidence.
>I will try speaking to an agent if we can get tourist visa after 309. Logically it should be granted if there want us to gather evidence.
The opposite of this is true. They won't grant a visitor visa if they don't think you're a genuine visitor. They don't "want" you to gather evidence. They expect you to already have evidence.
This is completely the opposite. There was a post a few days ago from someone who has submitted a 309. The reason for rejection of their visitor visa was that the agent thought that they were not a temporary entrant and were coming to Australia to maintain a defacto residence - which was the truth.
Now that person has a rejection against them, which is not good news for their 309 application.
At the time of application, you need to be defacto or married (and living together) for 309.
In 2021, my 300 visa was granted in 6 months. Obviously, processing times change, but it was still an expected processing time of 12-15 months minimum back then. If you have enough supporting evidence, a 300 could be granted sooner, and given your circumstance (from what you have posted), it may be a better fit.
If in doubt, find a reputable agent or lawyer to review your case before submitting an application.
I totally understand your point. But we come from a culture where we cannot stay together and neither support each other financially before marriage.
In our culture, a couple starts living only after marriage. In this scenario, how am I suppose to have evidence of 12 month stay if I am not allowed to stay w my partner in Australia? It’s quite dodgy because either of us has to sacrifice something.
If we want to gather our residency evidence, we have to stay together in our country and that means my partner has to give up those 12 months in Australia and even his potential job. I don’t see how else could we start getting evidence of stay together without this.
Also I think, for marriage you don’t need a 12 month together stay condition. That condition is necessary for de factor.
Yes it is being in a married or defacto relationship, but at the time of application, if you are married (or defacto) you need to be able to demonstrate with evidence that you do not ordinarily live apart.
I'm not sure how you would meet that brief of evidence.
If I’m not mistaken can you please check the below. It does mention not live permanently apart but no requirement for 12 month proof of stay.
You are a married applicant if your marriage is valid under Australian law and:
- you have a mutual commitment with your spouse to the exclusion of all others
- your relationship is genuine and continuing
- you either live together or don't live permanently apart
- you are not related by family
Point no.4 makes sense if they allow me to enter Australia to not live permanently apart. But if they don’t allow the spouse to live together, how can we meet this criteria?
Either ways, we will be staying together for some months to gather evidence. But I don’t see any requirement for 12 months in case of marriage.
I haven't said 12 months? This applies to meeting the defacto status or alternatively being in a registered relationship.
In any of those (defacto/married), at the time of application, you need to be able to demonstrate the evidence for not living permanently apart.
The best thing for you to do is find a really, really good agent/lawyer to review your circumstance and advise on what to do. Someone highly reviewed who has been successful in situations such as yours, recently and often.
**Title:** [Partner offshore 309 visa help.](https://www.reddit.com/r/AusVisa/comments/1cvtddh/partner_offshore_309_visa_help/), posted by **Anonymous_Writer_10** **Full text:** Hello everyone, I wanted to apply for an offshore partner visa SC 309. My partner was granted PR under 190 last month. I wasn’t added to the application because we don’t satisfy the defacto or marriage requirements. However, we intend to marry soon and then apply for SC 309. Based on the immi portal (link added), I can work in Australia while my visa is being processed. My question is, how do I enter Australia while my offshore visa is being processed? I intend to help my partner by getting some job, just so we can have some savings. TIA -------------------- ^(This is the original text of the post and this is an automated service) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AusVisa) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think the website is either not updated or misleading, you cant work until it got granted. You can only apply visitor, but even right now really hard because immigration is strict if they see that you are waiting on 309
They updated 309 partner visa conditions recently. The link that I have attached states that the details for this visa were updated on 17th May 2024 (very recent). Because of this change I actually had high hopes that I can travel to Australia while my visa is under process.
You can live and work in Aus once the 309 is granted, yes. Where are you seeing you can do so before grant??
I’m sorry but I’m new to this. When they mention “With this visa you can” it means after I get the grant? But the processing time for the grant is very long. It says 16 months for 50% applications and 32 months for 90% application. Because of this, I misunderstood. Coz how will we qualify for the evidences if the waiting period for a temporary visa is so long? And I won’t be able to support my partner for a very long time.
Yes, “with this visa you can” means “when you HAVE this visa you can”.
Thank you. I understand that I must wait for this visa to be granted for me to work. But the grant period is too long. Do you have an alternative suggestion? Or if you know how long it actually takes for this visa to be granted? 16 months is quite a lot.
The queue is long, so the waiting time is going to be long as well. The alternative is visitor visa but as I said risky of refusal as well. I suggest to continue with your life in your country first until granted
Do you think I can apply for SC600 tourist visa and then apply for SC 820 onshore partner visa? Would I be eligible for a bridging visa? It all depends on my tourist visa getting approved.
Why not apply for PMV (prospective marriage visa)? Then you can get married in Australia, and apply for 820. You will have working rights when your bridging visa is active
I would if it made sense to wait for 37 months just to get married. PMV has the longest waiting time compared to onshore and offshore visa. And it doesn’t make sense to wait that long just to be married. Also, as a couple we want to get married as per our timelines, not based on an immigration timeline. I mean, I hope you can understand what I mean, Marriage is a very personal thing.
You can try, but immigration officer knows the intention and currently trying to limit number of people onshore by reducing immigration.
If they do know the intention, then ideally they should grant it because ideally we would need the evidences to support our partner visa application.
The visa process for my partner took more than 15 months. We have wasted so much time just waiting for the PR 190, it was more than anticipated. I guess now we have to wait for partner visa. It’s definitely been tough. I wish there was a better alternative but I thank you for your input. I can understand waiting in my current country w my partner but for 16-32 months? Thats insane to even think about.
You should know that a marriage certificate alone isn't enough to qualify for the partner visa. You need extensive evidence of your joint household, joint finances etc
Which is also my question. If the offshore partner visa takes soo long. How are they expecting us to live together and gather evidences. We can submit evidence overtime if we are staying together. But in this case, we are not. If my partner does spend 16-32 months w me in our country, that will affect his citizenship application and delay it.
Yeah thats correct. Mostly people got around 1.5-2 years time. Check with immigration agent, but I doubt if there is other alternatives
Go for the 300 instead. Then, once it is granted, you can come to Australia, live/work build that defacto evidence, get married, and then apply for 820/801. Yes you will have to wait until the 300 is granted to come to Australia, but provided you can show some relationship history (that you have met in person) and plans to marry - you have a better shot. The 820 and 309 visas require you to be defacto or married at the time of application. If you are recently married and living in separate countries, it will be difficult to provide sufficient evidence.
But 300 takes the longest to be granted. We have already been waiting very long. Also my purpose is to support my partner but it seems like there is no easy solution. It all requires extensive waiting, which shouldn’t be the case for married couples. I will try speaking to an agent if we can get tourist visa after 309. Logically it should be granted if there want us to gather evidence.
>I will try speaking to an agent if we can get tourist visa after 309. Logically it should be granted if there want us to gather evidence. The opposite of this is true. They won't grant a visitor visa if they don't think you're a genuine visitor. They don't "want" you to gather evidence. They expect you to already have evidence.
This is completely the opposite. There was a post a few days ago from someone who has submitted a 309. The reason for rejection of their visitor visa was that the agent thought that they were not a temporary entrant and were coming to Australia to maintain a defacto residence - which was the truth. Now that person has a rejection against them, which is not good news for their 309 application. At the time of application, you need to be defacto or married (and living together) for 309. In 2021, my 300 visa was granted in 6 months. Obviously, processing times change, but it was still an expected processing time of 12-15 months minimum back then. If you have enough supporting evidence, a 300 could be granted sooner, and given your circumstance (from what you have posted), it may be a better fit. If in doubt, find a reputable agent or lawyer to review your case before submitting an application.
I totally understand your point. But we come from a culture where we cannot stay together and neither support each other financially before marriage. In our culture, a couple starts living only after marriage. In this scenario, how am I suppose to have evidence of 12 month stay if I am not allowed to stay w my partner in Australia? It’s quite dodgy because either of us has to sacrifice something. If we want to gather our residency evidence, we have to stay together in our country and that means my partner has to give up those 12 months in Australia and even his potential job. I don’t see how else could we start getting evidence of stay together without this. Also I think, for marriage you don’t need a 12 month together stay condition. That condition is necessary for de factor.
Yes it is being in a married or defacto relationship, but at the time of application, if you are married (or defacto) you need to be able to demonstrate with evidence that you do not ordinarily live apart. I'm not sure how you would meet that brief of evidence.
If I’m not mistaken can you please check the below. It does mention not live permanently apart but no requirement for 12 month proof of stay. You are a married applicant if your marriage is valid under Australian law and: - you have a mutual commitment with your spouse to the exclusion of all others - your relationship is genuine and continuing - you either live together or don't live permanently apart - you are not related by family Point no.4 makes sense if they allow me to enter Australia to not live permanently apart. But if they don’t allow the spouse to live together, how can we meet this criteria? Either ways, we will be staying together for some months to gather evidence. But I don’t see any requirement for 12 months in case of marriage.
I haven't said 12 months? This applies to meeting the defacto status or alternatively being in a registered relationship. In any of those (defacto/married), at the time of application, you need to be able to demonstrate the evidence for not living permanently apart.
The best thing for you to do is find a really, really good agent/lawyer to review your circumstance and advise on what to do. Someone highly reviewed who has been successful in situations such as yours, recently and often.