The Australian Government’s plan to add a No Further Stay condition to all Visitor visas could make it easier for overseas partners to visit Australians while waiting for a Partner visa. Migration agents Heenan & Browne say whether it helps families will depend on the length and entry conditions of the visas granted.
Announced on 17 September, the proposal is intended to prevent Visitor visas being used as a pathway to extend a stay in Australia. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has also said the change should make it easier for partners with offshore visa applications to spend time together in Australia.
Heenan & Browne is assisting an Australian citizen and his partner, identified here as Stuart and May, whose experience illustrates the practical question. May received a three-month, single-entry Visitor visa carrying the existing No Further Stay condition. After the visa was granted, she became pregnant. The couple now want to prepare for their child together in Australia, but pregnancy does not automatically qualify someone for a waiver of the condition.
Their case arose under the existing rules. It is not an example of the proposed policy already being applied.
Zhanna Heenan, co-founder and registered migration agent at Heenan & Browne, says allowing partners to visit during an offshore visa wait could be valuable. The detail that matters is whether those visits are workable for ordinary families. A short, single-entry visa may mean another application and international flight each time a couple wants to see one another. A multiple-entry visa with a reasonable period of stay could have a very different effect.
The agency says the proposal raises questions for the Government: Will overseas partners waiting for a decision be able to obtain multiple-entry Visitor visas? How long will they be permitted to stay on each visit? And what happens when a family’s circumstances change after a visa is granted?
