Sponsor the same person for a partner visa twice? Yes.
In my work with couples applying for a partner visa and sponsorship, over the years you get to see a lot of different partner visa scenarios.
A scenario that I see from time to time is this:
- a couple are in a de facto relationship or a marriage
- the Australian citizen or permanent resident sponsors their partner for a partner visa
- unfortunately, the marriage or de facto relationship later breaks down
- the breakdown occurs before the grant of the permanent partner visa
- some time later, the couple overcome their differences and get back together again.
In the above scenario, can the Australian partner sponsor their partner for a partner visa again? Normally, yes!
A new partner visa application would need to be lodged – most likely from outside Australia.
The couple would again need to provide evidence that their ‘new’ resumed marriage or de facto relationship is genuine and will be ongoing.
Bascially it is recognition that relationships are complex and the course of love does not always run smoothly.
An interesting aspect of this scenario is that the sponsor would probably not be barred from sponsoring their former spouse or de facto partner for five years from the date of the original sponsorship. Sponsoring the same person again should not ‘count’ as a new sponsorship, for calcultaing the five year bar.
Because of the way the relevant Migration regulation is written, the five year sponsorship bar should only come into effect if a sponsor was to sponsor ‘another’ person within five years.
Feel free to contact me for a consultation if you need further information about this. Cheers.
Ross McDougall
Immigration Lawyer
www.rpmlawyers.com.au
12/11/2017
