# ETA VISA (12month) 3 month stays to spouse visa in Australia quesiton.



## seanyboii (Nov 10, 2011)

Hello everyone.

My fiance and I are planning to be married early next year.

I have a number of questions and am looking for anybody with the experience/ knowledge that can give me direct information that I need to know.

1# Can my fiance fly to Australia on an ETA(3month stay) then marry me and be able to apply for the Temporary and Permanent
(Subclasses 820 and 801)?

Will she be granted this bridging visa even though she came here on an ETA and be allowed to stay here in Australia while we wait for it to be processed.

#2 While in Australia and married to me....Do we get her health check requirement done here in Australia?

#3 While in Australia and married to me....Does she get her character check/ police check requirement done here in Australia? Is this possible to do? Or will she need these from her home country America?

Thank you all for your time.


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## WeekrisH (Feb 21, 2011)

seanyboii said:


> Hello everyone.
> 
> My fiance and I are planning to be married early next year.
> 
> ...


I am no immigration expert but i believe you cannot apply for a bridging visa on an ETA Tourist visa. 
You may have to apply for a Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) which will give your partner a 9 month visa to enter australia and get married to you. Once you are married you can then apply for a Partner temporary visa (subclass 820) and Permanent visa (subclass 801). See link below for more information.

Prospective Marriage Visa (Subclass 300)


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## seanyboii (Nov 10, 2011)

WeekrisH said:


> I am no immigration expert but i believe you cannot apply for a bridging visa on an ETA Tourist visa.


Can anybody confirm this to be true? I thought that she would be able to fly here on her ETA tourist visa and still marry me and then we could apply for the Temporary partner visa while she was still here and she would be granted the bridging visa while we waited for that to be processed.

If I could get more peoples input it would be greatly appreciated!


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## _Sarah_ (Jun 27, 2011)

That's incorrent. If a person holds a substantive visa and applies onshore for another substantive visa, a Bridging visa is automatically granted on the expiry of the first visa, to allow the applicant to remain lawfully in the country while a decision is made.A Bridging visa has the same conditions as the previous visa held, so if she comes on a tourist visa the Bridging visa will have no work rights. You can apply to remove the working restriction however, if you show you are experiencing financial hardship/she needs to work.

Yes, you can get married on an ETA, as long as the visa doesn't have a "no further stay" condition, and if it doesn't you'll be able to apply for the partner visa. You can do the medical check for the visa in Australia. She needs a police check for every country in which she has lived for more than 12 months in the last 10 years. Police checks can be done through the mail, so she can get her US one while she's here.


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## seanyboii (Nov 10, 2011)

Thank you so so much, this is what I needed to hear and you have made my day!

I have another question for those of you out there with a little experience in this area....

I met my fiance online 3 years....We have been in a relationship for 2 of those years....We have spent a total of 6 months together with me travelling to America and staying there for 3 months and her travelling here to Australia and staying here for 3 months.

I work for my father in our family business and earn what I'd like to think enough money to be able to provide for both my fiance and my self...

What problems may we run into with our visa application? If any at all? She has never done anything criminal like, and there is nothing wrong with her medical either.

My concerns are that we're too young...me(21)...her(20) and they immigration department might see that as a fault. My other concern is that we have only spent a total of 6 months together in person. Though we have been known to each other for the past 3 years.

Thank you to anybody who can give me a reply! And thank you again Sarah 

EDIT** Hey Sarah would it be worth getting that Police check while she is still in America? She won't be flying down here until after Christmas. Or should we wait for the department to ask us to get it done? Thank you!


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## _Sarah_ (Jun 27, 2011)

Firstly I need to correct my phrase, "Yes, you can get married on an ETA. And as long as the visa doesn't have a "no further stay" condition she'll be able to apply for the partner visa". That's how it should read.

Financially you should have no problems - that you are working is enough. When my partner and I applied, we were both studying and were fine (I only had a part time job).



> My concerns are that we're too young...me(21)...her(20) and they immigration department might see that as a fault. My other concern is that we have only spent a total of 6 months together in person. Though we have been known to each other for the past 3 years.


I can really relate to you, my partner and I had the _exact_ same concerns  It's nothing to worry about. We're both 19, and that was also our age when we applied. We too had had a long distance relationship, it went for 2 years and then we met, were shortly separated, and spent a year together before applying. We also got married. The fact that you are getting married is a bonus, and 3 years is still a long relationship, you have no need to worry.

What's important isn't the bare facts, eg, that you've spent 6 months together in person. What is important is the quality of your evidence of a genuine relationship, which, judging from what you've said, shouldn't be hard to collect.

Read the partner migration booklet to help with the application:
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/1127.pdf

Police checks are only valid for a year, so she can get it while she's in the US but if it does expire before they grant the visa, she'll have to get another one. You can either get it just before applying and give it in with the application, or wait for the CO to request it 

So again, don't worry about your age. When we were figuring out the visa I remember thinking "as if immigration will take us seriously at our age, they'll just laugh that we've married so young". But now I realise that there are some older couples who are so much less serious and mature than we are, and what's more, many couples don't appreciate their relationships. When you have to worry about being able to live legally with your partner and your life together depends on the grant of a visa, although it's a stressful process, you know that you wouldn't be doing it if you didn't love each other so much.


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## seanyboii (Nov 10, 2011)

Hey Sarah, thank you so much for everything. I have one more thing to ask you I guess from your own personal experience and I am sorry for the amount of questions I have to ask but it just seems like you're the only person out there who can communicate with me 

Regarding the police check... If my fiance waits for the department to ask her for it and then goes through the process of actually getting one..will that hinder our application? I guess in other words are we better off having it on hand when they ask for it...or can we wait to get the police check once they ask us for it?

Thank you so so much


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## _Sarah_ (Jun 27, 2011)

seanyboii said:


> Hey Sarah, thank you so much for everything. I have one more thing to ask you I guess from your own personal experience and I am sorry for the amount of questions I have to ask but it just seems like you're the only person out there who can communicate with me
> 
> Regarding the police check... If my fiance waits for the department to ask her for it and then goes through the process of actually getting one..will that hinder our application? I guess in other words are we better off having it on hand when they ask for it...or can we wait to get the police check once they ask us for it?
> 
> Thank you so so much


No problem 
Some people think that it's better to have a 'decision ready' application, which means when you apply you include the police and medical checks. Despite doing this, many people end up waiting 5-10 months anyway, so it's hard to tell if it makes much of a difference.
We did submit everything on the same day, and I think why not do it - so long as you don't get the checks done too soon because waiting for them to get done a _second_ time will definately slow things down. My partner got his medical and police check done 2 months before we applied, which left them 10 months of validity which we thought would be enough time to grant the visa - in the end we were very lucky and it was granted in just under a month.
All the best!


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## seanyboii (Nov 10, 2011)

So we have decided that she'll be getting her police check done here in Australia and I was just curious if when they ask us for it..do they give us a time frame/ limit on getting it? Will they deny the visa if we don't have it on time? What is that time frame?


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## _Sarah_ (Jun 27, 2011)

seanyboii said:


> So we have decided that she'll be getting her police check done here in Australia and I was just curious if when they ask us for it..do they give us a time frame/ limit on getting it? Will they deny the visa if we don't have it on time? What is that time frame?


I think usually when they ask for additional documents they give a 28 day limit, *however* for police/medical checks there is not a limit since these things can take a while - they'll just wait until you get it. I'm 99% sure


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