# Aus to SA and SA to Aus



## The Civil Savage (Mar 31, 2010)

Hello everybody I've been lurking on and off this site for a few years and decided to join and post this thread as I need some advice on back and forth immigration and over the years I've seen some pretty good advice give on these forums so I hoping you might be able to help.

I am posting this on the South African and Australian forums in the hope I can put together a comprehensive idea of what to do considering the complexities.

Here is my situation:

I am a South African living with my partner who is Australian, in Scotland. We both cant wait to get out of the UK and agree heading to Australia to dig in for a while is the best course of action. 

- She is here in the uk on an ancestral visa and I am on one of the last 2 year work holiday visas to have been issued for South Africans. This Visa expires in June preventing me from making the application here as I need to be in the same place when it is issued. 

Because I will no longer be able to stay in the UK over the time it takes for the application to process I will have to go home to S.A. andf make the application there. I have had contact with a friend of a friend who is in Australia now on a defacto/partner visa, that who told me the entire process took him 5 months, of that time his girlfriend was only in SA with him for 2 months. 

Here is my problem as with most things in life finances and international labour laws are making life a bit difficult.

If we both go to SA while I go through the application process, then I will be able to work and and she will not , over the course of 5 months (assuming i even find work that quick). 
- Unless South africa may grant a temp residence partner visa more quickly than Australia (which I highly doubt).

If I enter Australia on a normal visitors Visa and make the application while there then she will be able to work while I can not (not sure If the process would take as long though)

I have read pretty extensively on the requirements for a defacto/partner visa that i need for Australia, and seen some literature (not nearly enough as the home affairs website has very little info) on the requirements needed for the same visa for my partner while in South Africa.

To summarise: 
Objective is my Australian partner visa.--->5 months
Can't apply here because my visa here expires soon--> Have to apply in SA
5 Months in SA--->partner cant work.

Is it worth applying for a partner visa for her while we are in South Africa?
or would we I be better off entering Australia as a visitor and then applying for the partner visa?


Hope this isnt too long winded and that someone can help.
-Craig


----------



## zambezi.king (Oct 8, 2009)

Craig,

I do not know the answer but must inform you of what I do know... spouosal / partner visas for Oz can be plain sailing or problematic. My cousin married an Aussie woman whilst living in the UK and had 2 kids... They still had to prove it was not a marriage of convenience!! So beware... then again it might just sail through for you.

The RSA situation takes a while I'm sure. I do think that she can come over for 180 of every year as a tourist BUT CAN'T WORK. I would try both visa avenues simultaneously... the RSA way may be slow but the Ozzie way is currently undergoing many changes so who knows how long it may take.


----------



## The Civil Savage (Mar 31, 2010)

Hi Zambezi King.

Thanks for the input. She has already been to SA (Aussies can literally just walk in for 3 months at a time) I know she can't work on it though, so I am trying to get info from home affairs as to what the fastest way for us to get a a temp work permit is. As expected the lines don't work and my emails aren't being responded to. I think my best bet is to somehow have our relationship acknowledged by the state here in the UK, get her in on a normal visitors permit and then apply from there for the both of us. 

It's the lack of information on my homefront that bugs me.


----------

