De Facto Relationship Visa

Australian Partner Visas for De Facto Couples

You feel you are in a de facto relationship (aka defacto relationship) with a lady from the Philippines, or you want to be in a de facto relationship, and you want to bring your Filipina lady to Australia and live together permanently. Is this a mere formality, or is it complicated? We'll clear this up for you.

Partner Visa Prospective Marriage Visa De Facto VisaWhy do you need a Migration Agent?

You can apply for a partner visa based on one of two scenarios:

Marriage

For an Onshore Partner Visa (ie. a partner visa applied-for inside Australia, with the Filipina applicant inside Australia when the visa application is lodged) you need to be legally married when we lodge the application. For an Offshore Partner Visa (ie. a partner visa applied-for outside Philippines, with the Filipina applicant outside Australia when the visa application is lodged) you can be either legally married now, or will marry before the application is finalized (ie. not too long afterwards!)

De facto relationship

We may also apply for an Australian Partner Visa (either onshore or offshore) for Australian Filipina couples if you are NOW in an EXISTING de facto relationship for *12 months or more. That means EXISTING. It does NOT mean you can get a partner visa and then start living together as a de facto couple. Sorry. There are no partner visa options for this, and you need to accept this. And you need to also accept that you can’t expect the Department of Home Affairs (Immigration) to give you a 1 year tourist visa either, so you can build up the required 12 months for the relationship to be seen as long enough. Tourist visas are not designed for living-together purposes, and they will refuse such applications. *Note: This may be reduced under some circumstances, where you have a Registered Relationship. Right now these are available only in certain states, and each state has its own requirements. And note you cannot get a registered relationship if still legally married.

Read more: Registered Relationships

What is a de facto relationship

A de facto relationship is a committed and exclusive relationship where you lead a truly shared-life together. Living together. A “live-in relationship”, as they call it in the Philippines. Setting up house together. This requires a large number of very specific things to be in place, and generally a large number of changes in your lifestyle. A de facto relationship is like a marriage minus the marriage certificate. You live together in a committed relationship to the exclusion of all others, and share your life together as if you were a married couple. That means a shared life, where you think and act as “us” rather than “me”. In other words it’s more than just sharing a roof and sharing a bed. It means a full commitment, and not just trying each other on for size to see if you wish to take things further. The commitment needs to have already happened, and it needs to be with the intention of remaining together forever.

But how can we do this if we can't get a 12 month tourist visa?

Firstly, remember that an Australia visa is a grant and is not a "right". Don't approach the Department as a service agency where they have a duty to make this easier for you. They don't. You have to do the work. Secondly, look at the FAQ below. You need to start living together (either in Australia or Philippines, or a combination of both) and you need to set up a household that reflects your shared-life together, but if you need to be apart due to unavoidable circumstances (like a lack of a 12 month tourist visa), this is not actually a problem.

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De Facto Relationship Pros and Cons

(In addition to pros and cons for other partner visas)

• May be applied-for when either or both partners are still legally married, as long as precious application is definitely finished
• Does not require annulments and/or divorces
• As long as de facto relationship has started and continues, it is possible to be apart when unavoidable
• Registered Relationships can shorten the time required to be in relationship

• Requires a lot of evidence, ie far more than an ordinary partner visa application
• Requires time spent living together before an application is lodged
• Requires the same level of commitment to a shared-life together as any other partner visa, and this needs to be proved
• Requires being in a de facto relationship for 12 months before applying, unless in Registered Relationship
• Registered Relationships do not exist in every Australian state
• Registered Relationships are not applicable when either party is still married

De Facto Relationships – FAQ

Have A De Facto Relationship Question Not Answered Above?

Now, over to you the client (or potential client)! We value our clients opinions, and we believe in keeping all well-informed. What would YOU like to ask about de facto relationships? What do YOU think needs a bit more explanation? Ask below, and Jeff Harvie RMA will answer your question for you and for others wondering the same thing.

What if I want to start a de facto relationship?

This is a common scenario. The couple can’t get married because of an existing marriage and/or a lengthy annulment procedure. Annulments can take 12 months or more, and depend on many factors. There is no no-fault divorce in the Philippines. Sometimes this can drag out for years. Is there another way of doing this?

Yes, there is. You CAN commence a de facto relationship by establishing a home together and commencing living a shared-life together. And when you have 12 month history, we may apply for a partner visa based on that relationship.

Down Under Visa manage a lot of partner visa applications from Philippines to Australia, and that includes a lot of de facto relationships too. So we do know all about them, and we can help you in ensuring that you do in fact have a genuine de facto relationship that would be acceptable by the Department.

Down Under Visa are Registered Migration Agents with a great deal of experience in lodging successful partner visas for Australian-Filipina couples in defacto relationships. We provide a De Facto Relationship Preparation Service which is a series of learning modules that that will guide you how to prepare yourselves and to have everything in place so that you will be ready to start preparing a successful partner visa application.

We will also provide the same learning modules to clients already in defacto relationships, to help them fine-tune their much more-detailed visa requirements to prove that the defacto relationship is in fact a genuine defacto relationship.

And when we’re getting closer to the 12 month time, we can start preparing the actual partner visa application itself. Please read: De Facto Planner

Yes, this looks like what I need. What do I do now?

Go to https://www.downunderassessments.com/ and complete our free visa assessment form online.

And make sure you select “de facto relationship” as relationship options for both you AND your partner, and complete the de facto relationship assessment questions at the bottom. Then wait for Jeff Harvie to get back to you.

Further Reading

Want to read more about De Facto Relationships? Check out some of our de facto relationship BLOG posts below.

De Facto Partner Visas For Australia

De Facto? Or Marriage? Advice for Australian Filipina Couples

Registered Relationships and De Facto Visas

De Facto Partner Visa Applications. Easy?

Partner Visa Prospective Marriage Visa De Facto Visa Why do you need a Migration Agent?

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