Would you be surprised if I told you that living with your Partner doesn’t automatically make you eligible for a Partner Visa grant?
It’s a common misconception that living together with your partner means you’re good to lodge a Partner Visa. But not always.
Here’s where couples get confused. They might be living together, but does your evidence show that you’re just cohabitating or that you’re living together in a de facto relationship?
Why aren’t we eligible for a Partner Visa if we live together?
It’s not about not being eligible for a Partner Visa. You can still lodge a Partner Visa and pay the enormous fee, but do you really understand what the Department expects from you when it comes to your evidence? Particularly around living together.
A lot of couples who are in the research phase of their Partner Visas, or have even started putting the application together will assume that because they live at the same address and have a lease agreement together, that they meet the de facto requirements.
But it’s not that simple. Living together is one of the aspects immigration looks at when assessing your relationship. But simply living together and sharing an address doesn’t really tell the Department much about your relationship.
This comes up often during my evidence planning sessions with couples. When we talk about the nature of the household pillar, they may have a joint lease agreement and bond lodgement form but haven’t prepared anything else under the nature of the household category. But friends also live together, and housemates also live under the same roof. You need to demonstrate that you’re not just cohabitating together, but that you’ve combined your lives in a way to reflect that of a de facto or spousal couple.
What’s the difference between cohabitation and a de facto relationship?
So this is where it gets interesting. This is also where I like to get creative during the evidence planning sessions to really learn about your relationship and see what type of evidence you have.
A de facto relationship means more than just living together under the same roof, and it’s not all about having a lease agreement. Yes of course it helps, but it’s not the be all, end all.
I’ll give you a couple of examples using couples I’ve worked with before where they had very different evidence of living together.
My first couple had been living together for about 18 months with a joint lease agreement but really not much else. They were having their mail sent to a different address and only had one person who had visited them at their shared home. On paper, you would think that living together for 18 months was strong when it came to evidence.
My second couple had only been living together for 6 months. They had of course registered a relationship certificate too. They didn’t have a joint lease agreement because they were renting through the sponsor’s parents. But their evidence was strong. Over the last 6 months they had accumulated mail to their address, they had shared subscriptions, they had friends come over and attest to their relationship. They had two dogs together and detailed their living arrangements through several ways. Their evidence made it clear that despite not having a lease agreement, they were living together as de facto partners.
The point here is that when people think of living together, they think length of time and lease agreement. It’s not always as black and white as that. You would think that the first couple had a stronger evidence portfolio around their living arrangements, but it’s actually the second couple who’s lived together for a shorter period but has really demonstrated a shared life together.
We live together but we don’t have much evidence
It’s completely normal to feel panicky when it comes to what evidence you need or whether you actually have enough. A lot of couples don’t realise what evidence you actually need until they get deep into the Partner Visa process. This is especially true for the household pillar and evidencing their living arrangements.
Again, every relationship is different so it’s important to not compare yourself to others who have gone through the process. Their circumstances and background are probably really different to yours, so their evidence will be too.
When it comes to living together and evidence, you might have more than you think. It’s about knowing what immigration actually wants to see when they assess your living arrangement. And in some cases, you actually may have less than what you need. It’s also important in those cases to be aware of what you’re missing, and either work on providing them, or knowing the gaps in your evidence and being able to properly explain it to immigration.
What does a ‘shared life’ mean?
Ultimately, the decision maker is looking to see whether you have a shared life together. Assessing your relationship evidence is one way of doing that. And this is where that difference between cohabitating and living together as a de facto couple comes into it.
It’s not just about where you physically live. But they want to know the ins and outs of your daily life together. Who does the cooking? Who does the cooking? How do you share and manage household responsibilities? The list goes on.
Can you help me assess my evidence?
The first step of your Partner Visa journey with us is through an evidence planning sesson. During this detailed session, I will be able to learn about your relationship and assess the evidence you have available. An evidence planning session will help you understand what evidence you should be focusing on and any gaps or weaknesses that exist.
And if you’ve already prepared your application and evidence, the evidence planning session and subsequent review are where we can identify any potential gaps or concerns the department may have around your evidence. You’ll be surprised how much more you can actually add to your evidence portfolio.
So if there’s one thing to take away from this blog, it’s that living together is not the same as living together in a de facto or spousal relationship. Don’t underestimate the level of evidence you need for your Partner Visa.
IMPORTANT: Please note, this does not constitute Immigration advice. Always seek advice from a Registered Migration Agent before applying for an Australian Visa. Migration Law is constantly changing. This information is accurate only at the time of publication.
