When it comes to the Four Pillars of Relationship, the Nature of Household stumps a lot of couples.
What is it exactly that Immigration wants to see here? And what’s the rule around living together for 12 months before lodging?
In this blog, I’ll talk about everything you need to know when it comes to the Nature of Household and what type of evidence Immigration might expect to see.
What is the Nature of Household Pillar?
This is one of the Four Pillars of Relationship – one of the categories in which your relationship is going to be assessed against. Immigration wants to see what your living arrangements are like. Where are you living? How long have you been living together? If you’re not living together, why?
It’s under the Nature of Household category, where you provide evidence around your living arrangements and how you share and manage various chores and tasks around the home.
What kind of evidence proves we are living together?
Some of the most obvious forms of Nature of Household evidence, which I also like to refer to as ‘conventional type’ evidence includes a lease agreement, joint utility bills, and joint mail being sent to you. Remember that the case officer needs to be satisfied that you’re not just living together as housemates, but that you’re living together as a de facto or spousal couple.
Does your real-estate agent know that you are in fact a couple? Can your friends and family attest to the fact that you share a bedroom and are living in a de facto relationship? Do you have any joint memberships or subscriptions together?
These are some of the aspects that may go towards showing you’re not just housemates.
What if we aren’t living together?
It’s not a legislative requirement to be living together at the time you lodge your Partner Visa, or even at time of decision.
However, the Partner Visa legislation is clear in saying that if you are not living together, then you must demonstrate that you are not living separately and apart on a permanent basis. In other words, you need to address why you aren’t living together and what your plans are for the future.
Some common scenarios where a couple isn’t living together would be if they are geographically separated. For example, the Applicant is overseas and the Sponsor is in Australia. Other examples might include couples who don’t live together because of religious or cultural reasons.
Although not required by law to be living together, it’s my experience that the application does become more complex. One of the four pillars of relationship (the nature of household) is automatically going to be weak. It also means the case officer will be looking a lot closer at the application to establish that you are still in a genuine and continuing de facto or spousal relationship.
If you and your partner are not living together and looking at lodging a Partner Visa, then I would recommend getting some level of support with the application. An evidence planning session is going to help you identify the types of documents you need specific for your application, and where you are lacking with evidence, we can identity the gaps and come up with a strategy specific for you.
We live with my partner’s parents – is that a problem?
This is another common scenario, and becoming more common with the ever increasing price of living!
We are finding that couples are living with parents for a longer period of time, or permanently living with parents due to being priced out of the rental market or buyers market.
In this situation, you won’t have your ‘conventional’ type documents such as a joint lease agreement, but it’s equally as important to demonstrate what your living arrangements are and have evidence to substantiate your claims that you are still in a de facto or spousal relationship. This can be tricky to evidence so, having a full review of your application done is going to give you the peace of mind to know you are providing enough evidence across the nature of household pillar. And where you haven’t provided adequate evidence, it’s only during a complete review where we can provide you with feedback on how to strengthen particular pillars of relationship.
We haven’t lived together for 12 months before lodging our application
Not having lived together for 12 months before lodging your application may or may not be a problem for you. What you need to be sure of is that you meet the criteria of being in a de facto relationship for 12 months before you have lodged.
The recent trend we’re seeing with Partner Visas is more of a focus around the nature of household, and financial aspects of a relationship. Although a registered relationship certificate waives the 12 month de facto rule, it doesn’t automatically deem you to be in a de facto relationship for the purposes of your Partner Visa.
Couples often make the mistake where they think registering a relationship certificate will compensate for not having much evidence around the nature of household and financial pillar, but this is really misguided and can lead to a s56 Request for More Information, or even a visa refusal.
What other factors does Immigration look at when it comes to Nature of Household?
Another relevant consideration under the Nature of Household pillar is how you and your partner manage your household. It might sound like a funny one, but Immigration wants to know who does what. For example, who does the cooking? Who does the cleaning? Use your relationship statements to talk about how you run your household together and your respective duties.
If you and your partner have children, or are in care of children at your home, talk about your shared responsibilities around this.
Where can I get help with planning out my evidence around the Nature of Household?
I see a lot of couples reach out for help with their Partner Visas. For some couples they need extra guidance when it comes to mapping out their evidence, particularly if one of the four pillars, such as Nature of Household is weak.
If you’re looking at DIY’ing your Partner Visa and you and your partner aren’t living together, you may want to consider having a migration agent manage the case for you as it may require legal submissions and more work around the four pillars.
If you are living together and perhaps have more of a non conventional type living arrangement, we might be able to help you plan out your evidence and develop a strategy for your case to make sure you’re still meeting all the Partner Visa requirements.
Interested in learning more about how the Partner Visa Academy works? Check here to see if the academy is a good fit to help you with your Partner Visa journey.
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.
