Visa to Australia made easy: Click here for details

Applying for a partner visa to Australia will now be faster and easier, with the introduction of ImmiAccount.

From today [Monday], applicants for a partner visa to Australia will be able to apply through a single entry point on the website of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP).

The new online facility will be a self-service web portal that will enable clients to create, submit, pay for and manage all online applications in the one online system.

The new application service comes as the DIBP is making significant changes to the online visa application system, which temporarily brought down the website from Friday 2pm to Sunday 2pm.

Although the changes in the system overall are still unclear, the online application for partner visas is ready to go ahead on Monday.

Hannibal Khoury, is MARA registered agent, welcomes the new systems and the online approach taken by the DIBP. 

Hannibal says, "The trend has been for online lodgement of visa applications.  This is seen as a natural progression that now other visa subclasses are available for online lodgement.”

‘As a registered migration agent I envisage this process for applying for a Partner visa for migration to be faster than ever. Online access to these visas is a huge step forward streamlining the applications process which in turn delivers time and cost savings to companies and time poor applicants applying for this visa.  I see many benefits from the new systems." he added.

It is possible to stay in Australia on a Temporary Partner Visa if the applicant is in a valid relationship with, or engaged to an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.

If the relationship is still genuine and continuing after two years, or if the couple has married, a Permanent Visa may be acquired. In some cases the visa is granted after the relationship has ended.

Fast track investor visas

Meanwhile, applicants for the Significant Investor Visa are likely to see a push in the processing time of their application, which has a waiting time of 9 months on average.

The new Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison has said he wants to fast track those who have applied for this special visa, as this is money waiting to be invested into the country and this should not be lost.

The Significant Investor Visa was introduced in November 2012 to create incentives to wealthy individuals to invest in Australia. To qualify for the visa, the applicant must have at least AUD5 million (Dh17 million) to invest.

There are currently 400 applications pending, which amount to an estimated AUD2 billion (Dh6.7 billion).

[Image via Shutterstock]

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