What is a substantial reason to travel on a bridging visa BVB?

I've been on an Australian bridging visa A for nearly a year now. Until Christmas last year I didn't have the need to leave the country yet. And so far I was very happy with my bridging visa, as it allows me to work full-time and study full-time and so I'm not limited to anything apart from travelling overseas. 

Bridging Visa BVB

If you do need to leave the country you have to apply for a bridging visa that allows you to travel. The bridging visa B allows you to leave and return to Australia whilst your substantive visa application is being processed. You have to re-apply for the same bridging visa you were on before when you return to Australia.

The reason you have to go through this effort is for the department of Immigration to know if they can communicate with you whilst you are away and for them to know what is happening with you and where you are. Which makes sense from their point of view.

I've applied for my de-facto partner visa last year in April. So it's almost been 10 months now. When I applied for the visa I got a confirmation letter saying the average processing time for the visa is 13 months. That's the point I accepted the wait and I knew there was nothing else I could do than just WAIT.

Substantial reason to travel
When I decided to leave to The Netherlands with Christmas, my ticket was already booked,  when I realised that I had to get my bridging visa approved before leaving the country. However the department of Immigration gets really busy around this time of the year, because everyone wants to leave the country. I started stressing as I thought: ,,Is leaving the country to spend Christmas with my family a substantial reason to leave and return.''

I found out 7 days before leaving that it indeed was a valid reason. This year in April I have to leave the country again for the wedding of my sister. So I called the department yesterday asking if weddings are a substantial reason. The answer was ,,as long as you are not a criminal you will be fine to leave the country and return'' I thought, really? This is what I've been worrying about all the time. ,,You do always have to fill out the form notifying the department of the reason you leave.''

Useful to know: You should apply for a Bridging visa BVB no more than three months before, and not less than two weeks before you want to travel. You don't want to risk it to not have an approved Bridging visa BVB, because without this visa granted you won't be able to return to Australia. 

How to get an Australian partner visa?

So you've decided to move to Australia to live with your partner. Thats great news! I can imagine how excited, scared and curious you are about life in down-under. However there is one big obstacle to overcome. The application for a partner / defacto visa. 


Here are a few tips on how to apply and how to know if you are eligible to apply a partner visa. 

From the website of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection:
Requirements 
You must be married or in a de facto  relationship with an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen. Your relationship must be ongoing and genuine and you must live with your partner, and if you don't the separation can only be temporary. 

You might be able to be granted this visa if:

• your relationship breaks down and there is a child of the relationship
• your partner dies and you can show that your relationship would have continued if your partner had lived and you have close business, cultural or personal ties in Australia
• your relationship breaks down and you or members of your family unit have suffered family violence.

Usually your de facto relationship must have existed for at least 12 months before you apply for this visa. The department of immigration clearly states that time spend dating doesn't count towards a de facto relationship. 

There are some exceptions to the 12 months rule: 

• you can demonstrate compelling and compassionate circumstances, such as having dependent children
• your partner has been granted a permanent humanitarian visa and your de facto relationship existed before it was granted, and you told us about the relationship before the visa was granted
• your de facto relationship has been registered in Australia (this is not available in all states and territories).

Practical tips for your application

So now that we've established that you need to live with your partner for a least 12 months. Being in a de facto relationship means that you live together, share the same bed, share your food, share your bank account and pretty much share your life together almost as a married couple. Having gone through the one year requirement myself I prepared myself by doing a lot of reading on the visa. 

Tips for applying for a partner visa: 

• Get a shared bankaccount (this does sound scary but hey if both you and your partner put the same amount of money in every week and you use that money for rent and groceries, it works out well for both) 
• Save all postcards that are addressed to both you and your partner 
• Archive all your bankstatements detailing what every purchase was
• Start making a photobook, I'm sure you will have heaps of photo's of you and your partner, but don't limit it to just that. How about the photo's the both of you with your family and friends and his family and friends. 
• Photo's of a small party in your little appartment
• Print out your complete chat history from when you were not living together until when you were living together

Once the time is there to collect all these documents and to get statutory declarations, you are going to need to be very very precise. If you want to be able to do this application without a migration agent you have think as an agent. Double check all the requirements for specific documents, double check if everything is there, double check names, passport numbers, dates, EVERYTHING! 

Put it together sectioned in a big file and send it out. DO NOT FORGET TO REGISTER YOUR MAIL.. this is the last document you want to get lost in the mail. 

Send it out and then all you can do is wait. I've heard stories from people who would call the department every now and then to check on the application. You can do that, but as long as you don't hear anything you can probably assume your application is sitting on someones desk on a pile waiting to be looked at.