Not sure what I am doing!

[jennineb]

I applied for a designated area skills visa and this was granted in April 08, I shipped up and moved out to Brisbane in June, but was back in the UK within a month as I had left my boyfriend behind and couldnt bear being without him. He said he would move out with me, but as he had no visa I had to come back to live with him to gain a partner visa. Now I am back I miss it out there and am scared it doent work out in my relationship in a few year and I will have lost the visa. When I was there I wanted to be back here. My boyfriend now says he doesnt want to move out to OZ as he has a very good job here and wont get the same over there. I have the visa for another 4 years so can still go back but am unsure what the time frames are. I know I have the visa for another 4 years but would I need to go back and gain citizenship before the visa runs out? Am so confused what to do!

[kaz101]

Hi jennineb,

I'm not sure what advice you're really after here. If your boyfriend won't move out to Oz then you have a choice to make and only you can make it.

If you have been living together before moving out to Oz then maybe that could have been used, but since your boyfriend says he won't out to Oz now then I guess that doesn't matter now.

Has your boyfriend been over here before? Would he come for holiday?

If no means no he won't consider it then it looks like you have a hard choice to make.

Mention to your boyfriend that a job isn't everything and lifestyle is very important too.

What does he say about your staying in the UK? Just thinking that he may be expecting you to give up Oz for him but he won't give up a job for you..... But that may not be the situation....

Regards,
Karen

[Dolly]

hi there jenineb,

As Karen said, you now are faced with a very hard decision. The only thing I can suggest is asking him to come out on a holiday to see if he likes it here. He could also look at the job market too. Have you done any research on his job over here - salary/availability etc etc? If could turn out that his salary here would be basically the same as in the UK.

To gain citizenship you will have to have 'lived' in Australia for 4 years before being eligible to apply. As your PR will run out before you could get citizenship, I really don't know the rule - you would find it difficult if you wanted to leave Australia for, say a holiday, and then return. I think maybe you'd have to re-apply all over again for another visa. Hopefully one of the agents on here can clairfy that one......or you could PM an agent and ask their advice (and then let us know what they say as I've never come across this before).

I'm afraid there are no answers anyone can give you, this is something that you will have to work out on your own (with support here if you need it).

Good luck
Dolly

[SOMV]

Hi Jennineb,

I won't give you advice about your relationship, but I am happy to help on the visa front:

If your skilled visa was granted in April 2008 that means that it should be expiring some time around April 2013?

Now from what you said it sounds like you have already made your initial entry, so that is fine.

All you have to worry about is what your options are if and when your visa label expires.

Now whatever happens, you must enter Australia before your visa label expires. If you don't you would have lost your visa.

So, you enter Australia any time before your expiry date and then you must stay put (this literally means that you cannot travel out of the country) until you can apply for a further 5 year visa label (aka: Resident Return Visa) or for Australian Citizenship.

Since the Citizenship requirement is 4 years, it will be easier for you to apply for a further visa label (RRV). You can apply as soon as you can prove that you have spent 2 years living in Australia as a permanent resident.

For example: If you enter Australia in April 2011, and by April 2013 you can show that you have spent 24 months in Australia, you can then apply for an RRV and you will be fine.

Or, if you enter Australia in March 2013, before your current visa label expires, then you will be stuck in Australia until you can meet the 2 year requirement and can obtain the RRV. if you leave Australia during this time you will not have a visa to return on and you would have lost your permanent residency.

So a good possible solution to your problem may be this:

Give yourself time until say April 2010 to decide what you want to do and how your relationship develops. Then, if you decide to return to Australia, you will have 3 years up your sleeve from April 2010 to meet the 2 year requirement, which means that you will have 12 months of spare time to use for any time you may need to spend out of Australia, and you will still be safe to get an RRV when your current visa label expires.

Does that make sense? I know it may seem a bit complicated, but it really is not. A permanent visa is well and truly permanent if you decide to stay in Australia for the rest of your life and lever leave. But if you want to travel in and out of Australia, until you become a citizen you will have to renew your visa label every 5 years.To be able to do that, you will have to be able to prove that you have spent 2 out of 5 years in Australia.

Last but not least, make sure you always check if there have been changes to the rules. Normally any new changes shouldn't affect people who have already been granted their visas. But you never know. So keep an eye on the DIAC website from time to time, just in case.

Cheers,
Veronika

[jennineb]

Originally Posted by SOMV

Hi Jennineb,

I won't give you advice about your relationship, but I am happy to help on the visa front:

If your skilled visa was granted in April 2008 that means that it should be expiring some time around April 2013?

Now from what you said it sounds like you have already made your initial entry, so that is fine.

All you have to worry about is what your options are if and when your visa label expires.

Now whatever happens, you must enter Australia before your visa label expires. If you don't you would have lost your visa.

So, you enter Australia any time before your expiry date and then you must stay put (this literally means that you cannot travel out of the country) until you can apply for a further 5 year visa label (aka: Resident Return Visa) or for Australian Citizenship.

Since the Citizenship requirement is 4 years, it will be easier for you to apply for a further visa label (RRV). You can apply as soon as you can prove that you have spent 2 years living in Australia as a permanent resident.

For example: If you enter Australia in April 2011, and by April 2013 you can show that you have spent 24 months in Australia, you can then apply for an RRV and you will be fine.

Or, if you enter Australia in March 2013, before your current visa label expires, then you will be stuck in Australia until you can meet the 2 year requirement and can obtain the RRV. if you leave Australia during this time you will not have a visa to return on and you would have lost your permanent residency.

So a good possible solution to your problem may be this:

Give yourself time until say April 2010 to decide what you want to do and how your relationship develops. Then, if you decide to return to Australia, you will have 3 years up your sleeve from April 2010 to meet the 2 year requirement, which means that you will have 12 months of spare time to use for any time you may need to spend out of Australia, and you will still be safe to get an RRV when your current visa label expires.

Does that make sense? I know it may seem a bit complicated, but it really is not. A permanent visa is well and truly permanent if you decide to stay in Australia for the rest of your life and lever leave. But if you want to travel in and out of Australia, until you become a citizen you will have to renew your visa label every 5 years.To be able to do that, you will have to be able to prove that you have spent 2 out of 5 years in Australia.

Last but not least, make sure you always check if there have been changes to the rules. Normally any new changes shouldn't affect people who have already been granted their visas. But you never know. So keep an eye on the DIAC website from time to time, just in case.

Cheers,
Veronika

Thanks Veronika, that what i needed to know, i know the relationship issue can only be decided by me, but i was unsure about my time frame. thankyou