It is important to consider the weight placed on adverse information received by DIBP and evidence provided in support of mitigation of this information is critical.

There is a growing trend for the DIBP to be most forensic in the assessment of visa applications and acting on information received. This usually presents in the form a request for further information addressing the genuineness of the relationship. It is then up to the visa applicant to disprove this information. This process requires considerable effort in placing well considered submissions in support of the mitigation.

The Australian partner visa is designed to allow genuine and committed de-facto partners or spouses of Australian Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents and eligible New Zealand Citizens, a pathway to settle in Australia with their partner. This begins with the Temporary subclass 820 visa, once a period of two years has passed and the relationship is still genuine and ongoing, visa holders are eligible for a permanent subclass 801 visa.

In this case, the client was the holder of a temporary subclass 820 visa and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection had received a number of anonymous calls providing false allegations that the couple were in a contrived relationship for migration purposes. The Department responded by requesting evidence that they were in a genuine and committed relationship. When the Department refused the permanent subclass 801 visa on the grounds that DIBP did not believe that the couple were in a committed and genuine relationship, the clients engage Immigration Solutions Lawyers for advice.

Immigration Solutions submitted an application for review with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). We were able to lodge a submission to mitigate the factors of the couple’s relationship including: establishing the genuineness of the relationship, demonstrate they have a mutual commitment to a shared life, a genuine and continuing relationship and live together or not live separately and apart on a permanent basis. This required providing documents to evidence the financial aspects of the relationship, the nature of the household, the social aspects of the relationship and the nature of the persons’ commitment to each other. The false allegations made by an anonymous third party that the relationship was contrived were also mitigated, evidencing that the client was only in a de facto relationship with his sponsoring partner, and thus disproving the false allegations.

Immigration Solutions Lawyers were able to provide evidence that outweigh any false allegation of the relationship not being genuine, receiving a positive outcome at the AAT. The matter has now been remitted back to the DIBP for review.