Is there anything more beautiful than getting married in Australia, in front of its beautiful beaches and enchanting landscapes, if you wish to travel to this paradisiacal place to get married, do not hesitate to contact Visado Migration Services, we will gladly guide you through this incredible process, so that you can collect all the necessary documents and make your Australian marriage a success.
Getting married in Australia has multiple benefits, however, there are two options, you can marry a citizen or if you are both foreigners you can get married in the territory. In addition, there are several options to get married in Australia.
Partner visa or partner visa
Australia’s immigration program allows prospective spouses to get an Australian citizen or legal resident to sponsor them. It should be noted that this program not only takes care of the needs of skilled and unskilled people who wish to enter the Australian labor market, but also allows Australian citizens to meet the needs of their family members.
With the partner visa it is also possible to marry a citizen or legal resident of aussie territory, regardless of your country of origin or sex. Of course, your partner from Australia must sponsor you.
It is important to mention that all Visa Partners are temporary in nature and are divided as follows:
Partner Migration Spouse or Partner Migration Spouse Visa
These visas are intended for foreigners who have contracted a marriage in their country of origin with an Australian or permanent resident of the Australian territory, and who wish to reside in Australia with their spouse.
Benefits
- If the relationship continues for more than two years after the marriage, the visa is automatically converted into a permanent residence.
- Also, couples who have lived together for at least one year in a house in the sponsored person’s country of origin may obtain this visa.
- You will be able to validate your foreign marriage in the aussie territory, in this way you will be recognized by the Australian laws.
Prospective Spouse Visa or Prospective Spouse Migration
This type of permit is granted to those foreigners who wish to immigrate to Australia because they have a verifiable relationship with an Australian citizen or permanent resident of the country and of course wish to consolidate this relationship by getting married in Australia.
Benefits
- After two years of marriage, provided that the marriage is solid, the foreigner may apply for a permanent resident visa.
Interdependent Partner Migration Visas
This is a single migrant permit, which is granted to couples who are cohabiting or cohabiting on a stable basis with an Australian citizen or resident.
Benefits
- As long as the couple’s relationship remains strong for two years, they are automatically eligible for permanent residency.
- In addition to the advantages mentioned above in these three categories, foreigners will be able to work, study and benefit from the Medicare public health service. To certify and legalize the relationship, an affidavit must be made stating how the relationship or cohabitation began and developed.
- It should be noted that all persons who decide to apply for this visa must be of legal age, and if the relationship is stable for more than 5 years, after applying for this visa, or if there are children in common, it is possible to apply for a permanent resident visa from the beginning.
If your marriage to an Australian took place outside the territory, you should contact the consular offices or embassies. Otherwise, if you want to get married in Australia, you should contact the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
Requirements for marriage in Australia
If you wish to get married in Australia, you and your future spouse are not required to be residents or citizens, but it is necessary to submit a form notifying the authorized bodies of your intention to get married, this document must be sent between 6 months and 1 month before the marriage takes place.
- A Notice of Intention to Marry may be filed from your home country and must be signed in the presence of:
- An Australian diplomat or consular agent.
- An authorized Commonwealth or Australian Trade Commission employee.
- Notary Public.
Such form may be signed and presented by one of the parties, provided that the other party may sign such form in the presence of the authorized celebrant at a later date, of course, prior to the celebration of the Australian marriage.
Marriage procedures
If you wish to have a marriage in Australia, we recommend you to follow the following requirements for a successful marriage celebration.
- Both parties must be unmarried and without any legal commitment, and it is forbidden to marry relatives in Aussie territory.
- Both parties must be at least 18 years old.
- The celebrant (person legally authorized in Australia) must be selected and after completing the Australian marriage notice, must be notified at least one month before the wedding date; in case there is less time, the celebrant must be notified to discuss the options.
- The future spouses must present a certified birth certificate, where their place and date of birth can be verified.
- Both must prove that they have not previously been married or that their previous marriages have been terminated.
- In most cases, after considering it as an Australian marriage, the Government may request that a statutory declaration be completed to provide further information on the background and status of each of the parties.
Types of marriages
In Australia there are three ways to celebrate a marriage, below, we will detail a little more information.
Held and registered in the Commonwealth: is conducted by a celebrant recognized by the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Australia.
Celebrated by ministers of religion: these are celebrants regulated by the state and territorial registries of the offices in charge of registering deaths, marriages and births.
Celebrated by state and territory officials: these are persons authorized by the delegations of each Australian state or territory, for the purpose of conducting civil ceremonies.
Foreign marriage
If your partner is Australian the marriage can be recognized by the Australian Government, provided it is considered valid by the country in which it took place from the beginning. It is not compulsory to register your marriage in Australia, but it is important that you carry your original marriage certificate with you.
You should know that, if you have married an Australian citizen or resident overseas, this will not automatically give you the opportunity to live in Australia, so you should check with the Immigration Department, so you will be able to obtain the correct information.
Requirements to apply for a Partner’s Visa
To apply for this visa, the first thing you must have on hand is a legal document that certifies that you have been together for more than 1 year, or that you have lived together for more than 6 months. This document can be a marriage certificate, domestic partnership certificate, de facto relationship certificate, joint rental contract or any other similar document.
Also, keep in mind that you can add additional information so that the government can certify that it is a genuine relationship, such as invoices in both of your names, airline tickets, emails, joint photographs, airline bills.
Matrimonial property regimes
The legal matrimonial property regime in Australia has as its concept the simple and pure separation of property. That is to say, each spouse is in charge of managing his/her property freely, however, at the moment of the separation they must share equally the properties, unless a separation of property has been established before celebrating the Australian marriage.
According to the provisions of the treaty regime, both spouses may conclude the marital agreements before or after celebrating the marriage in Australia and thus manage their property as they wish. But in case of separation, one of the parties will be able to request alimony or financial compensation.
In the meantime, de facto marriage is recognized as a matrimonial regime in Australia, but in the event of dissolution, any Judge must take into account the length of time the relationship lasted and the financial contribution of each party; the raising of a child, if any and the existence of a bed and board association.
Divorce
Divorce may be filed in case of irretrievable breakdown, where the couple considers that within a period of 12 months there can be no reconciliation. One of the options to file for divorce is that the couple has been married for less than 2 years and the separation of the spouses occurs within a period of one year or more.
You should keep in mind that the divorce will only be granted when the separation issues are resolved, i.e., the place of residence of the minors, alimony, marital property, among other situations, are established.
Visas for couples, everything you need to know about Partner Migration
Only the partners of an Australian or New Zealand citizen or permanent resident may apply for a partner visa, provided they plan to marry, are already married or are a cohabiting couple.
Spouse visa – Subcategory 309 and 100 (Partner visa): if you wish to apply for a permanent residence in the Australian territory, you must take into account that your partner must be a sponsor and at the same time an Australian resident or citizen. When we refer to a free union, it does not mean that you must be legally married.
Both the applicant and the sponsor must be at least 18 years old, otherwise they must present a permit. It should be noted that in case the couple remains together for more than 2 years, it is possible that a permanent visa of category 100 may be granted.
It is possible to apply for a permanent resident visa provided that at the time of application you are married or in a common-law relationship with your partner for more than 3 years; are in a domestic partnership or are married and have a dependent child.
Prospective Spouse or Fiancé(e) Visa – Subclass 300 (Prospective Marriage or Fiancé(e) Visa): to apply for this permit, you must be outside Kangaroo and Koala territory, and you must be engaged to your Australian sponsor and plan to marry in Australia. Once married you can apply for a permanent residence visa.
Partner Visa Onshore (Subclass 820/801): this category includes the Partner visa 820 and 801, with the first one you can stay temporarily and experience cohabitation, after this, you can opt for the subcategory 801, which allows you to live permanently in the territory, although you can apply for both at the same time, we recommend that you plan to do it when your marriage in Australia is near.
Becoming a domestic partner in Australia
You do not have to get married in Australia with a citizen, you can also become his or her common-law partner and take advantage of the benefits. For example, you can apply for a student visa to enjoy with your partner the wonderful aussie territory and at the same time learn a new language or take a course.
How to become a domestic partner in Australia?
Becoming a common law partner or entering into a domestic partnership in Australia is not difficult, arguably perhaps a simpler process than Australian marriage, however, you will not get the benefits that spouses get.
- Both must be at least 18 years old.
- No member of the couple should maintain a free union with another person.
- There must be no relationship.
- One member of the couple must be a citizen or permanent resident of Australia.
- If any member has been married before, he/she should state that he/she has been divorced or that the relationship has ended definitively.
Is the domestic partnership application process the same in all Australian states?
In most Australian states the process to register as a domestic partner can be done in person or by mail, and you must also send the same documents. Remember that you must attach to the documents the form of the civil registry of the state where you will apply for the union.
Steps to follow to become a registered domestic partner in Australia
- Get the form from the civil registry: this form can be obtained at the local court, but if you wish to apply virtually you can search the internet for the civil registry of the city in Australia where you will enter into the union.
- Fill out the form and collect all the documents requested by the Government: where both members must provide all their identification documents such as: driver’s license, passports, health insurance card, student card (in case you have one), educational report, blue card and birth certificate. It is important that you also provide evidence of your place of residence, utility bills, rental contract, driver’s license renewal, insurance policy, among others.
Remember that all these documents must be translated into English, otherwise your application may be rejected.
- Verify that all documents are authentic before an Australian Judge: after filling out your form and having all the necessary documents that we have mentioned above, you must go to a justice of the peace, commissioner or notary public, in order to verify through experts in the field that these documents that you are presenting are real. We recommend you to bring original documents and copies of each one of the documents.
- Submit your application at the city courthouse: when all documents are signed and stamped by the justice of the peace, you must send them through the postal service and deliver them personally to the state office where you are applying for your free union.
Myths of marrying an Australian
In addition to the benefits that a marriage with an Australian offers, some people have managed to forge certain myths, which are certainly false.
Australians are cold: this is one of the most false myths, each person expresses himself as he has been raised or as he is used to. We all know that affection cannot be established as a rule and neither can we assume a person’s behavior without knowing them really well.
The territory is really vast and you can’t find that a person behaves in a certain way because they are from a certain country. In Australia everyone is really friendly, warm and nice people. Any Australian can be as loving as you want.
It is possible that, when it comes to flirting, sexuality and these types of topics that are a bit more jocular and obvious to Spanish speakers, they are likely to be more serious and cautious, because they tend to take these topics very seriously.
Australians don’t bathe much: it all depends on the person and the situation, that is, when we talk about winter, it is very sure that you who are not European decide to skip some baths during this time due to the penetrating cold that envelops our whole body. The same happens in Australia, some areas are warmer than others, so if your partner lives in Melbourne it might not be so pleasant to take a bath first thing in the morning or at night.
However, in warmer areas such as Perth it is very likely that so many hours of sunshine will lead to constant bathing. It is important to bust this myth, just because an Australian lives in a country with changing climates, does not mean that he/she will never get wet.
Australians don’t look for serious relationships: this third myth is 100% FALSE, maintaining a relationship is not a matter of culture or living in one country or another. If an Australian has visited your hometown and decides to have an affair, it doesn’t mean that everyone is like that.
Each person decides to commit to another when he/she considers that it is the right time. Language, distance or nationality is not an impediment to love, each person is different and it is not possible to consider that an Australian does not want to have a relationship with you just for being of this nationality.
Spanish speakers who marry an Australian are seeking citizenship: the first thing to note is that obtaining Australian citizenship is not as easy as you might think. In order to obtain Australian citizenship, certain documents must be presented to the Government to prove that the relationship is genuine and has been going on for more than 2 years.
All Australians are wealthy: just because a person was born in a country with high economic levels, with one of the best education systems and health, does not mean that he or she was born in a golden cradle.
Although in more developed countries poverty levels are much lower, there are more opportunities to achieve a high level of education and therefore a good job suited to your profession, but this does not mean that you earn much more than you do, because in these countries basic services are usually a bit expensive.
Concluding with this topic, it is important to highlight that there are many benefits when getting married in Australia, because in the future you can adopt citizenship and have the same advantages as the rest of the citizens residing in the country. Besides, you will be with the person you love so much.
At Visado Migration Services, you will have the advantage of having 100% trained and professional advisors who will help and guide you through the process of collecting the documents required by the Government of the aussie territory in order to make your dream of moving with your better half come true.
