Australian Immigration: Is the government ripping off its citizens with partner visa?

Being an Australian citizen if you are willing to marry a person who is not an Australian citizen then you have to pay a heavy fee for your partner visa.

The partner visa fee is $6,865 as per 2016. The fee is highest in the world. Also, your partner might have to wait for as long as a year for getting the visa.

In addition to the visa fee, you have to pay additional costs for medical, character and crime reports as per Australian immigration policy.

UK charges half the amount of Australian partner visa i.e. around $2,428 AUD while US charges $1,477 AUD that is less than a third.

Partner visa fee for Australian immigration was as low as $1,735 five years back that rose to $6,865 with frequent increases.

Few Things you Must know about Australian Partner Visa

The immigration agent Zeke Bentley told that though the partner visa fee are rising everywhere but not as high as that in Australia. He protested that it is against the rights of the citizens. The government is taking advantage of their needs.

Although the high fee is enough to torture, the additional waiting period simply adds to the problems. In spite of paying such a high cost for the partner visa, the candidates have to wait as long as 12 months for their visa to be granted by the immigration department.

The Australian immigration department while talking to a reporter informed that they are willing to process 75 percent of the partner visa applications every year. The problem with the low number of applications taking too long to be granted is that we run short of visas. Despite our will, the process becomes slow.

The number of applications we receive every program year is quite high. The places available for the applicants are comparatively low. This makes the process last for as long as 12 months. The visa grant process may take longer than the standard duration in some cases due to the reason explained.

The Australian Visa Department further added that the applicants are guaranteed medical benefits and a work grant as soon as they apply.