Migration

If you are not an Australian Citizen or permanent resident, you will need a visa to enter and remain in Australia. When applying for a visa there a number of things to check before proceeding with the application. These include visa eligibility criteria, pre-decision criteria and post visa grant conditions. You will need specialist legal and migration assistance when applying for any visa, liaising with the Department of Home Affairs, challenging a visa refusal or cancellation. We have the expertise, knowledge and experience to offer you tailored and practical advice suited to your needs.

Whether you are:

a student who wants to apply for a student visa to study in Australia;
a skilled worker who intends to migrate and work in Australia;
a business owner that is looking to sponsor skilled overseas workers;
a business person wanting to invest or establish a business in Australia;
spouse or partner (including same sex partner) of an Australian citizen or permanent resident;
parent/guardian who have children residing in Australia and want to apply for a visa;
an Australian citizen or permanent resident who wish to sponsor your remaining relatives to Australia;
an asylum seeker and wish to apply for protection visa;
a permanent resident who intends to apply for Australian citizenship; or
a person who wish to visit Australia for a short time.

We can assist you in all of these areas. We have assisted many clients to obtain visas in various categories.

Skilled Visas

Australia offers a range of skilled visas for people who wish to work in Australia on a temporary or permanent basis. If your business is looking to sponsor an overseas employee, we can help you with the sponsorship, nomination and visa application process. If you are an employee looking to apply for a skilled visa, we can help you with the visa application.

There are many visa options available for Australian businesses to sponsor skilled overseas employees:

Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Subclass 482);
Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186) Permanent Visa;
Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (Subclass 187) Permanent Visa;
Temporary work (Short Stay Activity) Visa (Subclass 400).

In addition to meeting eligibility criteria for the visa by the overseas worker, your business also needs to be an approved sponsor and apply to the Department of Home Affairs to nominate the overseas worker.

We strongly recommend that you contact us to book a consultation before going ahead with any application. Our migration lawyers are experienced and have the necessary knowledge and skills to assist you in choosing the best visa option for you.

Other skilled visas include:

Skilled Independent Visa (Subclass 189) Permanent visa;
Skilled Nominated Visa (Subclass 190) Permanent visa;
Skilled Regional (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 489);
Skilled Regional (Residence) Visa (Subclass 887).

These visas do not require sponsorship or nomination by an employer. However, Skilled Nominated Visa (Subclass 190) and Skilled Regional (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 489) require applicants to be nominated by a state or territory government.

Applications for the above visas are made through SkillSelect which is run by the Department of Home Affairs. Skilled independent visa (Subclass 189) is a point tested visa. Points are awarded based on age, English language ability, qualifications, employment experience and others. You will need to meet the pass mark (60 points).

Business Visas

You may be able to obtain a business or investor visa if you are looking to invest or establish a business in Australia. There are temporary and permanent visas available for investors and business owners. These visas are:

Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 188);
Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) Visa (Subclass 888);
State/Territory Sponsored Investor Visa (Subclass 893);
Business Talen (Permanent) Visa (Subclass 132).

For these visas you will need to apply through SkillSelect after being invited by a government organisation, State or Territory governments.

Partner Visas

You may be able to obtain a partner visa if you are married to or in a de facto relationship with an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. From 9 December 2017, people in a same sex marriage can also apply for partner visa on the basis of their marriage. Prior to that date, a person in a same sex relationship could only apply under de facto relationship as Australia did not recognise same sex marriage.

In order to be granted a partner visa or prospective marriage visa, you will need to show the Department of Home Affairs that you are in a genuine and long term relationship with your Australian partner. For de facto relationships that are not registered with the relevant government bodies, you will need to show that you have been in a relationship for at least 12 months before applying.

The partner visa options are:

Partner Visa (Subclasses 820 and 801) (onshore);
Partner Visa (Subclasses 309 and 100) (offshore);
Prospective Marriage Visa (Subclass 300).

The current visa application fee for partner visa is $7,000, hence it is really important that you get proper advice and assistance to ensure that you meet all the eligibility criteria and that your application is decision ready avoiding the risk of refusal or delays.

We can also assist you if you would like to apply for parent, child or other relative visas. These visas are usually very complex and takes a long time to process. Therefore, it is important that you seek advice to ensure that you meet the eligibility criteria for the visa you are applying for.

We strongly recommend that you contact us to book a consultation before going ahead with any application. Our migration lawyers are experienced and have necessary knowledge and skills to assist you in choosing the best visa option for you.

Protection and Humanitarian Visas

Australia has a Humanitarian program to offer resettlement to refugees from around the world. Under the 2017-2018 Humanitarian program there will be 16,250 places available for people who face persecution and found to be refugees. You can apply independently or be sponsored by an approved community organisation or a family member in Australia for protection and humanitarian visas.

The type of visa you can apply for under the Australian Humanitarian Program will depend on your current location and your mode of arrival to Australia.

If you are in Australia and you arrived with a valid visa:

Permanent Protection Visa (Subclass 866)

If you are in Australia and you arrived without a valid visa e.g. by boat;

Temporary Protection Visa (Subclass 785)
Safe Heaven Enterprise Visa (Subclass 790)

If you are outside of Australia:

Refugee Visa (Subclass 200)
In-Country Special Humanitarian Visa (Subclass 201)
Global Special Humanitarian Programme Visa (Subclass 202)
Emergency Rescue Visa (Subclass 203)
Woman at Risk Visa (Subclass 204)

The process of claiming protection in Australia is a complex one. You will need to meet specific criteria to be found to be a refugee or complementary protection obligations before you are granted a visa. Our migration lawyers have assisted many people with their protection applications and successfully obtained protection visas for them. We can help you or your family members who are in need of protection and would like to apply for a visa under the Australian Humanitarian program. We speak in various languages including Urdu, Hindi, Hazaragi and Farsi which means that we are able to fully understand your instructions and your background.

Appeal against visa refusal or cancellation

The Department of Home Affairs can refuse your visa application or cancel an existing visa. The Department usually refuse or cancel visas due to one or more of the following factors:

You do not meet the character criteria (meaning that you have committed serious crime);
You are suffering from disease;
You have not provided sufficient information or documents to the Department;
The Department do not believe your claim to be credible.
Bogus or fake documents or information was provided to the Department.

In most cases you can appeal the Department’s negative decision to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. At the Tribunal you can produce fresh evidence to support your claim. You can appeal a negative Tribunal decision to the Federal Court asking the Court to determine whether the Tribunal made the decision according to the law.

Appeals to the Tribunal and the Federal Court are really complex and advice should be sought before commencing the appeal. Our migration lawyers have the necessary skills and experience to assist you with any appeals to the Tribunal or the Federal Court.

Public Interest Criteria (PIC) 4020

What is PIC 4020?

Public Interest Criteria (PIC) 4020 is a condition of grant for many visas including skilled visas, student visas, business visa, temporary visa and family visas.

PIC 4020 says that you must not provide the Department of Immigration or other relevant authorities’ information that is false or misleading or any bogus documents in your visa application or any visa you held in the last 12 months before making the current visa application.

PIC 4020 further says that you cannot make an application for a visa if you or a member of your family have been refused a visa in the last 3 years before the current visa application on the basis of PIC 4020.

If your previous visa application has been refused by the Department on the grounds that you did not satisfy the Department of your identity (PIC 4020) then you will be subject to a 10 year waiting period before you can apply for a new visa.

It is important to note that PIC 4020 does not apply to you if you were under 18 at the time of application which was refused on PIC 4020 basis.

If you are caught in the PIC 4020 situation, you can apply to waive this. The basis for a waiver must include compelling circumstances affecting Australia or compelling or compassionate reasons affecting an Australian citizen, permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen.

For example, a recent Federal Circuit Court decision held that strong emotional bond between an applicant for a partner visa and his/her Australian sponsor, the sponsor’s degree of suffering and distress as a result of separation from their partner (due to visa refusal) are highly relevant considerations when assessing PIC 4020 waiver.

If you are affected by PIC 4020, we can help you. We have assisted many clients with PIC 4020 situations before.

Why choose WBH Legal?

Our migration lawyers are experienced and have the skills and knowledge in all the visa application processes, appealing visa refusals or cancellations to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and Federal Court. More important we speak your language, our lawyers can speak in various languages including French, Greek, Hindi, Farsi, Urdu and Hazaragi.

We offer free first 15 minutes consultation to give you an idea of what your options are. If you wish to proceed further and retain our service. We will charge fixed fee except in complicated and open-ended matters. The fixed fee means you will not have to worry about the uncertainty of how much you will end up paying. You will find that our fee is really competitive.

We have a fully serviced law firm where we have many lawyers who specialise in other areas of law including commercial, family, debt recovery and criminal law. We will use our full resources as a law firm to ensure that your given the best advice and representation as possible in your immigration matter.

Our migration services are governed by the MARA Code of Conduct, which can be viewed here.

WBH Legal - Areas of Practice