VIC Status of my spouse after divorce on 485 Visa

Australia's #1 for Law
Join 150,000 Australians every month. Ask a question, respond to a question and better understand the law today!
FREE - Join Now

Gopalchand

Member
22 October 2020
3
0
1
Hello All,

I got married to my current wife in Nepal in 2015. We arrived to Australia on October 23, 2019 together. However, we never lived together. We have been living separately after landing here. She lives in Sydney and I live in Melbourne. I am on student visa (500) and she is on a dependent visa.

Now, I want to get a divorce from her. I am eligible to apply for a 485 visa after my study completes in June 2021. I wanted to know if I divorce my wife after both of us are granted 485 visa, will she continue to have that visa independently or will she no longer have that visa.

Regards
Tarquin
 

Tim W

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
28 April 2014
4,913
820
2,894
Sydney
Convince me that this was not a sham marriage from the get-go?
 

Gopalchand

Member
22 October 2020
3
0
1
I asked this bit on the technical grounds of visa conditions. This wasn't any sham marriage. But things didn't pan out as I hoped they would. You wouldn't have the opinion at the moment if the overall picture was known to you. Regardless, I just wanted to know what happens to a dependent spouse on a 485 visa after divorce proceedings are finalised. In general case scenario.
 

Tim W

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
28 April 2014
4,913
820
2,894
Sydney
Not possible to give you case-specific advice without knowing all your background facts.
(no, don't disclose them here)

In short and simple, once she is no longer your dependent spouse*,
then the basis of her visa goes away.
Which means, either she applies for a visa in her own right, or she leaves Australia.

There are, of course, a number of ifs and buts and maybes and exceptions and unlesses to the above.

Your first hurdle will be persuading the department that your marriage was ever genuine in the first place.
Look at your facts.
You and your spouse have never lived together in Australia.
There can certainly be genuine reasons for that.
But in department-think, that is not a prima facie indicator of a genuine marriage.


===========================================

* Proof that she ever really was will be on you