My partner is a non-resident. What am i entitled to?

[Fuzzywuzzy]

Hi Guys,

Alot of you seem to have the whole Centrelink and Family Assistance thing down pat so i am wondering if you can help me out.

I am in a little bit of a different situation because my partner is a non-resident of Australia and i am a citizen, born and bred here. He is currently here on a student visa which expires in a couple of months and we are not sure if he will be here for the birth of our baby in early April next year. We are not married although have been living together for 2 years and haven't applied for any spousal visas at this stage.

I am a bit confused as to how i will be treated by Centrelink and whether i will be eligible for Parenting payment or FTB A as well as rent assistance (rent is currently $380/wk). As i understand it I am entitled to FTB B and the baby bonus of course. I am currently earning $52,000 pa and will be taking 6 months maternity leave (12 weeks paid leave) starting in March. I have the option of taking this pay as 12 weeks full pay, or half pay over 24 weeks - which might be a better option if this reduces my taxable income for the 07-08 financial year.

I would really appreciate any information/advice that you have to offer.

Thanks,

Justine

[Muppity]

Firstly, welcome to BB and congrats on your pregnancy

Personally I would simply ring Centrelink and ask them. They will be in the best position to tell you everything.

But, I can't imagine that the residential status of your partner affects your payments - I would have thought that this was pretty much just done on income etc.

I would also ring the department of Immigration and find out what has to be done to keep him here - I think that it would be a shame for him to miss the birth just because of residency issues - and there is a fair bit of time between now and then to sort it out.

Good luck

[Mummyof2under2]

Hi and welcome,

I agree with Muppity. Ring them and get onto Immigration about his residency.

We have been through the Immigration thing and it is really stressful. I am married to an aussie but i am British. When we had DD i was only a temporary resident. DH was still able to get the baby bonus and we were able to get FTB A and B.
I am currently a permanent resident and looking into applying for my citizenship test

GL with everything. If you have any questions feel free to pm me

[briggsy's girl]

you will be eligible for payment - the thing that will come into it is how you're treated in regards to being partnered or single. there are hundreds of customers that have one residentially qualified person, one not. i would however make an effort to try and get his spousal visa or temporary residence visa sorted ASAP - it just makes things heaps easier for you!

[Lulu]

You as an aussie resident will be entitled to the Parenting Payment - all FTB and the Baby Bonus.
Your partner may be eligible depending on the type of visa and/or how long he has been residing here. There is usually a 2 year waiting period and he MAY have met the criteria.

Centrelink will be able to tell you able DH's eligibility.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

Thanks guys,

I suppose the thing i was most confused about is whether we will be treated as a couple or not, but i guess that will be dependent on his visa status at the time. I am definitely onto the whole immigration thing though, as if having a baby isn't stressful enough

[Lulu]

Apply anyway and ask them then. I have granted a single rate payment to a couple, but the man had his working visa revoked after 5 years working here. If you ring and ask they have a list of visas and eligibility.
xoxoxoxo

[tiggerandpooh]

funkee frog... My DH had to go back to the UK to apply for his visa to immigrate here. I met him while he was on a 12mth working visa. He had overstayed his visa (long story) and was advised to go off shore to apply for the immigration visa, even though we were married. I was informed by the immigration dept, that if I was pregnant he would have been able to stay here and apply for it, he would have been granted a bridging visa until the spousal visa was approved. Your DP will not be eligible for any benefits until he has been here for 4 year - two years temp residency, then two year permenent residency. after that he will eligible to apply for australian citizenship and be able to apply for centrelink benefits if required. When DH first came back after his temp res visa was approved, he had to find a job, and as he couldnt recieve benefits we were entitled to be classified under section 24 which meant that I was able to recieve full parenting payment, and FTB. the only reason I found out about section 24 was because I was going to uni with someone who worked for centrelink. it isn't well known - and won't be offered up unless you ask about it. basically if you are going to be put into financial hardship because your partner is unemployed, and can't receive benefits, it means that you can. look it up on the centrelink website. The whole immigration process is hard and stressful. good luck with it!

[Fuzzywuzzy]

Thanks Tiggerandpooh, i'll look into section 24 and how it works, do you mind if i pm you to ask some more details about your immigration experience?

[Lulu]

I'm not sure if you'll find the S24 information freely available, just request it be considered when you apply.

I don't think you can PM hun, until you get your post count up to 50 or something

[tiggerandpooh]

funkeefrog, if you check my profile you will see my MSN details, feel free to add it, and I am happy to discuss it with you.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

thanks guys, just have to get my post count up

[midnightsun]

I'm Norwegian, and had DS here in Adelaide while I was still on my student visa. I handed in my spousal visa application a couple of days before my student visa ran out and was stressing big time to get it done on time. Get your partner to start the application process for a spousal visa now. Get onto the immigration website and print out all the forms and start filling them out. It is a lengthy process. He will need to get a police clearance from his home country, and I think he will also need his birth certificate (and so do you). Your parents will also have to fill in some forms and show proof of citizenship. You will need to get someone who knows the both of you (not related) to fill out a form to declare that they believe your relationship is genuine. And all these forms need to be witnessed signed by a JP. Depending on what he is planning on working as her in Aus, he may also need a medical check-up by a Dr nominated by the immigration department. If this is needed your partner will be advised about it after the visa application is handed in though.
Just remember that it costs a lot of money. $2000 for the visa application and then all the fees for getting birth certs, police clearance, medicals.... I would say that you should save up at least $3000 just to be sure that you are covered.
Good luck

Oh and another thing... start getting lots of photos of the two of you, with your family and friends. If you can go on little trips and take photos DO!! And they (immigration) also like it if you have joint accounts (even if it is one that you don't use or have any money in) because it shows that you are committed.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

Thanks midnightsun, I'm aware of the costs and we've got that covered and the photos, i put together a photo album for his b'day last year. I appreciate all of your advice, it's also good to hear that people have gone through the same process and come out the other side

[christy]

Also, we found that you can get a bridging visa when you apply for permanent residency. You only need to be living together for 12 months to apply for a de facto relationship application for permanent residency. Goodluck!

[Fuzzywuzzy]

were you pregnant when you applied christy?

[christy]

No, I was only just married and they told us we could only apply if we were living together for at least 12 months!

So, we were told that you were considered a de facto couple if you had lived together for 12 months and you could apply on those terms.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

I know quite a bit about the types of visas and we will probably need a bridging visa whilst waiting for the temporary spouse visa. We have been living together for 2 years so that won't be a problem either.