50% Partner Visa Increase - Australia

[Petals]

PARTNER VISA CHARGES as of January 1, 2015.

* Provisional and permanent partner visas - currently $3085 increased to $4627.50

* Prospective marriage visa - currently $3085 increased to $4627.50

* Temporary and permanent partner visas - currently $4575 increased $6865.50



This is shocking and heartbreaking that govt would make partner visas so expensive!

I'm thinking of all the couples who will be severely affected by this increase

Anyone here affected by this increase?

[differentcountries]

Those prices seem insame... Must add a lot of extra stress to people trying to be together.

[Petals]

I know! It's just heartless! Not many people can afford to spend that much money on just the application fee. There are other fees like medical, police checks etc. plus what about those who need an attorney to present their case...just wow!

I expect there will be a rush of application before the January 1st deadline which is not much time anyways...just wow!

[Redheart14]

Whoa that is crazy. But here in Australia sadly everything is so expensive. I'm so sorry

[snow]

Wow, up to $2000, that's insane..

[Zapookie]

Wow that fucking sucks. We were going to apply for the partner visa in the first half of 2015.

[Emilia]

This is going to affect Dave and I in the future. NOT HAPPY. Still, would do anything to be with him, so if we have to cough that up, we will.

[Petals]

Yup, just have to play by their rules as unfair as it is...LIFE!

[Dezface]

Yeah I saw this. Luckily it doesn't affect me but I feel for those it does. Just a way to get money out of people :/

[Petals]

Yeah I saw this. Luckily it doesn't affect me but I feel for those it does. Just a way to get money out of people :/

Yup! At least they haven't hid that fact! Just crazy though considering that they increased the processing time for partner visas to up to 15 months even for low risk countries. Ridiculously high fees, but longer processing times - just doesn't compute!

[Miasmata]

Oh, sadly it does compute - The Australian prime minister is pretty racist, so I'm not surprised that they would add more gatekeeping to make immigration harder

This is really awful, and I'm rooting for everyone who is affected by this. I hope you all can make your plans happen anyway!

[Lea-le-Lea]

Oh gosh.... This affects me very much. One reason to live in the US.

[foxrun-darling]

I'm hugely affected by this. We have to get the last, most expensive one there.

[lordpsymon]

Jeebers! O.O
I hope it's not the same in New Zealand!

[SmileyK]

Wow... Yeah. Terrible and disgusting. Which is also one of the extra incentives for why I want to move to Sweden instead. In comparison, from what I can tell from what little research I've done into it, the application fee for a Residence Permit in Sweden is just 1500 SEK or $235AU!