Highlights
- Prospective Marriage visa holders (Subclass 300) now eligible for inward exemption 12 months after visa application submission
- PMV holders still need to apply for individual inward travel exemption
- Change may allow 1600 people to apply for inward exemption
Sydney resident Ravjot Kaur Dhatt has not been with her fiancé, Harjeet Singh for the past 600 days.
The 34-year-old, who is counting every day since she has been separated from him, says “life is testing her patience in the worst possible way”.
Happily ever after on hold
“I feel the pandemic has taken away 600 days’ worth of love and happiness from our lives. I am sleep-deprived and have been diagnosed with anxiety due to this limbo,” she tells SBS Punjabi.
Ms Dhatt, who works as a chef in Sydney's Hilltops region, adds she’s pining not only to start a new phase of life with her fiancé, but also to start a family, chances of which are “getting thinner as the clock ticks by”.
“I had so many dreams, but COVID has shattered all of them one by one. I long for him and think whether I am being punished for the sins of my past,” she wonders.
The couple had applied for a Prospective Marriage visa (PMV), sometimes known as the fiancé visa, in September 2020, and is still awaiting their grant.
Ravjot Kaur Dhatt with her fiance Harjeet Singh at the Sydney Airport in February 2020. Source: Supplied by Ravjot Kaur Dhatt
While the government’s decision to allow couples to apply for individual inward exemption has given Ms Dhatt a ray of hope, her fiancé, Harjeet, can only apply once they receive their visa – an expensive and rather prolonged pathway that allows applicants to come to Australia to marry their prospective spouse and then apply for a partner visa.
According to the Department of Home Affairs website, the visa costs almost $8,000 and can take anywhere between 23 to 27 months to be granted as per the current global processing times.
PMV holders are not considered immediate family by the Department of Home Affairs. They are not auto-exempt from the inbound travel ban, as is the case for a spouse or a de-facto partner of an Australian citizen or and permanent resident.
Prospective Marriage Visa (subclass 300) will be allowed to apply for inward exemptions in select circumctances. Source: SBS
But on 18 August, the department gave some leeway to PMV holders making them eligible for an individual inward exemption 12 months after the date of lodging their visa application.
As per the new rule, a PMV holder can apply for an inward exemption in the following circumstances:
- where the Subclass 300 visa has been granted, and
- the Subclass 300 visa application was lodged at least 12 months before submitting a travel exemption request
“This means if you applied for a Subclass 300 visa on or before 18 August 2020, and you have now been granted your Subclass 300 visa; you are eligible for an inwards travel exemption on 18 August 2021,” the website states.
The decision further states that eligible PMV holders would still require to apply for a travel exemption from the Australian Border Force and would also have to supply appropriate evidence to support their relationship status.
Announcing the change, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the decision needed to be balanced against safeguarding the health of Australians through travel restrictions.
“Allowing prospective marriage visa holders to apply for an exemption to come to Australia, get married and start their lives here, will bring relief to those whose plans have been disrupted for so long by COVID-19,” she said on 18 August.
This announcement is expected to allow 1600 visa holders to apply for an exemption.
Greens welcome change
Welcoming the move, the Greens Party, which had moved a motion in the Senate in June calling for PMV holders to be auto-exempt from the border ban, congratulated hundreds of couples who had lobbied for the change.
“This is an epic win for couples who have been unfairly separated through the pandemic,” said Greens Immigration spokesperson Senator Nick McKim, who has been one of the frontrunners of the campaign for PMV holders.
Great news! Prospective Marriage (300) Visa Holders who got their visa more than 12 months ago will now be exempt from the travel ban. So many people have fought so hard for this victory. Congratulations to everyone!
“They already had to prove their relationships to the Department and spent thousands of dollars on paperwork. Their relationships and marriages have been unnecessarily put on hold, and it’s great they can now resume their lives together,” he said in a statement.
Interpreting the change, Melbourne-based migration agent Navjot Kailay said the decision is expected to reduce processing times for PMV applicants.
“It’s a great decision that would bring relief to couples, many of whom had reached a breaking point because of long-distance relationships.
“While not many Indians opt for this visa pathway, it is nevertheless good news and the migration industry is hopeful that this move could lead to the faster processing of these visas which have rarely been granted due to slow or no processing in the past year,” he said.
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