Sponsored Visas For Australia

Tourists and business travelers on short visits to Australia do not need sponsors, but in other circumstances, sponsors are advisable or mandatory. A sponsor is an Australian citizen, resident, or government entity in a position to vouch for your financial resources and for the validity of your claims on your application for a visa. Generally, sponsorship is critical to certain family-oriented visas.

Sponsorship and Partner Visas

Australia issues several types of visas having to do with partners in marriage-type arrangements. When a spouse living outside Australia applies for a visa, the sponsor must be the spouse who is a citizen or permanent resident of Australia. Likewise, in a common law marriage, the sponsoring partner must have official Australian status.

A fiance may apply for entry if sponsored by the other fiance, who must be a citizen or permanent resident. For same-sex relationships, the applicant must be living outside Australia, and must be sponsored by the Australian partner. The other primary situations that benefit from sponsors are the various kinds of business visas.

Business Visas and Sponsorship

The three business categories of Provisional, Migrant, and Residence visas all may be sponsored by a state or territorial government under certain conditions. An applicant who obtains such sponsorship will be held to lower levels of criteria than unsponsored applicants. Migrant visas require sponsorship by a state or territory, but for the other two categories, sponsorship is optional. An applicant for a Residence visa, who must already have a Business Skills (Provisional) visa, must have established an ownership interest in an Australian business for at least two years with significant personal and business assets involved. Another prerequisite is having been in Australia for at least one year in the previous two years. If sponsored, however, lower level criteria apply.