Ang Kalatas February 2016 | Page 11

THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 6 Number 5 | FEBRUARY 2016 IMMIGRATION Spouse wins after 18 years in Australia W hile partner visa application is accepted on-shore even if the applicant has an expired visa, it is critical that there are convincing compelling reasons for the grant of the visa in Australia. In a recent case I handled that was on appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (1416732/11.01.2016), the AAT remitted the case to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection as it was satisfied that there are compelling reasons for not applying the Schedule 3 criteria (refers to criteria for waiver). This is a case where the woman came to Australia in 1997, then lodged an application for protection (refugee application) visa which was refused. She then found an Australian partner and stated living togethe "2