Partner Visa Granted With No Cohabitation and Inadequate Evidence

Partner Visa Applicant and Sponsor Background

Dani and Sarah were in a long-distance relationship and have never lived together.
Dani lived in Indonesia and Sarah lived in Australia. Most evidence they had was screenshots of their chats via social media.
For the purpose of the Partner visa, they did not meet the definition of a de facto relationship.
At that time, their relationship was less than 12 months old
They registered their relationship to the NSW Births, Deaths, and Marriages.

Many people misunderstand that once they register their relationship, they satisfy the definition of a de facto relationship. This is not true.
The registration of a relationship only makes that they do not need to wait for 12 months or to get married.
The Applicant and Sponsor will still need to satisfy the other criteria of the Partner visa, such as financial, social, commitment, and household aspects of the relationship.

Having never lived together and did not plan to do so before getting married presents difficulty in satisfying the legal criteria for a partner visa.
We lodged their application, accompanying it with our legal submission, and not only the partner visa was approved, but it was also finalized within 4 months (the average processing time at that time was over 22 months).
In the legal submission, we addressed the full legal criteria of the partner visa. For each one of them, we also showed the decision-maker/case officer on how each criterion is met. This has proven to make the whole process smooth and eliminate the risk of refusal.