Partner Visa

[vincity gialam]

Hi there,

 

I have a bit of a tricky one that I was hoping to get some advise on. I am an Australian working in the US on an E3 visa. My company want to send me on a secondment to Shanghai for 5 months. My girlfriend is American and wants to come with me and find a job in China. We have been together just over a year and are not married but live together.

 

My company is willing to consider a partner visa for her but from what I've searched online you pretty much need to be married or have a baby together to get the visa.

 

Can anyone advise on what if any options we have. Worst case scenario would be she comes over on a tourist visa and gets to vacation as I work but ideally we'd like it so we can both work for the 5 months my job will send me. 

 

We have immigration lawyers who will also help investigate but wanted to know if anyone has first hand experience on a similar situation.

 

 

Thanks!

[roddy]

Can you actually work on a partner visa? I wouldn't have thought though, but could be out of date. I'd also ask what she's going to do for five months - is she lining up jobs already, does she have a particular field in mind? 

[ChTTay]

Fairly sure spousal visas still don’t allow you to work. Assume partner/spouse visa is the same thing. I’ve known a few people on spousal visas fairly recently (1-2 years ago) and they all couldn’t work legally. 

 

Do you know what visa your work will send you on?

 

In your partners case, 5 months usually isn’t long enough for any company to want to hire a foreigner. The process is time consuming and not just any company can hire foreigners. They might find teaching English the only part time gig they can get “on the side” (of whatever visa they end up on). Unless they have some super desirable skill set... 

[Shelley]

13 hours ago, vincity gialam said:

from what I've searched online you pretty much need to be married

 

So get married.. if you are as good as married, make it legal,  make it easy for her to accompany you. Whatever you do don't have a baby for a visa

 

But I think as others say she won't be able to work. So why not enrol her in some classes, learn Chinese or anything she fancies, she could go as a student.

 

Hope it works out and you both have a great time in China.

 

 

[imron]

6 hours ago, Shelley said:

So get married.. if you are as good as married, make it legal,  make it easy for her to accompany you.

I guess the timescale the company wants him to move to China and the timescale needing to arrange a wedding might not be the same.

 

A 5-month 'honeymoon' in China might not be the way they wish to start their marriage.  China's great and all, but it can also be stressful at times too.

[Shelley]

I was thinking of the simplest, quickest, marriage of convenience style. Equivalent to the registry wedding here in the UK. As they are already living together I would think the "honeymoon " period is long over

[XiaoXi]

I think she needs to apply for a working visa. With a spouse visa you can't work so kind of pointless getting married to not achieve what you want to do. If she just wants to be there then tourist can do for a while or some kind of study program for a longer stay and with the obvious bonus of learning the language too.

[ChTTay]

The issue is who would hire someone for 5 months. It seems like the best and easiest way would be a study Chinese visa but that would mean a desire to study Chinese. Otherwise a tourist visa.