To be eligible for partner migration to Australia, you must meet the following basic requirements:

Spouse Migration

You must be in a married or a de facto relationship with an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible NZ citizen. You can apply from within or outside Australia.

If you are living overseas & are engaged to be married to an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible NZ citizen, & intend to marry that person before entering Australia, you can apply for a spouse visa but you must marry that person before a spouse visa can be granted.
You must be able to prove to the Australian Department of Immigration And Citizenship (DIAC) that your relationship is genuine & continuing.

Fiancé Migration

You must be living outside Australia and be engaged to be married to an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible NZ citizen, and wish to marry that person in Australia. You cannot apply for a fiancé visa if you are in Australia.

You must be able to prove to DIAC that you genuinely intend to marry your fiancé & live together as spouses.

Interdependent Partner Migration

What is an Interdependent Relationship?
An Interdependent relationship is a same sex relationship. Under Migration Law same sex couples are awarded recognition. Under the Spouse Visa category there is a separate visa called the Interdependent Spouse/Partner. The definition of Interdependent Relationship is like a De-facto Relationship, you must show:-

	You are in a genuine and continuing relationship to the exclusion of all others;
	You live together (and not separately apart on a permanent basis) and have done so for a period of 12 months.

The only difference is that the definition of De-facto Relationship is the couple are of the opposite sex.

The documentary evidence required for an Interdependent Visa is like a De-facto Visa in that you should illustrate over a 12 month period the joint residency of the couple. The evidence which should be supplied to the Department of Immigration should cover all 4 factors of the relationship (financial, commitment, household and social) as these remember illustrates the genuineness and continuity of the relationship.

Recognition of same sex relationships in other visa applications
In every instance a person has the ability to have their spouse/de-facto spouse attached to their visa application. Hence, if you are married or in a de-facto relationship one person can be the primary applicant to the visa application – this person would satisfy all of the primary criteria for the visa AND the husband/wife or de-facto partner by virtue of being a member of the primary applicant’s family unit can be included as a secondary visa applicant.

Same sex couples are recognised as members of a primary applicant’s family unit and equally can be attached in certain visa applications. The Subclass 457 Long Stay Business Visa is a popular visa in Australia at the moment. This visa enables businesses to sponsor overseas nationals to work for the company in Australia for a period of up to 4 years. Under this visa subclass Interdependent relationships are accepted and the partner of the primary applicant can be included. When applying for the visa however evidence of the Independent relationship needs to be provided (this is the same as an Independent Partner Visa).

The General Skilled Migration Scheme is the largest scheme for skilled individuals to migrate to Australia. Under this visa Independent relationships are also accepted and same sex couples can migrate together to Australia provided they illustrate their Interdependent relationship.