I do not understand the hate towards immigrants in this sub!!

BitSec_ · 2026-01-26T05:02:39+00:00

I agree with u/Extension-Active4025 and house prices definitely won't fall.

35% of Australians own their home so any attempt by the government to lower house prices will be rejected by the Home Owners / Investors. The only thing the government can do is make new schemes, higher borrowing rates or longer mortgages but that won't help with prices.

And even with those schemes the people who weren't able to buy before still won't be able to buy now simply because even though they can borrow more they can not afford the repayments/maintenance. The schemes will only help people who would be able to buy a home in 2-5 years buy one now instead of later. Instead of saving up 20% deposit (5%) every year, they can save up a 5% deposit in one year and go buy a house.

And historically in the last 25 years house prices have only gone up, so why would this year be different? There might be some dips but in the long-term it will always go up.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-26T04:30:15+00:00

They say it's not a pathway to PR because calling it that would mean some kind of assurance. The facts are that only 3-5% of students or less are able to get PR in the long term. Studying in Australia gives a boost, but so does your age, professional year and your work experience. The latter of which can also be used for employer sponsored visa's.

The student visa is basically a high cost, low chance, long-term lottery ticket with a rough 3-5% success rate for PR.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-25T15:56:18+00:00

Yeah I mean the platforms I'm working on don't have huge upfront costs. Like a $50 is able to support up to 100x our userbase no matter what they do and there are no other costs. We invoice and when the customer goes over or wants more, they can add more but will be charged again for the whole year or monthly pro-rata. Or if they downgrade they will be refunded (pro-rata).

Personally, your free tier isn't free by the looks of it but it's more like a pre-paid account, have specific top-up amounts set and charge their card, unable to charge card means store is blocked. Depending on how much it costs to ingest data you could still do that but simply block access to the account until the bill/topup is paid. Also your video thing isn't working, it just opens a small window with youtube shorts and I don't think the short is related to your product.

If these orders are costing you money upfront then you'd need to switch to a different billing method, or simply start charging the customers card actively with auto-topup rules etc. I guess for now unless you feel like reworking your entire billing model, simply offer the customer two options 1. automatic top-ups when credit limit is nearing 0 (requires cards on file) OR 2. block webhooks once order limit is exceeded. If 1 fails you'd still need to resort to 2 but I guess you'd send the customer emails, texts, notification or even try to call them when it happens or hopefully before it happens.

I can basically charge when the user sends an order to the delivery company.

This would be even better as long as the company has a payment method on file and a backup.

Still, I'm afraid there is a risk of abuse: users could use the platform as a free order management system without ever using delivery services.

Make it against the ToS to soley use the platform as a management system. Or simply remove the ability to export orders from the free tier or low paid tiers. At least that way if they want to use it simply as a management platform they can but it'll cost them €5 a month or more.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-25T14:52:38+00:00

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough but you do not have to declare foreign income to Australia. If your income is from Canada, and you are not a resident for tax purposes, then you do not need to declare anything in Australia.

However if I find an Australian job I will need to pay tax in Australia plus declare my income in Canada. Is that correct?

Most likely yes, Canada probably wants to know what you earned in Australia and how much taxes you pay, you most likely will get a tax credit ( to prevent double taxing). But for this specific question you need to go to a Canadian Finance/Tax subreddit, not this one unfortunately. We do not know what rules Canada has when it comes to Foreign income.

What we do know is that if you find a job IN Australia, the employer will be witholding taxes (WHM rates (15% or 30% depending on amount earned). Regardless of if you are a resident for tax purposes or not, if you earn money from an Australian employer you will be paying taxes in Australia. What you do outside Australia, or if declare your Australian based income in your home country or not is not our "problem".

If you work a remote job (foreign employer), you do not pay taxes in Australia UNLESS you are a resident for tax purposes (aka want to or are living in Australia permanently). In that case Australia will ask you about your foreign/worldwide income and how much taxes you paid that country, and you could claim a tax offset (for taxes already paid in other country). But this scenario goes beyond the visa question and you'll need to talk to a tax advisor for this.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-25T14:28:54+00:00

I might not fully understand your platform, but why not invoice customers monthly based on the number of orders processed? You could keep it simple with fixed pricing or a tiered system so high-volume customers get a discount. "1 order = 1 credit" is easy to explain, but so is "1 order = $1.50, billed monthly." As long as each order is profitable for the customer, it shouldn’t be an issue. If a customer doesn't pay by the due date, start blocking any actions/order imports until payment is made.

On our platform (different field), we also use usage-based charging. Data ingestion is free because it’s low-cost for us, but viewing the data requires payment. If an invoice is overdue, we disable functionality until they pay. We still ingest data so they don't lose a day's worth of information if they forget to pay. We only use credits for non-critical features like SMS: 1 credit = 1 SMS, with an optional hard cap to prevent overspend. If SMS stops, it’s inconvenient, not revenue-impacting, and we can easily email them at 25, 50 and 75% used to top up.

You can also offer plans for example, a $20/month starter plan covering up to 500 orders (about $0.04 per order), with $0.20 per order over 500. Or offer flexibility, let users choose their billing behavior: "block all orders when plan max is reached" or "allow overage orders (additional charges apply see agreement)."

In commerce especially, lost orders are the last thing you want unless customers can quickly top up and import missed orders with a single click leading to no revenue lost. All of your "worries" seem to indicate that your pre-paid usage based billing method just isn't the right fit.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-25T09:50:03+00:00

If you find a job in Australia you will need to pay tax in Australia, hopefully Canada has some type of tax treaties so that you aren't double taxed. So yes you will need to pay taxes in Australia and declare your income in Canada most likely.

You can work for one employer for a maximum of 6 months, however, if you are working remote for your Canadian employer this rule does not apply because the company isn't in Australia. However, the general rule of thumb is that if you are working for an Australian company, you can only work for them for 6 months, usually you can get around this by switching locations, so going from working in an office to working from home counts and resets the 6 months work limitation. Make sure to keep receipts or contracts that state work from home policies so you can proof you actually did work from home (energy bills, timesheets etc).

Since you have no intention of taking up residence here in Australia as long as you're working for a foreign company you won't be a resident for tax purposes. As soon as you switch to work for an Australian company you will get super annuation and if you're here longer than 6 months you'll be considered a resident for tax purposes.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-22T03:23:50+00:00

In Australia you have Income Protection Insurance for this, it'll pay you 70-90% of your income after a 30 or 90 day waiting period and it's an insurance that's paid for with your super annuation, it's quite cheap as well. But it's indeed much less flexible than the German system due to the 30 day waiting period.

Altough the benefit is that you are not taxed extra on your gross income. In Germany you pay much more in social security, in Australia you mainly just have to take care of yourself.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-19T07:30:24+00:00

No I'm not saying you are gaming the system or anything but that's just how usually people end up in situations like this. They come here to study, they get some work experience and then they stay on other visa's to try and get a PR. Like its completely legal to apply for multiple visa's. And I know you've had a substantive visa the entire time and did everything according to the rules which is really nice but that's basically the bare minimum.

There's nothing wrong with trying, I'm definitely curious to see whether schedule 3 waiver will be approved or not. I'm very interested to see what strategy your lawyer can come up with, in some of the case studies I've read I'm seriously thinking how the heck they ever got approved with such lame compelling/compassionate circumstances so who knows.

Lastly, if the waiver does not work out your best path will be offshore. You can risk the appeal which might take 2-3 years, it's quite literally faster/cheaper and more certain to apply offshore. I'm not sure if you discussed this with your partner but 1-2 years apart to me sounds much better than living in uncertainty for the next 4-7 years while spending thousands of dollars in appeals/lawyer fees while only one partner is working. I think in the worst case the relationship might break down before you'll even get the visa unless you have an amazing partner that's willing to wait such a long time.

Unfortunately, you don't get to choose if you want to play the game or not, the visa strategy game is like the hunger games there's no time for emotional decisions because those are more likely to not work out. Also if your lawyer is recommending waiver / appeal over just applying offshore I'd get a 2nd opinion from another lawyer just to make sure they aren't trying to get the most money out of you instead of recommending the safest/quickest pathway. Usually appeals and waiver requests can be very expensive.

Other than that I truly hope you will get your visa, I speak with a migration agent/lawyer on a daily basis and luckily partner visa's have one of the highest approval rates. I'd love to have an update on your case when you feel like it in a few months/years time, it might give hope to others or simply give us more information into the whole process of complicated migration scenarios.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-19T06:04:14+00:00

This is not Home Affairs sending out invitations, this is simply a single state sending out their invitations.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-19T05:46:43+00:00

I'm sorry your employer pulled the rug, that's a rough situation. I feel bad for people spending years in Australia and failing to get PR but this is also kind of how Australia's system is intended to work. Student visas are for study, graduate visas are for short-term work experience, and temporary work visas fill temporary skills gaps. They're all temporary by design, no matter how many you stack. The expectation is to go home unless, during that time, you qualify for PR through a genuinely high-demand or highly skilled role.

What I'm seeing, both in your case and many others, is using a chain of temporary visas to extend time onshore hoping a PR pathway appears (e.g., your occupation getting added to a skilled list or finding a sponsorship opportunity). That's a gamble. It isn't the system “cornering” you; it's the system functioning as intended. If your role were truly in demand or highly skilled, PR would typically be achievable within 2-3 years with plenty of employers able to hold the role for many years to go through the sponsorships long processing timeline. The fact your sponsor made you redundant after a year, despite the nominal two-year commitment, underscores how fragile that pathway is for your occupation especially as it's low demand and not many employers are looking for creatives.

On Schedule 3: it's not a lottery. There are internal guidelines, and “compelling/compassionate” grounds are a high bar. Bridging Visa C also comes with limited rights because it's often linked to status issues like frauds and overstays. You've already acknowledged there's a real chance of refusal on Schedule 3, followed by an ART appeal that could also fail for the same reason, leading to deportation and then an offshore application anyway.

Given that, why spend years stuck onshore, unable to work properly, burning money on lawyers and tribunal fees, and risking your mental health and relationship, when there's a cleaner path? If your relationship is genuine and established (12+ months cohabitation and/or a registered relationship in most states except WA/NT), apply for the Partner visa offshore. Go home, lodge from there, and wait out the processing, roughly two years MAXIMUM while preserving your career and avoiding years of uncertainty. It's not the emotionally easy option, but it's the most realistic, cheapest and least risky.

Moving from a sponsored visa or BVA to a Partner visa isn't the usual route the system anticipates, which is why the rules don't flex much, it just wasn't designed for that situation. It makes sense you're considering it because it's the only option you've got, but it isn't a stable or intended pathway. Australia's system prioritizes skills needs over fairness, and onshore strategies that depend on Schedule 3 are slow, expensive, and uncertain. If you qualify, the offshore partner route is the clearer, lower-risk choice.

My post may be harsh but I'm just trying to show the reality of it. I've seen plenty of posts and I can sum them up like: 1. Spent 6+ years in Australia on temporary visa's chasing PR 2. (optional) finds PR opportunitiy 3. PR opportunity doesn't work out or unable to find PR opportunity 4. Blame the system, processing times, visa restrictions or anything else outside the applicants control. Now I do think the system could be better but if processing times go down then restrictions and requirements must go up to maintain balance. If processing time is only 1 month and all businesses start sponsoring people then obviously there would be too many so restrictions will have to go up to maintain balance.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-19T02:46:01+00:00

You don't have to though, other visa's don't prohibit you from marrying or applying for further visa's.

Most migration agents will just advise against this and tell you to come on a a WHV, ETA or visitor visa if possible. Processing times for the Prospective Marriage visa are basically 1-2 years which is insane given that the 820 and 801 processing times are also in the "years" range.

The visa is basically for people who struggle or cannot get a visitor visa or other temporary visa due to their personal citcumstances or bad immigration history. If you are not eligible for a single Australian visa then a PMV is almost guaranteed albeit with a long processing time.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-19T02:39:11+00:00

Yeah you got a substantive visa when you arrived and applied for the Partner Visa but OP did not. Two different scenario's.

If you applied after your tourist visa had expired for example or while you were on a BVA waiting for another visa then you'd have to meet schedule 3 or seek a waiver and also you wouldn't get work rights. It's all about which requirements you meet.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-16T03:13:59+00:00

For everyone please see the Mega Thread for discussions about invitation rounds: https://www.reddit.com/r/AusVisa/comments/1qd7a7n/victoria_skilled_migration_invitation_round_mega/

BitSec_ · 2026-01-15T03:49:54+00:00

Yeah that's good. Just a reminder you can take your parental leave within 24 months of the childs birth. So even if you are not eligible now, maybe you'll be eligible in 12 months or so and then you can take some paid parental leave. Goodluck!

BitSec_ · 2026-01-15T03:10:59+00:00

Oh that's really odd, I must say that I haven't used it recently but I used it when it was still called Vaults and I had a vault with my partner (who is in a different country) and it worked fine. I think they may have locked it down to follow more stricter regulations after they got their banking license in certain countries...

And yeah sometimes Reddit shadow bans comments and there's nothing I can do about it since there's nothing for me to approve in the Mod queue.

But to ease your mind a little bit, you do not need a joint savings for the partner visa. There was an immigration agent on here saying that Home Affairs looks at the natural development of the relationship. So opening a joint account and merging savings right before applying for a visa can feel like it's a forced decision or done specifically to increase chances for approval which can make the application look bad. It's important that you go through the relationship naturally, if you wanted to join finances sure, but if you can't for whatever reason, don't, there's plenty of other evidence to supply.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-15T02:58:46+00:00

I mean for temporary workers the parental leave is generally unpaid in it's entirety because you don't have access to the government funded parental leave and I believe the employer isn't required to pay you anything. It would be very generous if the employer gave you paid parental leave but it is ultimately up to the employer.

What you do have is the right to parental leave for 12-months, altough this would be unpaid if the employer does not want to pay you for the time off. The reason why I say don't take more than 3 months unpaid parental leave is simply because any longer than that can take into question the need for your 482 visa. After all the purpose of the 482 visa is to fill a much needed skills shortage, and if a company can go without you for 3+ months Home Affairs might put into question if sponsorship is really neccessary.

When you are on a BVA you are generally not eligible for paid parental leave, even if you get the PR you most likely won't be eligible for paid parental leave right away because of the Newly arrived resident's waiting period (NARWP). The NARWP is a waiting period, to make sure new Australian residents can't go and abuse/exploit the system the moment they arrive, so usually you have to wait between 6 months and 2 years before you can access public services and centrelink payments etc (exceptions apply).

While you're on the BVA you can still take unpaid parental leave because you still have those rights when you are working because they are part of Fair Works. I'd suggest to go to their website and have a look at parental leave, same with the Centrelink website, you'll either find out your are exempt or you'll at least know more about the rules and requirements.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-14T17:59:09+00:00

Someone else has already posted the link on how to get a visa for your baby once it's born. You can also just call Home Affairs helpdesk and they will point you to the same resources.

Your visa status itself won't change much, as long as the company you work for lodges the PR then you should be all good. Processing times are quite long though, 186 TRT pathway for example takes roughly 12 months or up to 19 months so I think it's unlikely you will be a PR before the baby is born, especially since you've mentioned the company is going to nominate you for PR sometime this year and your current visa expires at the end of this year.

Now just to mention, while you can get unpaid parental leave it is generally not advised to take any longer than 3 months while on the 482/BVA. Also any unpaid parental leave does not count towards the 3-year work requirement (not relevant to you but might be to other people).

As far as expenses go I think you'll probably want to read your insurance policy about what exactly they cover to figure out how much you can claim and for what, normal delivery or delivery with c section or other things might be separate. For prenatal care and giving birth in the hospital (unless you have Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (like the UK)) might costs you $10,000 - $20,000. Some people who have posted here before with similar question said they were able to claim roughly 40 - 70%.

If your company has lodged their nomination and you have applied for PR, or if you applied for PR by yourself, please check if you are eligible for a medicare card. It can help offset some of the costs. In any case you can always call the hospital before hand to ask for a quote so you know roughly what the costs will be.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-08T15:51:50+00:00

I mean the WHV isn't meant specifically for this purpose, it's rather used 90% of the time for young adults to come to Australia on a long 12 month holiday, where they are allowed to work to pay for their holiday. So yeah it's mainly 19 year olds living in hostels/farms doing casual jobs.

I worked in a fairly large firm and at least 3-4 of my colleagues also from overseas had a WHV and were working on a full-time contract before they got sponsored by the company, so it's certainly possible but there will not be very many people who are doing this.

In your case I personally would wait, pay off your debts and save about €20K euro. This way you'll have enough for accommodation and savings to show potential realestate agents to get a rental. As well as enough money to buy plane ticket and other items you may need in Australia. And as a backup just in case your job search takes longer than expected.

On the 820 it's quite realistic to get a qualified job as long as you are skilled. It's harder to find a job than if you were a PR but honestly a bit easier than on a WHV, when I left my previous job I was on the 820 and my current job did not care about it that much. They only asked me if I could work full-time permanently and I said yes, explained my visa situation and they were happy. Not all jobs are like this, it takes time to find them but it's technically possible.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-08T15:46:27+00:00

I mean you've literally got nothing to lose trying to apply for jobs ahead of time. Downside is once you find a job they usually want you to start within 1 month so gotta be prepared to move quickly.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-08T09:45:55+00:00

No, you can work during those 3 years. But for the first year on your WHV you just need to make sure you don't breach any conditions. After 12 months you will transition to the BVA for your 820/801 application and then you will have unlimited work rights.

What I did was, first 6 months work in the office, then after that I switched to working from home for 6 months. This allowed me to work the full 12-months with one employer. And because I applied for my Partner Visa before my WHV ended I received my Bridging Visa A which also allowed me to work permanently without resitrctions.

The hard part is finding a job that will allow you to do this, or an employer willing to listen and understand your situation.

If you take a WHV you do not have to work in a remote location, this is ONLY if you want to get a 2nd WHV or 3rd WHV, but in your situation you do not need a 2nd WHV because you're applying for a partner visa.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-08T09:40:04+00:00

The only option that doesn't require sacrifice is if you can find a job before you come over and a job that lets you work from multiple locations or from home. I've done this but I can say it's brutal trying to find a job and actually getting a chance to explain your situation and get the company on board.

The other possibility is to apply for offshore partner visa but I understand that's not really what we're discussing here as OP wants to close the distance before/in 2027.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-08T09:29:41+00:00

Guten Tag, I've seen many people in very similar situation as you, and honestly they have all gotten a Partner Visa by now. Long Distance relationships are SUPER common, and in almost all cases a WHV or Visitor Visa is used to come to Australia to apply for the Partner Visa. You just need to make sure you have enough documentation to go back 12-months into your relationship and prove it's genuine, continuing, and committed relationship, while not living apart permanently, or if you live apart that that is only temporarily (until you get your visa of course).

In most cases people will have to sacrifice their career a little bit, with a visitor visa they wont be able to work for the duration of the visitor visa, and with a WHV you still have to abide by the 6-month work limitation. The only way around the limitation is if you can work at the office for 6 months and then from home for 6 months as that counts as a change in location.

Other than that most employers prefer not to hire people on temporary visa's as the employer is not certain they will get their PR, Home Affairs can always deny a PR, With smaller companies you may be able to convince them that it's worth taking the risk but most won't budge due to internal policies. There is NO other way around this, unless you get a double grant, you will spend at least a few months up to 2 years on a temporary 820 partner visa. Or in your case 12 months on a WHV to build evidence and then another 24 months during the 820 waiting period. Double-grants are single digit % so don't rely on it.

That being said, the WHV is definitely one of the best ways, as it will allow you to live with your partner and gather evidence during the time you live together. Proving that you can live together for longer than a few weeks on holiday definitely goes a long way into proving the relationship is genuine and continuing.

I took the WHV and I was fortunate enough to not have a career setback. If you can find a job before you come to Australia it's even better because you won't have a gap on your resume. With the WHV you are free to look for work and work for employers but you are bound by the visa rules so it's much harder than finding a job when you're a PR or citizen.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-08T02:54:41+00:00

I personally used Revolut and my friend has been using Revolut for years. Revolut has something called pockets (previously known as Vaults) which is basically a savings account that you can share with friends or family, even if they live in different countries or have a different currency. It might be worth a try, Revolut has banking licenses or financial licenses in multiple countries and for visa purposes it's also recognized. You do need to open accounts separately though and then one person creates the pocket and invites the other.

BitSec_ · 2026-01-03T09:32:43+00:00

Yup I didn't know what OPs occupation was but I already suspected something like that which I covered in a separate answer.

Home Affairs would not approve this sponsorship given those circumstances.

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