Medicare eligibility requirements for Partner Visa Applicants.
There is confusion about exactly when a partner visa applicant becomes eligible for Medicare in Australia.
The wording on the Medicare pages creates some confusion if read quickly, and not in depth.
Some Medicare officers appear not to fully understand the rules either.
Some think you need to have applied for an 801 or 100 visa, and do not understand that the 820 and 309 applications are actually Permanent Visa applications.
This is the relevant wording at Medicare:
This includes if you’ve applied for a combined spouse visa 309/100 or 820/801.
For Partner Visa applicants, the eligibility for Medicare is based on the date that your 820/801 application is accepted by the immigration department.
This is also normally the date of the grant of the bridging visa. That bridging visa does not need to be active for you to be eligible for Medicare.
Offshore applications will have a different eligibility date. Their date will be the date they arrive in Australia, after having applied offshore for the 309/100 partner visa.
An actual Example:
We took my wife’s application into a Medicare office, with the notice of 820 application and bridging visa grant. This bridging visa was not yet activated.
After a bit of confusion they set up Medicare immediately.
If the initial visa gives working rights it should be as simple as that.
However, according to the Medicare site, a visitor visa holder should also take extra proof of relationship with an Australian Citizen or PR, to ensure eligibility.
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