mzsunkizz

Hi all,

I am looking for advice on a Spouse Visa.
I am an Aussie and my fiancee is a British citizen. We have been together for 10 months with him travelling in and out the country every few months complying with his ETA tourist visa regulations.
We are considering getting married within the next few months then applying for a spouse visa onshore. We are unsure whether to go through the application process ourselves or use a migration agent????????. I am unsure of the costs involved with an agent, and am concerned about the amount of information the DIMA require, and whether not providing too much or too little could hinder the process. Also can anyone who has been through this before could give me some indication of the time frame involved?.
Thanks.............

sue5665

Hi,
We are both from the uk, we applied for visa's 7 year's ago (we did not use a agent) we were all excepted, my hubby went to oz for a holiday and got his visa validated but due to family illness I never had chance to validate mine.
Anyway, year's went past hubby got his visa extended, we visited OZ in xmas 2001 decided it was for us,so as soon as we came back I applied under the spouse visa, we didnt use a agent,
and to our surprise it was quite straight forward, Our 2 children were on my visa, so we had to have police checks, medicals etc done all over again. But it was worth it.
It only took 3 months they wanted letter's from people to indicate that our relationship was genuine, we both had to write a letter of when and where we met, I got about 20 neighbour's to write letter's that we were the ideal couple e.t.c e.t.c (The more Bull**** the better).They also wanted household bill's showing both name's. I sent them anything and everything that indicated us being together.
Try and send them load's.


Good luck
Sue

Tove

Hello mzsunkizz,

you should go for the fiance visa (or is it called prospective marriage?). Then all you have to prove is that you have physically MET, and when you arrive in Australia, you have to get married within 9 months and then your boyfriend applies for the spouse visa.

You can't apply for the spouse/de facto spouse visa unless you can prove that you have been living together for at least 1 year, but if you're getting married anyway, might as well go for the fiance visa!

Good luck,

Tove (got a de facto spouse visa and going w boyfriend next wednesday to Melbourne)

Tove

and I think you don't need an agent unless there is a problem with your application. If you have a look at the embassy's website to see exactly what requirements there are and you fulfill them, it's probably a total waste of money to use an agent. I think parter visas are different to independent skilled in that you don't have to "compete" with others, you just have to fulfill the requirements.

Tove

wizzywozza

I expect someone will correct me if I am wrong but I didn't think that for a spouse visa you had to prove that you had been together for a year. I am sure that only applies to the de facto spouse visa.

As for proving on a fiance visa that you have actually met - I haven't seen my fiance in person for almost 17 years, and the only physical proof I have that we have been together (in a past life!) is one photo of us together in 1977. Is that proof enough???

mzsunkizz

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Is it wise to have the police check and medical done before we apply???. Is this the usual way?.

Ev'n'John

The Australia House website in London suggests that you should "front-load" Spouse Visas by submitting police checks and medicals with the application. They say they can then process it a great deal quicker than the usual period of 4 months. (In fact, some people have managed to get them processed in 45 minutes - but I think that's via a specially arranged meeting!!)

I suppose this may just be in London and you ought to check the local processing requirements in Australia.

A quick question for others who have applied for a Sposue visa - do you always have to supply Statutory Declarations? Me and my other half have been together 14 years, been married for nearly 8 years and have 2 children. I have plenty of documentary evidence to prove co-habitation etc., so a couple of Statutory Declarations from a member of my family and a friend saying we are a "genuine" couple seems a bit superfluous? Any thoughts?

Regards,
Evelyn.

sue5665

Hi Evelyn,
Like you we have been married for 13 years have 2 son's 11 & 9.
So when we applied for my visa we had to prove and send statutory declarations about our relationship, so we sent about 20 from neighbours,family and friends.
Sue

lenaro_w

Evelyn,
I have been together with my wife for 11 years and have 3 children. at the end of the day it is better to supply them with more evidence than they may require as this will not stop them processing your application, whereas if they had to request them from you at a latter date a delay would ensue.

Ev'n'John

Thanks for the advice Sue 5665 and lenaro_w.

Yes - you're right - it's better to supply all the information at the outset to avoid delays! It's just a bit embarrassing having to ask various friends and family to go to a solicitor to "swear" we are a genuine couple (especially as some of them are not too enthusiastic about us leaving in the first place!)

Regards,
Evelyn.

sue5665

Hi Evelyn,

We did not get our friend's and neighbour's to go to the solicitor's all they done was to write a letter (statutory declaration's)

This is what my sister wrote (as a example)

''I Jennifer Ann Trrell hereby declare that Mrs Susan Allen and Mr David Allen of (Address) have a committed relationship which is steady and ongoing. They have never fallen out or seperated for any period of time during their 12 years of marriage and 7 years of being together before their marriage.
Having known them both for the whole period of 19 years I have no doubt that their marriage will continue for many, many years in the future.''

Signed

My neighbour's wrote similar letter's,(Only known them for couple of year's).
We sent all the original's keeping photocopies for ourselves.
But like I said they do not need to go to the solicitor's.

Hope this help's.
Sue

Jaykay

Hi Sue

Can I ask if the documents were actually written on a "Statutory Declaration" form, or were they just written on normal paper and signed by your friends and neighbours?

Thanks

sue5665

Hi Jaykay,
The letter's were just written by hand on normal paper.

Sue

lenaro_w

Evelyn,

We did ours as Statutory Declarations which for us was easy as one of our friends is a police officer who witnessed them all.

Pollyana

Were the Stat Decs witnessed by a police officer accepted by the "Powers that be"?
I've been told that a UK police officer is not acceptable, although an Australian one would be. Can anyone shed light on the actual status of police signatures, from personal experience?
Many thanks,
Polly