anne&ralph

Hi Everyone,
This is my first posting.
We are just starting on the visa path and haven't actually posted it yet as all the info we have managed to collect seems to get more complicated. I am hoping someone can help us. My Husband is an Aussie and we have been living together for 6 years, married for 18 months. We are trying to arrange things without an agent so even more confused.
We have sent off for our police checks and have our medicals in May is the the right way around this? I have 2 children 16 and 17 (18) in June from a previous marriage we want to know if this could prove a problem as he will be 18 before we get the visa (I think)
Do we need to collect all the info first before we send in the application form and does everything need to be signed by a solicitor (statements,birth cets,bills etc)
As you can tell we need help, anything else we need to know as we are panicking because of June Bithday
Thanks

CasG

Sorry cannot help as circumstances are different.

Just like to say hello and welcome to the site.

Sent you some goodluck karma too

Cas

floss

I'm at the same stage as you so can tell you what I am doing - the result of research & advice, lots of which came from here!

Just to let you know - I've been married to an Australian for 12 years & we have 3 children, all of whom have Aussie citizenship by descent.

I am sending:
my form

my husband's sponsorship form.

2 Statutory Declaration by friends i.e. witnessed & signed by a solicitor.

Certified copies (signed by solicitor) of my birth certificate and passport, my husband's birth certificate, our wedding certificate, our 3 children's birth certificates and citizenship certificates, and my university degree certificate.

A letter signed by hubby & me, saying when & where we met etc (!)

Originals (although I'm sure copies would be okay) of a letter from our mortgage company and from our bank saying we have had joint accounts for ages.

Letters from Hubby and my work saying we have worked there for x number of years.

The original of my police clearance letter.

The photos - 4 of me, 2 of him.

And my passport - been advised to be cheeky.

I cannot include my medical forms although some people do - my medical is booked for this next week but doctors will only deliver completed documents & x-ray direct to Embassy.

I think this is all (!?!) - hope it helps. Can't advise on your children, but I do suggest you post a thread asking for advice specifically on this - I have been amazed at all the help that come flooding in.... wish I'd discovered the forum a year ago - might not have as many grey hairs.

Good luck with your applications - do come back with anything you think I have missed out, 'cos I may have!!!!!

mlbonner

Hi Anne,
I assume you're going for a spouse visa then? If this is the case, do not worry, they're very straight forward and with the length of time you've been together you'll get PR straight-away.
You need to front-load to get the quickest result, so you are right in getting your police checks and medicals done now. Are you not able to get your medical done any earlier than May, you can go to any DIMIA approved doctor - don't forget to get and fill out the forms before you go though!

Forms 40sp & 47SP are your main two, and then you need to read Booklet One for information on exactly what you need to send in. I found the longest part of mine was waiting on Stat Decs from friends/family, so if you haven't already requested them, do so!

If you get moving, and have no medical or police check problems you should be fine with the June deadline. See page 18 for dependent requirements in booklet one - http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/1127.pdf

blossom

This post is very interesting.

I have a couple of work colleagues, they are married - his is Australian she is british. They met in Hong Kong and married about 5 years ago.

Since leaving Hong Kong they have made their home in UK, both work for the same organisation. They have a 2 year old daughter, and wife is now pregnant again.

He has very recently left to go back to WA to work on the family farm whilst his wife has been charged with the duties of finishing her work, selling the house etc etc.

She will fly out to join him as soon as the house is sold, but well before the baby is due. (They may rent out their house if not sold beforehand).

Once she is in Australia, he said they will front up and apply for her PR - I don't think they even considered that they should apply beforehand or that there would be any problems applying once in Australia. They also want to apply for citizenship for the children from Australia not UK.

My query is - will they run into any problems?

Blossom

floss

It is worth looking into issue of the children's nationality - I was told years ago to apply for British citizenship and passports for mine, and THEN Australian. Aussie's apparently happy with dual nationality and having 2 passport but British less so. May all be wrong but something to look into if they think they may want the children to have British passports later on?

mlbonner

Couple of things; if she's pregnant it might affect the medical being able to go ahead, due to the x-ray and risk to the unborn baby. If they come here on tourist visa's (which would be a lie, as they're not coming here to be touristy!) they could have problems at immigration, esp. on a one-way ticket. Coming on at ETA rather than a visa means no extra baggage allowance.
Given the time they have been together and the fact they have children together, she too would get automatic PR. You might want to suggest to your friend to get some advice re. her and the childrens visas, or failing that, get them to write a specific post on here about it (but in the immigration forum) and someone like Jeremy or George might be able to give something more concrete

Also, hubby might like to think about taking out British citizenship if he can.

moneypenny20

Hi Anne.

The spouse visa is very straightforward, but you do need everything together in one go - makes life so much easier. Only thing I would say is to make sure you have stat dec from ex hubby regarding taking the children. Obviously don't know your circumstances, and given their ages can't see a problem, but that is where some people have come unstuck.

As Michelle said, I would bring the meds forward. There must be one relatively close that can do them sooner. If all info is to hand by end of April, and you frontload, you should have the visas through by end May.

Good luck.

Anastasia Beaverhausen

Its probaly best to sort all this out before they go, at least she will be able to work as soon as she gets there. Assuming she will work.

Spouse visas are being processed very quickly at the moment. I think the official time frame is about 4 months, but there are people on the board who have had them done within weeks of applying.

The Aussie citizenship for there kids wont take long either.

We waited till we got back to the UK before applying for Dans UK visa, and it caused all sorts of problems. He couldnt work, so I was the only earner. He had no access to income support, so the strain on us was huge. I hind sight we should have sorted is before we left Australia, but hey, aint hind sight great.

blossom

Many thanks for this, I shall definitely speak with her tomorrow. Although I don't want her to think I am interfering, am just concerned that it could all go wrong for them before they even start!

Blossom

mlbonner

Certainly if she rocked up on a one-way ticket, with all her stuff then its possible some questions could be asked. I think it was Kala who a couple of years ago had problems at Perth airport as they thought she was (she wasnt) trying to do something similar - you could may be send her a pm.
I've flown into Brisbane International twice since having my visa, both times I have had questions about my intentions etc etc, and thats with having a visa to say I can be here!! Don't know if they're getting stricter, or I was just unlucky, but certainly you don't want to get it wrong!

moneypenny20

Bearing in mind how "easy" it will be to have both Aus and British citizenship for the children, and how straightfoward it will be for her to get her visa, it would be silly to lose it all by going about it wrong.

Had to get dual nationality for my girls before getting my visa - not a problem. If she has any queries, feel free to pm or e-mail me.

anne&ralph

Thanks for the informaion and I will try and bring the medicals forward but i think that was the doctors earliest time for 3 people, 5th May.
Is there a form that can be downloaded for the stat decs so I can give them to people to just complete or is just a letter enough (does it need to be signed by solicitor) because I cannot imagine my ex husband writng a letter let alone spending time getting it signed by a solicitor.
I thought that maybe because of their ages it would be a problem not easier because of it.
Thanks for any info you can forward
Anne

anne&ralph

Thanks anyway
Anne

JAJ

What you were 'told' is wrong.

There's no problem with holding both British and Australian citizenship.

Australia did have some restrictions on dual nationality before 2002, but this only affected Australians who wanted to naturalise in another country. Lots of Australians legally had dual citizenship before then in other circumstances, such as acquiring it automatically at birth.

Jeremy