martincs31

Hey

To all of you, I just found out that I got a letter from Immigration, I GOT my temp spouse visa onshore....

Many thanks especially to Polyanna and George and the rest for advice. This site is the best.

As its friday, plenty of drink's me thinks

To all the rest, Have no fear they are going to look at your case's

JoolsB

Congratulations! My OH got his stamped passport back (permanent visa as we've been married for a hundred years!) a couple of weeks back and it was so exciting actually seeing it "in the flesh"

ozbound2

that must be huge relief..do you have any tips on the process and could you let us know how long it took to come through from the time you submitted? be grateful for any help

ozbound2

JoolsB

It is a relief! We applied for OH's police check in June and received it back about a month later. Meds were done for OH and his son (not coming but needed them anyway) early July and sent directly to AHC by the Doc. The actual application was sent 6th August with OH's passport & prepaid special delivery envelope enclosed to speed things up. Visa was granted 28 August and passport sent straight back a day later.

Luckily we could fill in the 2 main forms online as OH's handwriting is a nightmare! Don't think you can do this anymore though (?) Although the spouse is the easiest of the visas to deal with and doesn't really require the services of an agent there is still a fair amount of work involved. I spent about 2 months researching exactly what we needed mainly on this fabulous forum.

martincs31

Well the timeline is as follows:

Researched about this visa and the possibilities and options: Jan to April 2007

Visited DIAC and applied onshore: 19th April 2007

Full Receipt of application and money cashed: Same day

Interview: Same day but took well over 3 hours:

Bridging visa A applied and accepted: smae day

Had to visit the health specialist: 23rd April 2007 to clarify everything

Sent in Uk police certificate and extra evidence: 17th June 2007

Waited: June 2007 - September 2007

WHV expired 15th August 2007 and bridging visa A activated

Phoned up CO on Tuesday 11th September and found out she started looking at the case the day before but missing a peice of paper called the 815i whch was because of the health issue. turns out to be an anomoley I advised her of this and she updated her records but she though she was missing this. Turned out that i reminded her that we done that at the interview and she has it on her pc. luckily that was all.

2 days later letter sent to my house granting the vias and required to go to diac for a visa label. YAY . It took literally 5 months from start to finish. What timing was that

Ok... TIPS for this onshore, Pics of your relasionship are good if you can support them with flight details and dates but if you can't get bills etc to say you were cohabiting together, get stat decs from all friends to say that you were living together signed and witnessed by a jp. diac somehow love this and thats the trick which then the CO wanted as we could not provide any evidence to say we were living together from feb 2006 to when we entered the country.

2. organise your file from start to finish and use immi.gov.au as much as you can. This is the starting point for anything as they have booklets on almost everything except how to cook and clean a house

3. ask questions as much as possible on this site. thats how i found out some of the items. Make them simple and not complex, plenty of people are doing the same thing and have been or are in the same boat as you.

4. when applying onshore, be prepaired to show your commitment, interviews are done on the spot now as you apply and could take from 45mns to 3-4hours depending on what you tell your CO ( by the way my CO was Tanya in Brisbane. If you get her as a co, she is a nice person and will explain everything whilst the interview is going on)(not giving full names just as a precaution)

5. Wait and if your missing evidence get it asap and send it to the co.

6. visa status. if your current visa expires then dont travel, depending on the bridging visa you applied for, (A is the most common), this only allows lawful status in oz. The bridging visa will activate immediately afterwards but be careful, once you apply it has the exact same restrictions as your previous visa. I went on a whv so i can at least get some employment during my time here. I would never recommend a tourist or holiday visa, too much risk involved before you stepped into oz.

7. if a reasionable time has elapsed say 5 months according to polyanna (sorry) then give your co a ring to see the stage your application is at, NOT BEFORE. The reason for this is that the CO will think your trying something. Of course ring the CO to ask if they received docs that you sent but never status of application unless its necessary.


well thats it for basic tips. Remember STAT DECS to show DIAC that you have been cohabiting together from a certain date. Signed and jp'ed to make them official.

any q's just PM me but for now and more

GOOD LUCK to everyone else and remember IT WILL HAPPEN