OzzieHwyl

Hi all,

Before our Visa submission, Patrick and I had been reading through this
chat forum for a few weeks gaining lots of helpful hints and
information. So a big thank you to all who have put postings up and now
we thought it was only right to return the favour by detailing our
experience.

First up, the good news is that we were granted Patrick's De Facto Visa
last Tuesday. We had our interview scheduled with the Department of
Immigration at 11:30am and by 1:30pm, Patrick had the new Visa secured
in his passport and we were deciding where to go for lunch !! The case
officer appointed to us was a considerate and professional lady who took
the time to actually read through all our evidence. We would have only
spent 15-20 minutes with her and she only asked us a couple of
questions, otherwise it was all waiting around.

The listing of documents we submitted are as follows. This list is in
order of how the Dept asks for the information, so I would recommend not
to deviate from this as they have an internal checklist to
cross-reference with. We also had the comment from our case officer,
that our submission was well put together.

1. Form 47SP
2. x4 recent passport photos of Applicant
3. Form 26 (medical)
4. Form 160 (radiology)
5. Form 80
6. Police check
7. Joint bank a/c statements
8. Tenancy/lease agreement
9. Electricity bills
10. Telephone bills
11. Tax returns
12. Joint travel documents/passport stamps/itineraries
13. Photographs
14. Receipt for engagement ring
15. Emails
16. Engagement cards
17. Letters & postcards from family/friends
18. Statement by Applicant
19. Form 888/Statutory Declarations x2
20. Certified copy of passports
21. x2 recent passport photos of Sponsor
22. Certified copy of birth certificates
23. Form 40SP
23. Statement by Sponsor
24. Payslips and tax assessment notices

It is also very important that you can prove "cohabitation" for 12
months. This was one of the first questions that our case officer
asked. We were told quite bluntly, that if we could not prove
cohabitation for 12 months, then our application would be immediately
declined. However, this 12 months does not need to be consecutive.

Some other helpful tips are:

1. Ensure that all the forms you submit are current. The website
www.immi.gov.au will have the current versions. The forms were
recently updated in November 2003.

2. If you are submitting photocopies, ensure that each one is duly
signed by a Justice of the Peace. Also take the originals with you to
the interview to have on hand if they ask to view them.

3. Ensure your submission is front-end loaded. This means that all
your medicals and police checks have been done and are submitted at your
interview.

4. The more information you have, no matter how inconsequential you
feel it may be, all add up to help your case and is worthwhile
including.

5. Plan in advance a date you wish to submit by and give yourself
deadlines along the way to get specific information.


After having decided that we wanted to apply for this Visa, we started
down the track of getting all our info together. Yes it is daunting
collecting all the paperwork and also frustrating having to prove your
relationship is genuine, but the result is all worth it. We luckily had
very good friends and family who gave us lots of encouragement and
laughter throughout.

Best of luck to all those submitting. We'll be logging back onto this
forum throughout the next week or so if anyone has any questions.

Cheers,
Cherene & Patrick.

WBB

good post and nice to see another de-facto spouse visa being granted.

how long after you sent your application off did you hear anything fron DIMIA and was this application made in london?

WBB

just noticed your location is sydney so i guess this was an onshore visa.

renth

Is a de-facto spouse visa a PR visa or a temporary one that will convert to PR after a couple of years?

WBB

that depends on a couple of things.

for me it will be PR straight away (if i get granted) because i have been with my aussie girlfriend longer than 5 years and we have children together, if you have no kids and your relationship is less than 5 years old it would be temporary for 2 years.

renth

The reason I ask is I know a couple of gays. One is PR & the other is applying as a de-facto. They can prove they've been together for 8 or 9 years, as a couple, all the paperwork etc...

He's worried he might get the temp one not the PR.

It won't be a big problem, but he wants the PR, natch.

WBB

i'm not too sure about this but i think same sex couples apply for an interdependent visa.

http://www.immi.gov.au/migration/fam...rdependent.htm

bondipom

http://dima.cardgate.net/Partner_Migration/1127.pdf

It does not look like they waive the temp residency for inter dependant partners in 5 year or more relationships.

linnie2003

Congratulations to you both! ...and thanks for a really useful post!
However, I'm now having a panic ...I'm applying for a defacto visa, but because I work in a different city to my partner we haven't 'cohabited' for a full twelve months...(though even when we weren't sharing a house we spent every weekend together) bank statements, travel docs show joint trips away together since Sept 2002, phone bills show contact of 'stalkerish' proportions since Summer 2002... also we'll have plenty of stat decs....
what have other people's experiences of the cohabiting rule & visa success/rejection been?
Cheers!
L

MeganEkno

Excellent post thanks. I am interested to know exactly what it is that my husband and I should put in our statements. How did you go about this? Was there a specific format you used? Any help would be gratefully received.

lizzel

Does anyone know if you can apply and hopefully be granted a defacto visa if you don't have joint tennancy agreements or joint utility bills? My fiance and I have always lived with his or my parents for most of our relationship of two years? We have joint bank accounts/wills/travel docs etc and will have plenty of stats decs from family/friends. Just wondered if anyone else has been in this position?

WBB

i have read some threads here where people have done it, i think they (AHC) would scrutinize your application a little closer than normal but it can be done.

good luck.

OzzieHwyl

I'd certainly agree WBB (if that is indeed your real name!) - our experience was that any weaker aspects of the submission can be offset by piling evidence/stat decs on top. The interview may be more involved, but it was reassuring to find that our case officer actually took ALL the evidence into account when deciding.
This is relevant to the question about cohabitation - we were told at the outset that without solid proof of cohabitation for 12 months (not necessarily consecutive) the visa would be declined. This concerned us a little, since we only had documentary proof stretching back 6-7 months (living in Sydney). We had also lived together in Toronto for 6 months, and would have been able to provide bank statements etc to back this up if they'd asked for further info, but hadn't thought to take that to the interview!
In the event, the case officer accepted numerous Stat Decs from friends and family attesting to the fact we had cohabited in Toronto, combined with her 'feeling', as she put it, based on supporting evidence, that the relationship was genuine and continuing.
This is Patrick, by the way. Cherene prepared the original post (she's far more efficient and less lazy than me)..I'm happy to answer any other questions, unless they're about Australian TV. I still don't understand that. Upsets me to think about it, in fact.