Bit wary is all. Who did you get to certify your things? I might just get the accountant at work. I am a bit wary hence why we are sending a fair bit, only been together for 20 months and not married.

Thats all they say to get certified as far as I recall. We sent in heaps of evidence alot of which promptly got returned to us, presumably surplus to requirements! I've read about a fair few people who have only been in defacto relationships just over the 12 months (literally) who have had their visas approved no question, so I think 20 months of evidence of being together should stand you in very good stead!

They do say if the documents are being certified in UK it should be a JP, solicitor or commissioner for oaths. My fiance had his certified in Australia (for nothing!) my daughter and I had ours done at a solicitor and it was £15 I think for 5 documents. I have however seen other people successfully get their visas with documents certified by bank managers/police officers - but I thought I would play safe on that one!

I know your head starts to get in a whirl particularly just before submitting the application but when I spoke to the lady at the AHC in London just before I posted the application, she said it was quality of evidence not quantity that was important. I kept the originals of the documents, and just reckoned that if they wanted them (which they didn't) I could post them off special delivery, next day guaranteed.

For peace of mind though, I reckon the best thing is to do what makes YOU feel most secure feeling that you've sent the best application you could! You can get to a stage though where you are dotting every i and crossing every t , checking and rechecking and finding it hard to let go. Sooner or later you just have to think, nope, i've done the best I can .... and stick it in the post!

Good luck!

I'm just finishing doing my packing and realising how many things it would have been better to sort out before I head back to Australia but my fiance needs me there! He still sounds in a bad way but at least he has me and my daughter arriving back on Tuesday morning to look forward to .... poor soul going to have his peace and quiet well and truly shattered

I am soooooooo excited and so not looking forward to being stuck on a plane for so long, but the getting there and not having to come back this time will make it all worth while!

Hope all the other spouse/pmv people are doing well. Will catch up with you again soon - next time probably from Cairns as my laptop is about to be switched off.... although having said that i could borrow my brothers pc this afternoon

Cheers for the advice! Consider my mind at ease.

I don't know why they don't just ask for the medical and police check up front - if you read literally they say to wait, but only from this thread did I realise that frontloading was a good idea. Having said all that, hubby didn't frontload - but he got the police check underway about a week before he sent off the application, then booked the medicals in after they told us. All up the visa was approved in about 6 weeks.

If I have time over I would front load. Saves alot of waiting - but I guess if you are concerned about whether you are going to get a visa, then best to save the expense.

Good luck!

We took ours to the police station and demanded that they certified them - which they very kindly did!

Hi - we got my mum to certify the docs, shes an australian citizen and a teacher so she just wrote this is a true copy of the original & signed each doc, and wrote a letter with her name address & that she was a teacher. We also included a copy of her australian passport. We also did this for the kids citizenship by descent & they've allowed it both times. We also had loads to certify, with 4 kids we needed all their cbd certificates plus mine, passports, birth certificates, marriage certificate etc.

Good luck sillyoldbag -hope your fiance is better, must be so worrying for you. Never mind you'll be there soon. Haven't heard anymore about our house sale - got a verbal offer on monday, surveyer in on wednesday but nothing in writing yet. Hopefully hear tommorow as we're off to edinburgh on tuesday to get kids ozzie passports.

Wish all those applying the very best- it is really stressful!!!

A quick query!! I have been reading that after your application has been approved that..

'you will be required to make your first entry into Australia by a certain date.'

What sort of time limit is this usually after visa is approved!

Hi its a year from when you had your medical/police check done.
good luck with your application.

Hi fellow Spouses,

I posted the below question on the Immigration forum but didn't get much joy. Anyone here had a similar experience.

Many Thanks

I've applied for a Spouse visa and the case officer has informed me my medicals have been referred to the HAS. I know the reason why and I think there shouldn't be any problems.
Any other spouse applicants out there who have had there medicals referred? How long did they have to wait for the results to come back.

Cheers for your help.

Hi Everyone

I'm afraid I am a huge worrier and I have a particular question that has been worrying me for a while. My partner is Australian and I'm English. We are planning on moving to Australia in Summer 2009. Due to my crazy worrying I have already found the application form and looked at it. I noticed that, if you have been to Australia before, it asks for the numbers of your electronic visas, but I think I must have deleted mine because I can't find them anywhere! Will this affect my application in any way? Or do they just ask for the numbers to make the process quicker? My passport has the immigration stamps in of the two times I went to Australia so will this suffice?

Plus, when would you suggest beginning the application process? Does it take that long? And I heard that there are quotas for the possible number of visas that can be given out every year, is this true and will this mean it's possible that you'll have to wait until the next year?

Oh my God, you are more of a worrier than me and thats saying something!!

There are no numbers for ETA's if these are the electronic visa you are on about, all you need to do is put your passport number where it asks for visa number, the only number you would have is if you had a working hol visa - but im sure if you emailed australian embassy in london, they could tell you what it was , if whv.

I have never heard of the quota thing ? I applied for my prospective marriage visa ad it took 3 days to coem through. they want healthy young peeps in Australia, as long as your police checks and meds come through fine, you should get your visa quite quickly, You need to decide what visa you want too, whether interdependant (if not married) PMV (if getting married ) and spouse (if married). I would start collecting paperwork now, to prove your relationship i.e joint bank accounts, holidays, corraspondance in both names, pictures etc etc, put it all in a little file for when you are ready to apply. It seems like a mare to do the application, but once you start doing it , its quite straight forward. Oh and police checks take 40 days to come through and last a year.

Anything else you need to know, just ask!!

Thanks for the help. 3 days is quick! So is it not too difficult to get a spouse visa then? And could you please tell me how you go about getting a police check? Thanks.

Go to a police station with passport, cheque for £10 and they fill in a form for you. Takes about 28 days to get info back.

Hi there - great thread! Rachel I would like to join if poss? i also have a question about supporting evidence. I am dual nat Aussie/British and hubby is british. He is applying for permanent spouse visa and we have got 2 888 forms done by aussie friends, 3 written statements by family and friend and our own 2 (rather lengthy!!!) stat decs about each other and our relationship. We have been married for 7 years and have a 3 year old. We are totally stressing about what sort of stuff we need to get certified (doing it at aussie embassy in holland, but they say they cannot give advice on what sort of things are suitable etc - they also charge 18 euros per certification! ) We have a year and half worth of joint bank statements, mortgage statements (a bit erratic as don't have all of them), marriage and birth certs, telephone bill receipts for when we lived in the middle east, basically anything that is addressed to both of us. We also have the usual photos and 1 letter addressed to us both. Just don't know if its enough, if its way OTT or what???? Anybody else done this for the perm visa? Cheers in advance......... oh nearly forgot - we lived in middle east for 6 years and have been told that you cannot get a police check from there once you have left (!) wish I had a time machine! - has anyone had a similar experience and been okay? What was the outcome?

Fi and gang x