good luck with it all, enjoy the other side!

Good luck! Is this the point where you start sh*tting yourself?

Thanks everyone for your kind message

Hi Tina Looking at Eltham & surrounds but was considering further towards Dandenongs-the winerys being a big draw of course & have 2 dogs so a bit of counrtryside great for them! How far is it from you to nearest beach at weekend timewise?
I remember the supermarkets not being up to much but who cares!-life's too short to worry about which teabags-though I will miss waitrose home delivery being a bit lazy...
We are coming without ever having set foot in Melbourne -I am the Aussie and lived in Sydney until 5 yrs old & have been back on hols several times along with Adelaide and Cairns but never Melbourne! One of my best friends has family there-she says it's fab and I trust her opinion completely so it better be good or she's in big trouble

Congrats Medwaymark!!

I have some good news today - I had a nice lady from the migration branch of the Australia High Commission call me today to say that they are more than happy to grant me a Temporary Spouse Visa based on all the stuff I sent in!

She also mentioned that as we have been together since October 2001 if we can prove we have been in a defacto relationship since June 2002 we might be able to get a permanent visa - i've just sent off for my old bank statements from Oct 2001-2002 to see if we can find anything - problem is we didn't have joint accounts till 2003 and all the bills were paid by my parents
We have a bank statement showing that my OH paid for our first trip to Oz back in '01 but I think we might struggle to get enough evidence for the permanent visa :/

So while I should be well excited that we can get the Temp visa I'm kinda bummed that we might just have missed out on the Permy...

I was always under the impression that no matter what spousal visa you apply for you will always be given the temp visa with the PR process starting 2 years after you arrive in OZ

If you can prove 5 years of being in a defacto relationship you can get the permanent visa straight away - either way its cool but I think jobwise they might prefer to hire people with a permanent visa...

If I can knock up the other half I would only have to prove 2 years!

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/part...visa-works.htm

Yeah I just read that after I posted ..Ah well Good luck anyway

Good news on the temp visa.... at least you know you can go. Fingers crossed that they'll like what you send them.

Did your supporting statements and those of your friends/family make it clear when you started living together. Did you get one from your parents to say that they were paying the bills but you was living together?

Good luck

Congrats all on your good news!!


I was always under the impression it was a temp visa for 2 years, I was asked to fill in 2 more forms 3 days after i sent application off. My passport came back with a permenant resident visa in!! So good luck to those who have been asked for extra proof

Hi all

Brief overview...any tips welcome. Me and my partner have 3 weeks to go before emigrating. I have a passport and OH is coming over on ETA, then I will apply for a partner visa from Aus..we didnt have time at this end due to the 12 month living in sin rule..
Ive been gathering together evidence in advance and have letters,bank statements,police checks and am waiting for statements..Is there anything I have missed (that I can get before we leave)? Anyone been through this process in Australia? Sorry I couldnt bear trawling through 64 pages of threads!!

Cheers.

All I would say is take everything you can think of incase they want it, as it will be harder to get hold of things from the other side.

Good luck!

Thanks! I have emailed back with a description of what I can send in - I have asked if a stat dec from my parents will help so I will see if I get a reply tomorrow - with a bit of luck I might be able to find something on my old bank statements, if not nevermind - 2 yrs isn't that long... did I hear its going up to 4 yrs sometime soon?

Right - new question everyone...

re passport photos - I know I need 4 to send off with the application.

Do I also need 2 for the medicals? And if so does it matter if they arent the same ones as the ones I send for the visa app? (if you see what I mean!).

This question sounds really silly but you tie yourself in knots worrying about stuff!!!

You do need photos for the medical and xray forms - not sure if they have to be the same as the other 4 though - the doctors did write on mine to confirm they were a true likeness of me, so i guess as long as you get that it might be ok. I was fortunate in that I got 8 photos done at the time so i still have 2 spare just in case!