VDCNI

Hi

My partner is Australian. We met while I was on holiday there and then he moved over here on a 2 year working visa and we lived together the whole time.

At the end of the two years we flew back to Australia for a holiday and he applied for a partner visa while I came back. After a long wait it has just been rejected, partly because they didn't have enough details of my finances and partly not enough details of our relationship, photos etc.

To be brutally honest we were probably a bit complacent first time round as we passed the living together and financial bits quite easily so second time round we want to get it right.

My questions would be we've been advised to apply from scratch rather than appeal the first decision, does that sound correct?

We're intending to use a law firm to hopefully ensure we don't miss anything this time. We've found a company called Philip Gamble & Partners who sound good but if anyone has any recommendations as to a different firm or anything specific we should be looking out for when choosing that would be great.

Any help on these points or other advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

az2014

Instead of wasting money on a lawyer, why don't you read threads on here of similar situations and post your list of documents you have ready to submit and people can advise you for free.

spouse of scouse

Yes, start from scratch. An appeal will fail because you didn't demonstrate that you met the requirements.

I'd echo the above poster, unless you have a complex situation, and it doesn't sound like you have, then you can do the application yourselves. You can use this forum to ask any questions you have. Best of luck.

VDCNI

Thanks for your advice.

We've now been told that we don't have any chance of getting a second application approved because we haven't been living together for the last few months. So we lived together in the UK from July 14 to July 16 then went to Australia on holiday so he could apply for the partner visa. I came back in mid August while he waited for the application to be processed. That took two months and was rejected so we were just about to start again when we were told this.

Does that sound correct, seems overly harsh given the delay was out of our control?

We did live with each other for 24 consecutive months before the first application after all.

Novocastrian

It sounds correct (and overly harsh as well). I really think that your only chance is to get married and then re-apply.

SanDiegogirl

Was your partner in the UK on a Youth Mobility Visa? If not what kind of visa was he on?

Presume then his visa ran out.

You both then left for Australia for a holiday, he remained and you returned.

You then applied for a partner visa, based on your employment and relationship evidence. Why did you not apply for the partnership visa before you went to Australia and before the visa ran out?

The application was, seemingly, correctly refused based on lack of employment/relationship evidence. (There was no delay in the processing of the application; it takes about 2 to 3 months).

I agree that your best course of action is either apply for fiance visa and then marry in the UK or get married in Australia (or anywhere else) and apply for spouse visa.

The fact you had to return to the UK and he remained in Australia does not fit well with the term "living together as man and wife akin to marriage" for an unmarried partner visa.

OR ...... is partner eligible for Ancestry visa or have any Brit/European ancestry connections for obtaining other passport.