civilservant

Greeting fellow BE's from across the Pacific!

So my mother is looking at applying for a visa for Australia to follow my Sister, who has been there for about 2 years. Obviously I know nothing about Australian visas so can't tell you which one was applied for.

I received an email from 'Sort Out My Visa' purporting to be the service that my mother is using, requesting 'color copies of documents proving that I, her son, am residing in the US' - now I am more than happy to answer any questions, but as to providing a random third party documents stating my full name and address, I don't really feel I need to be doing that.

My question is, is this really required for this visa? Or is this dotting the I's and crossing the T's on their part that isn't really required? For example, if I no longer spoke to my mother for whatever reason, is there not an answer that can be given on the application to the effect of 'unknown-no contact'?

Thanks in advance

Pollyana

Greetings in return! Time for a bit of cross-border info sharing!
Can't help much on Parent Visas, but I do know that your mother would need to meet the "Balance of Family Test" - basically that means she has to prove that either all or a majority of her children live outside the home country (in this case the UK) - so they need to show where you are living. Doesn't mattr if you haven't spoken to her since the day you were born, its still a legit question for them to ask.

The agency Sort Out My Visa do seem to have a registered agent working for them, https://www.sortoutmyvisa.com/about . We always recommend that people using agents ensure they are registered with MARA - gives some level of financial protection and they need to keep up with all the current rules in order to stay registered. Its also more than their registration is worth to let personal details supplied for an application fall into any hands except those at Aus Immigration. We did have a Veronika (spelt the same as this agent)posting on BE a few years back, I'll try and find out in the morning if it was the same agent. She did know her stuff very well then, gave out a lot of advice.

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visa...er/join-family is the official Aus Immigration site whch will tell you more about the visas themselves. There are several Parent visas, so if there is anything on the paperwork stating what visa sheis applying for, e might be able to tel you more. Look for a number such as Subclass 143, 173, 804, or an actual name such as ""Contributory Parent Visa". If there is nothing there then you could answer the email and just say you are interested to look ito why the information is being requested, and can the agency tell you which specific visa your mother is applying for. There's no desperate rush, most parent visas take a few years to process.

civilservant

The person who e-mailed me had exactly the same name - so looks like they still work there.

I e-mailed them some (very heavily) redacted documents, hopefully that will suffice to answer the questions.

Thanks Pollyanna!

Pollyana

Found her
https://britishexpats.com/forum/members/veronika-82579/

Looks like the same lady indeed

Paul Hand

civilservant

I'm well aware, since i have been through my own immigration to the US and then gaining US citizenship.