lonndongeek

Hi,

Apologies if this thread is in the wrong place, please feel free to move it if this is the case.

I struggled to find much if any information about second stage processing (subclass 100) for a de-facto spouse visa, so thought I would leave this here for anybody that's looking.

I received a letter about 3 months before my eiligibility date (2 years after date of application) with stat decs that needed completing by my fiancee and I, along with a checklist asking for details of travel after visa grant and Australian police checks.

For the stat decs, there was a small box, so we just wrote in exactly what they were asking for almost as bullet points, no long winded "this is how much we love each other" novel like we submitted for the original application.

We were given two months to send the information in, and sent it in just about on the deadline as we were busy with work and didn't have a chance to write the stat decs or get the signatures witnessed.

Three days after my eligibility date, we received a letter from DIAC saying that the permanent visa had been approved, so I'm off to the DIAC office in adelaide on Monday or Tuesday to get a shiny new visa sticker in my passport.

I was stressing that I hadn't got the application in on time as we were fairly close to the two month deadline, but called the number for second stage processing and they told me not to worry. Another thing that they said on the phone was to only send the informaiton that they asked for. If they want any other evidence they'll request it.

Hope this helps somebody.

Cheers

Steve

JAJ

Congratulations ... you got the second stage more quickly than usual, up to 8 months has been known in recent times.

Are you aware that your time on the temporary visa counts for citizenship eligibility?

lonndongeek

We were settled in for a wait of a few months, and got a bit of a shock when the letter turned up. When I called the ACTRO office to make sure that I hadn't missed a deadline, they said that they're trying to streamline things (hence, only sending in information that they ask for).

As for citizenship, yes. 3 years 9 months and counting... (I'm presuming that the 5 year countdown starts from when I landed in Oz, not when the visa was granted).

Cheers

Steve

JAJ

It's 4 years for citizenship, normally.
http://www.citizenship.gov.au/applyi...ligibility.htm

There is often a long waiting list to do the citizenship test, so you might wish to do that now to avoid a delay.

lonndongeek

2 years and nine months it is then Will think about the citizenship test 12 months before I'm 'due'. Have other priorities at the moment.

Thanks for the correction.

Cheers

Steve

struth

hi,
we have just received our forms for second stage and would like to hopefully get it processed as painlessly as possible.
after reading your post i understand that 'less is best' and you only supplied what they asked for, can you clarify if you sent any evidence of joint accounts, mortgage statements etc.
your post has already been very helpful as i was preparing to get stat decs from friends and copy a whole load of 'stuff' to prove we are still in a genuine and ongoing relationship.

thanks

Ruth

Pollyana

Be warned that a lot of second stage applicants are still being asked for Stat Decs, so just because one wasn't doesn't mean that you won't be.

lonndongeek

The only document that we provided (other than the forms/checklist/police check) was a letter from our bank stating that although our main account is in SWMBO's name we both have equal access to it and therefore it was effectively a joint account.

As for stat decs, the forms that you (the visa holder) have to fill in have spaces for two referees that DIAC can contact if they want to. In my case, they didn't contact them. I don't know if they contact a random sample of referees or use them as a backup verification method if your application reaches a certain risk threshold.

The box that you and your partner fill in to telll them about your relationship is about a third of a page of A4, so not huge amounts of space. For ours, we looked at the information that DIAC requested and only answered those points. You definitely don't have to give "The story of our relationship v2.0".

HTH

Steve

lonndongeek

The form being sent out by the new processing centre in Canberra has space for two referees. From memory it asks for name, address and phone number.

I'm presuming that if DIAC want stat decs, they'll ask the referees directly. In my case, neither of the referees were contacted. Maybe I have an honest face?

Cheers

Steve

Pollyana

Sounds like a definite improvement. My mate who submitted his pr paperwork in September had to provide several Stat Decs. His was processed through Brisbane though, so maybe they are streamlining them now they are going through Canberra.

SillyOldBag

I keep seeing reference being made to Canberra dealing with the second stage spouse visas, yet I just received my temp spouse visa and it says that the next stage will be handled by Melbourne. I'm puzzled. However, I don't have to worry about this for another nearly 2 years.

lonndongeek

It's possible that the new process hasn't made it all the way through to the templates used for grant letters.

Make sure that you keep DIAC informed of your addresses and let us know what the process is in two years

Cheers

Steve

struth

thanks everyone for your replies, will keep them all in mind when completing paperwork, cheque has been cashed for police checks and i only sent them off on tuesday.
i shall keep this thread informed of how long the processing takes for us

struth

just an update for folks going through this process.

received info from immi on the 23/03/09
requested police check on the 24/03
police checks returned 03/04
returned info to immi on the 15/04
permanent visa granted and info received 30/06/09

a lot quicker than expected, thank you everyone for your input

heg3

Congratulations!