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going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

Old Apr 14th 2010, 8:24 am
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Default going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

hi guys

my partner's company have agreed to put me onto his 457 visa as a defacto partner/spouse and we had planned to lodge the application online but then started to panic listening to some friends' stories of their experiences/amounts of evidence needed etc etc

our situation isn't too straightforward as we had a long distance relationship before i moved out here in september and therefore we don't have lots of hard and fast evidence of being together before i came to oz.

we have been living together in sydney since september and have a joint bank account which we pay all rent/bills etc from, house insurance in joint names and our medicare cards are joined. however the lease is only in his name as he was out here for 2 months before me, and all other utility bills, insurances etc are either in his or my name depending on who sorted them out and when!

we have photos and emails going back at least a year and lots of other things we could use - but since we're really unsure of the whole process and just how much evidence we need, we have decided to just go to parramatta office on friday with our application, the letter from his work, a file full of evidence and see how far we get....

is this a good idea? has anyone else done this? we were told by the office that you can't make appointments anymore as most applications are now done online - so what happens when you just turn up at the immigration office and ask to be seen? will we get to see an officer and discuss the application or will be be sent away and asked to apply online? any ideas how long we are likely to wait?

any advice would be fab!

cheers
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Old Apr 14th 2010, 9:01 am
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Default Re: going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

Originally Posted by alreetpet
hi guys

my partner's company have agreed to put me onto his 457 visa as a defacto partner/spouse and we had planned to lodge the application online but then started to panic listening to some friends' stories of their experiences/amounts of evidence needed etc etc

our situation isn't too straightforward as we had a long distance relationship before i moved out here in september and therefore we don't have lots of hard and fast evidence of being together before i came to oz.

we have been living together in sydney since september and have a joint bank account which we pay all rent/bills etc from, house insurance in joint names and our medicare cards are joined. however the lease is only in his name as he was out here for 2 months before me, and all other utility bills, insurances etc are either in his or my name depending on who sorted them out and when!

we have photos and emails going back at least a year and lots of other things we could use - but since we're really unsure of the whole process and just how much evidence we need, we have decided to just go to parramatta office on friday with our application, the letter from his work, a file full of evidence and see how far we get....

is this a good idea? has anyone else done this? we were told by the office that you can't make appointments anymore as most applications are now done online - so what happens when you just turn up at the immigration office and ask to be seen? will we get to see an officer and discuss the application or will be be sent away and asked to apply online? any ideas how long we are likely to wait?

any advice would be fab!

cheers
I'm not sure how much mileage you're going to get by going down the defacto route.

My partner and I were in a similar situation; she is living in the US, myself in the UK. I've been offered a job in Sydney and it makes sense for her to come with me. We've been in a relationship for around 2 years now, and we did look at the option of going down a de-facto route.

It looked as though DIAC did have the discretion to waive the 'living together for twelve months' in situations where there might be circumstances that prevent a couple from living together for example, but we were advised that the chances of this being accepted were at best 50/50, even with plenty of supporting evidence. We didn't think these were good odds when you've thrown that much money into the application and have a job riding on it.

As we were planning to anyway, we thought, sod it, lets get married now, and do a proper 'wedding' with all the friends some time later when we've had chance to properly organise it. DIAC said yes, and just waiting for the visa to be finalised...

Of course your circumstances are slightly different having lived together for at least some time, so I'd suggest you take professional advice from someone who has better insight into DIACs approval criteria.
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Old Apr 14th 2010, 9:25 am
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Default Re: going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

thanks rob - yeah that's the problem, not knowing what the criteria is/what they're looking for etc. i've also had a lot of conflicting info regarding whether we need 6 months evidence of living together or 12?? friends of ours have been accepted with 6 months, but a lot of the forums say twelve. i guess the point is they can't make it too easy though...

i'm actually a teacher and i start a year's contract at an independent school next week, so by rights they could sponsor me themselves - at least for the year. they're just reluctant to do it if my partner's work will, and i'd rather do it this way as i get health insurance with the company and don't have to worry about transferring the visa to a new employer etc.

good luck with your situation. it is a shame when relationships come in all shapes and sizes and don't always fit the boxes they're supposed to :-)
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Old Apr 14th 2010, 9:29 am
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Default Re: going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

I would have to second Rob's response, we applied for De Facto on grounds that we couldnt live together for full 12 months because of lack of employment for my OH here in Ireland and we were refused, we are now in the Prospective Marriage Visa application queue, hired an agent and hope to have the visa in next few weeks. From what i've read on here, De Facto is very hard to get unless you have a huge amount of paperwork to back it up and genuinly live under the same roof.

Getting married is a good option for some of us, but might not suit everyone
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Old Apr 14th 2010, 9:33 am
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Default Re: going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

is it the same situation for a 457 though? or were you guys going for a defacto on a 175 or whatever the permanent visa/residency is?

you need 12 months hard evidence just for a 457 sponsored work visa?? i was convinced it was 6!

oh dear.....
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Old Apr 14th 2010, 9:35 am
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Default Re: going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

Originally Posted by IrishMelbourne
I would have to second Rob's response, we applied for De Facto on grounds that we couldnt live together for full 12 months because of lack of employment for my OH here in Ireland and we were refused, we are now in the Prospective Marriage Visa application queue, hired an agent and hope to have the visa in next few weeks. From what i've read on here, De Facto is very hard to get unless you have a huge amount of paperwork to back it up and genuinly live under the same roof.

Getting married is a good option for some of us, but might not suit everyone
If you are going for an actual De Facto Visa (as the de facto Spouse of an Aussie) then its very unusua to get accepted with less than 12 months.
They are often more lenient when its a spouse being added to something like a 457 holder, as its only a temporary visa, far more common to see those accepted with less than 12 months.
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Old Apr 14th 2010, 9:36 am
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Default Re: going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

There's your answer! Good luck
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Old Apr 14th 2010, 9:46 am
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Default Re: going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

excellent :-)

still not sure what happens when we actually turn up on friday though! am picturing long long lines of people and 6 hour waits like in the movies....

wondering if we should just attempt to apply online. but it says you can only attach up to a maximum of 20 documents. we just want to sit down with a real person and go "look, this is how it is...!" and then be told what we're missing, what we need to do etc.

well, we can but try!

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Old Apr 14th 2010, 9:46 am
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Default Re: going to immigration office to lodge 457 defacto application???

Originally Posted by Pollyana
If you are going for an actual De Facto Visa (as the de facto Spouse of an Aussie) then its very unusua to get accepted with less than 12 months.
They are often more lenient when its a spouse being added to something like a 457 holder, as its only a temporary visa, far more common to see those accepted with less than 12 months.
I'd second that. For various reasons we ended up lodging both a 457 and 175 application (The 175 was originally lodged, and the employer wanted to sponsor a 457 anyway as it might be quicker than waiting for the 175 to arrive).

They asked for evidence of the relationship (married by this point) for the 175 visa. All they asked for on the 457 application was the marriage certificate, so yes, I'd say the standard of proof for a temporary visa is certainly lower.

Good luck to you guys!
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