Newsgroup

Evening all (or morning to all those fine Australians out there!) Thought
I'd introduce myself as by scanning through the posts on here I may get to
know some of you quite well over the coming months! Graeme's my name and a
move to Oz is the game (all going right!)

I'm in the process of applying for a spouse visa with a view to a permanent
move to Sydney. When I say in the process I mean I've done nothing other
than read lots and get worried.

Basically I've been married for a year (come Friday - Awww..) to a beautiful
lass from Sydney and despite her best intentions (bless her heart) she
misses Oz too much and wants to head back there. I've spoken to an agency
and they tell me that a spousal visa is one of the most straight-forward
ones but they still wanted to take £1500 of my hard earned pounds to help me
in the process. Now while I'm willing to pay for the privilege of getting
into Oz and making my wife very happy I feel that perhaps I should explore
other avenues myself first. I'm not assuming this will be easy but does
anyone out there know if it's a reasonable prospect for me to submit my own
application. Surely with the forms and with the help of the internet and
this newsgroup (hopefully!) I can do this myself?

Basically what I'm saying is that I'm looking for any help, hints, tips,
shortfalls and pitfalls of this process that so many of you have encountered
to help me avoid falling at the same places. Maybe with this kind of help
I'll manage the application and be able to offer similar help to the other
newbies that come looking for guidance on this board!

Many thanks to all who take the time to read this novel and more gratitude
to the kind hearted souls who reply.

Cheers!

G

--
If replying direct, remove the ** from the email address

Pollyana

Welcome to the madhouse!
Spouse visas are far more straight-forward than the skilled/independent ones, and lots of peopleon here have done it themselves - mine is a Prospective Spouse, but close enough!
As long as yours is a relatively simple application you should be able to do it yourself. gets more complicated when you involve previous marriages, or children from them, and that kind of thing.
Try searching on some key words (like "spouse visa"!) and see what you come up with, then come back with specific questions.....

Alan Collett

Hello G.

If it helps, our fee for assisting with a spouse visa application where the applicant is married is £495 plus VAT.

Please feel able to call my office in Southampton, and ask to speak with Helen.

Best regards.

teeleeky

Hi Graeme

I agree with Pollyana, the process is relatively simple and if front end loaded can take less than a month from application to approval.

Get quotes from different agents.... I was quoted from £400 - £1000!!! Make sure they are MIA / MARA registered.

I didnt have much time (or patience ) for all the paperwork and stuff etc so used an agent in Edinburgh called Visa-Go. Great service (could be local for you as well).

Cheers
Rich

tennisoz

Hi Graeme

I am in a similar boat to you except that I am Australian, my wife is British and she will be applying for the spouse visa. I also live in Scotland - Castle Douglas in lovely Dumfries and Galloway - but I come from Melbourne (the world's most liveable city according to a recent survey!). I too know the homesickness pangs of a spouse which is why I am in Scotland rather than Melbourne!

I had a recent thread on spouse visa myself and with the sound advice in the forum and some searching of the websites for the forms will do the application ourselves - front end loaded as they say by getting the police clearance and medicals before submitting the application.

I can see both points of view as far as agent or D.I.Y. It seems like Alan Collett's quote was very reasonable and if you value your time and don't want the hassles it might be money well spent. In our case it is something we will enjoy doing ourselves and to save a little money into the bargain is a secondary but nonetheless important consideration.

Good luck and as someone else said do a search on this and the Oz/NZ lifestyle forums on the different topics - spouse visa, medicals, police clearance, finances etc, etc.

TennisOz

bondipom

If you are short on time or have a borderline case use an agent. Get booklet 1127 from www.immi.gov.au. Hopefully you will then be enlightened by the process. If you have any further questions come on back and they will soon be answered.

I went throught the process 2 years ago and went DIY without any problems. The processing was under the average time posted on the web site. Lots of other people have gone DIY without any probs.

When I applied I was in a De Facto relationship which was over 3 years old. I am now married to my partner and enjoying life in Oz.

Good luck to you.

Newsgroup

Thanks for the welcome and help so far folks. I'm not in a hurry really
we're hoping to move out this time next year (although looking at some posts
that is a hurry!) I think we'll give it a go ourselves, as tennisoz says,
if you have the time and inclination it's almost enjoyable...

Couple of quick questions to start he ball rolling: What does front loading
mean - is it getting police clearance and a medical and including this with
your original application? If so I thought this was frowned upon as the
process can take some time and your medical may not be valid at the end of
the process? Also when it asks for stat decs does this mean every piece of
paper you send (including back-up for time spent apart) needs to be signed
off by someone? I have a friend who works with me who's a notary public and
whom I could ask however I don't want to ask him to apply his wee stamp to
100 bits of paper! Might be stretching the friendship a little!

Thanks again

G

"bondipom" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > If you are short on time or have a borderline case use an agent. Get
    > booklet 1127 from www.immi.gov.au. Hopefully you will then be
    > enlightened by the process. If you have any further questions come on
    > back and they will soon be answered.
    > I went throught the process 2 years ago and went DIY without any
    > problems. The processing was under the average time posted on the web
    > site. Lots of other people have gone DIY without any probs.
    > When I applied I was in a De Facto relationship which was over 3 years
    > old. I am now married to my partner and enjoying life in Oz.
    > Good luck to you.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

bondipom

Every document used as evidence has to be certified. If a notary public is allowed to certify documents and take stat decs under Scottish law (I presume you are in Scotland) then your friend might be your best bet. Get him some Aussie wine to oil the works. I did not certify the photos I used. I paid a solicitors 60 GBP to do 2 stat decs and certify over 100 pieces of evidence,

Front end loading means enclosing the medical and police checks with the application. It used to be the case that an appointment could be made at the High Commission in London and the application lodged and processed very quickly with an interview.

There are several posts with applicants struggling to find the appointments line and people are asking whether the process still exists.

The advantage of providing police checks and medicals up front is that the processing can happen a quicker.

The disadvantage is that you have to enter Australia to validate your visa within a year of the date of the medical or police checks.

Just a note, some people have had to provide extra evidence where there is no stat dec from the parents of one partner. I have not heard on the forum if they have been successful. Hope all is going OK to all of you out there.

Best of luck.

tennisoz

Graeme

I am new to this as well but you are right about what front end loading means. From what I gather the police and medical things are valid for 12 months from the date of the earliest of the two.

In other words if the earliest one is dated say 1 May 2004 you have to validate your visa within 12 months of this date - by 1 May 2005 in this case. You can validate your visa merely by entering Oz for a trip or of course by moving permanently.

So I guess you don't do the police and medicals too early and after getting them you have to submit your application for the visa and move to Oz all within a 12 month period (or enter on a holiday).

Booklet 1127 on Partner Migration which Bondipom mentioned covers the documentation side of things. Page 24 says under the heading Certified Copies - "Do not supply origianl documents with your application. If we require an original document at any stage, we will ask for it. You should provide 'certified copies' of original documents. 'Certified copies' means copies authorised, or stamped as being true copies of originals, by a person or agency recognised by the law of the person's home country" etc, etc.

Strictly speaking it looks as though your friend will have to 'stamp' every 'certified copy' but someone else may have practical experience of this. If you get a 'job's worth' as your case officer he would need to certify everything. The advice seems to be to go overboard and provide as much evidence as you can to speed up the process. Booklet 1127 gives a checklist of documentation on pages 24 and 25.

Good luck

Tennisoz

Meretta

Goodluck with everything Graeme, we're in the process of applying for Spouse visa, but ours is less simple as don't live in the UK.
Anyway, most spouse visa applicants front load, as the processing time is so fast that there's no point delaying doing the medicals etc, plus the fast that you are pretty much guaranteed the get there (eventually). Where for skilled immigration, people might be refused based on their points not being sufficient, so then it would be a waste of their time and money to get medicals.
Many people have to make appointments well before their medicals and the police checks can take a while to come through, so if you're applying for Spouse visa better to have it all ready and put in one application as otherwise they will be waiting for you to get them later.
Cheers,
Meretta

Newsgroup

Cheers guys, I can tell you lot are going to be an invaluable source of
info. Promise to return the favour anytime I can (and have the knowledge!)
Glad mine is a relatively straightforward process, my heart goes out to all
who have to wait and hope.

Good luck to you all.

G
"Meretta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Goodluck with everything Graeme, we're in the process of applying for
    > Spouse visa, but ours is less simple as don't live in the UK.
    > Anyway, most spouse visa applicants front load, as the processing time
    > is so fast that there's no point delaying doing the medicals etc, plus
    > the fast that you are pretty much guaranteed the get there (eventually).
    > Where for skilled immigration, people might be refused based on their
    > points not being sufficient, so then it would be a waste of their time
    > and money to get medicals.
    > Many people have to make appointments well before their medicals and the
    > police checks can take a while to come through, so if you're applying
    > for Spouse visa better to have it all ready and put in one application
    > as otherwise they will be waiting for you to get them later.
    > Cheers,
    > Meretta
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com