Peanuts

Have no idea where to start - my Australian boyfriend has returned to Oz and we're thinking of getting married (yikes!).. Anyway, I'm a British citizen, no skills to speak of, and would like to know what the run down would be if we did tie the knot..
1. Would it be practical to marry in the UK and then apply for some kind of visa as a spouse?
2. How would one proceed? How long would that take?
3. I've heard of couples being refused re-entry into Australia, what are the requirements?

Can someone direct me to an appropriate website for these kinds of questions.

mashiraz

Have you tried the immigration websites

www.immi.gov.au
www.australia.org.uk

Look for partner and spouse, there are others here who are going through this aswell who can be more precise.

Good Luck.
Mash...

PS You should also send the post to usenet otherwise you limit your replies and there are lots of helpful folk out there.

Peanuts

Thanks so much - yes, I checked out the booklets and it's all in there - still might re-post as you said as I'd like to speak to any that have gone through the process.

Thanks again

P.

Mumto4

Hi there,

I went through this process nearly 7 years ago. Can't remember all the forms but I went through on the prospective spouse visa. Future husband was in Oz at the time and I applied from the UK. I sent the first forms off at the beginning of February and I had my visa by the beginning of June I think it was. I think I had about 3 months to get over to Oz and a total of 6 months on the visa before you have to get married. I know that mine ran out in the January and we had arranged the Wedding for February. They would not extend it and as we had family coming over from the UK, we had to get married with 2 witnesses in December and then have the major event in the February.

Sorry but it was a long time ago and have forgotten most of it. I know that you become a permanent resident but that only lasts for so many years and then you have to apply again. Instead of that, after two years I took out Australian residency.

Hope this helps a little.

sarah99mike

Hi

I was in a similar situation to you, I am an English Citizen and I am marrying an Australian. We plan to live in Aus.

We phoned an immigration guy and he said basically that the quickest and easiest way to get a spouse visa is to get the prospective spouse visa and go over to Aus, and like the last person said it allows you six months in which to get married, but this must be in Australia.

In our case we had already booked a wedding over here so now have to sit it out here and hope we can get a spouse visa in Sept/Oct.

Sarah

BookBear

The way I see it your options are:

1) Get married in UK then apply in UK for spouse visa
2) Apply in UK for prospective spouse visa then get married in Australia (within time period restriction)
3) Apply for de facto spouse visa then get married whenever and wherever you fancy

I went for option 3 whilst in Australia on a working holiday visa. We thought we might have to have a rushed wedding for me to stay, but now we can take things slower and are hoping to get married in about 3 years time (we were only just 23 when I applied for my visa). One thing to bear in mind for this option though, is that you need to prove that you've been living together as if married for at least 12 months. Keep all phone records and emails between you and your boyf while he's in Australia, they ask for this sort of thing if there's been a period of separation.

I reckon if you're thinking of getting married soon then to go for option 2. I think you need to book the church before you apply for your visa, so you might like to get your boyfriend to look into that soon.

The sites Mash told you about should help, also do a search on the forums for old posts about this, you should find some useful info.

Feel free to send me a PM if you want more advise.

Nara

sarah99mike

Hi

You said you got a de-facto spouse visa, how long did this take to come through as we would like to make an extended trip before we get married and this visa would help us out a lot.

Also once we have a defacto-spouse visa, once we marry do we have to change it? Or do we just tell them we got married?

What type of evidence did you give for this visa? We have never lived in our own place only with parents and we have never bought anything which required joint signatures, so what could we use?

Thanx Sarah

darkstone1975

okay had a look at theAustalian high commission site becuase I'm looking in to this as well..
I can see three types of visa available
one is called spouse, one prospective but defacto spouse I can't seem to find.
am I assuming its the one they mention as Interdependent Partner.. or is there in fact one called defacto spouse visa.. and if so can someone point me in the right direction cheers..

other wise the route I am taking will be spouse visa after sometime on a WHV yes I know there could be complications to it but as far as I can see thats the easiest option to us.. after 18 months of trying to get somewhere I can't find an easier way..

BookBear

Try this http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/f_partner.htm
There is info on the de facto spouse visa there.

Nara

darkstone1975

cheers for that okay now I follow, its the london site has it not sell worded as the link you sent me..

been reading into it a bit more , looks like a good possibilty for my situtaion.. cheers for the link...

BookBear

I applied for my visa in Australia in October '01. I received the acceptance letter 21 days after the interview/application. We were told it would be 4-6 months.

When you get married you just need to inform immigration, same if you have children or split up.

At the time of our application my boyfriend and I were living together and had both names on lease and bills and joint bank account etc, but for 5 months during the 1 year period they were looking at we were living with bf's parents. We got my bf's parents to complete form 888s saying that we were living with them as if we were married.

Include anything that shows that you have been together for the required amount of time, and anything that shows you have a 'genuine and continuing relationship'. We even included our gym membership application forms, heaps of emails sent between ourselves and to and from friends and family (highlighting mentions of things we'd done etc), mobile phone bills with each other's number highlighted, photos, cards.

I recommend getting both your names on whatever you can as soon as possible.

Good luck with it.

Nara

BookBear

You're welcome. I Hope it works out for you. Feel free to get in touch with any questions you have. Same to you sarah99mike.

Nara