Firstly, I have been on a WHV for the past year. I am now on a Tourist Visa for 12 months (having to leave the country every 3 months whilst I try to sort out my next visa). However, the downside is that I cannot work, therefore trying to sort this out asap!!

Few Facts

• 19 years old.
• My mum and step-dad are permanent residents. However, they are not my last remaining relatives (note: i do not talk or have contact with any other family members back in the UK).
• I have been in a relationship for 11 months with an Australian citizen.
• I have completed Year 13 back in the UK over a year ago.

I have come up with a few possibilities of visas but was not sure which one to go for. They are the Child Visa (onshore) 802, De-facto Visa or Student Visa.

With the Child Visa you have to be in full-time education. I have no problems with going back to study. But I am confused to whether or no I would have to pay international fees, or if this visa is even applicable?!

With the Student Visa, my only problem is the fees. My boyfriend is willing to pay the fees, but it will be a struggle.

With the Defacto Visa, I've heard it is a lot of hard work! I know that we would have to wait another 3 months until we have been living together for the full year.

I went to immigration up in Perth and they told me to leave the country and come back on a tourist visa (which i have done). Apply for a student visa, and until my boyfriend and I have done the 'time' then apply for defacto.

I'm confused on what to do!!

Thanks!

You need to get some good professional advice to sort out your situation. You've already made some mistakes, including getting advice from DIAC.

In Perth, you could try Steven O'Neil, http://www.iscah.com
Or work with George Lombard in Sydney, 02 97990085.

Immigration do not like people trying to live in Australia as a tourist and you risk being refused entry.

You'll also need to explain how you were not included on your mother's application for immigration, especially if you were under 18 at the time.

You are not going to get a child visa after a year on a WHV, why didn't you go on your parents visa in the first place? Last remaining relative is not an option either, the quality of your relationship with other family members is not relevant, they exist so you don't qualify.

If you have the 12 months of living together a de facto visa is not really hard work - compared to skills visas its a lot less work as you don't need to get skills assessed etc. If you are considering the de facto route then start getting together evidence of your relationship

Are agents like this mentioned for the sake of mentioning agents, or are they genuine recommendations from people who have worked with them? I cannot state how deeply disappointed I was when I called up an agent that was strongly suggested on the British Expat forum only to receive service that was nothing short of pathetic. I have given them the benefit of the doubt that I was a one off case, because if they treated everyone like they treated me they would certainly be out of business.

This is a brilliant website for information, but please do your research first, else you’ll be left with no answers and quite a few dollars short.

I wish you the best of luck in trying to sort out your situation, and hope that you get some professional and helpful advice.

When agents are recommended on here, I suggest that you do a search of the forum and see how many other mentions they get, and what people think of their services. JAJ has a very long history of posting on here and recommends agents he knows to be good in a particular field. Others of us that have been here a while have either dealt with agents ourselves or have communicated with posters who have. For example, I have dealt personally with George Lombard on many occasions and would always recommend his services. I have also had dealings with Alan Collet. None of us have anything to gain by mentioning a particular agent.
Without knowing what went wrong in your case I can't offer an opinion, but please rest assured that we don't want people to recommend agents just for the sake of it. Those who get named as reputable are named as such for good reasons.
Finally, we always advise people to deal with MARA registered agents. If the servcie you received was substandard, and your agent is MARA registered then I hope you took the case to them for investigation?

That is why I was so upset, this particular agent has been mentioned many times, even by JAJ himself, and is MARA registered. As I had worked with agents before, this came as quite a shock. I was hoping that they were listed because of their expertise and not just as a copy-paste anytime someone mentions a complicated visa situation.

Anyway, I will leave it at that. I trust that my case was a one off, and I hope that many others have received better service and assistance that I did.

If they gave you wrong advice then please consider talking to MARA, after all that's what they are there for.
I think you will find that certainly the majority of people on here recommend agents because they have used them personally or may well have worked with them - hence the reason sometimes you'll see one agent recommending another for specific cases.