Snorwood Eagle

Hey guys,

Just a quick question - can anyone advise of their experiences with the visa 'upgrade/update' from Prospective Marriage to Temporary Spouse Visa?

I am currently living in Perth, having travelled here on a PM visa from London. I'm now married, and the current PM visa expires on April 11. I'm in the process of getting more or less all of the same information together for the Temporary Spouse visa which I will be handing in to Perth DIMA in a week or two.

Just wondered if anyone has any tips really? I've already applied for UK and Australian Police Checks, which will arrive inside the next month but I'm not front-loading a medical this time. I'm going to wait to be requested for one, though I'm pretty sure my previous medical is out of date.

I'm planning on lodging all the forms (together with my updated Marriage Cert) and adding the Police checks and medicals as they arrive/are requested. I'm told I will automatically be given a Bridging Visa once I lodge the new one and this will stay valid until the Temp Spouse is granted.

This sounds like a fairly standard process to me, but should I have any reason to worry? Any help much appreciated.

Thanks,
Craig.

Pollyana

Pretty straightforward; you may be lucky and get away without another medical, depends how out-of-date yours is. Most of the paperwork is stuff already submitted for the PM visa, along with new police check from the UK, Aus police check if necessary, updated Stat Decs - to include the on-going relship and marriage stuff. Evidence of living together - joint bills and stuff, as before.

You get a bridging visa as soon as its lodged, but its all electronic, nothing in your passport. All the conditions on it are the same as your existing visa, but if you need to leave Aus for any reason you MUST contact DIAC first as you need a different bridging visa and have to tell them why you want to travel.

Make sure the Marriage Cert is the official one, not something given to you at the ceremony.

Can't think of anything else at present - good luck, its very straightforward, and the PR one in two years time is even easier

Snorwood Eagle

Thanks Pollyana!

For some reason I'm still fretting at the prospect of putting this one in!

Does anyone know how long the processing time fpr the Temp Spouse visa is in Perth at the moment?

JAJ

Three additional pointers:

1. Do not let existing visa expire before lodging the spouse visa application. Not for any reason.

2. The two year clock starts ticking when you apply for the spouse visa, not when it is granted.

3. You must keep DIAC informed of your address until PR is granted.

Snorwood Eagle

Thanks JAJ, I'm putting the application in tomorrow morning - expiry is only on 11/04, so I've got a couple of weeks to play with, but wanted to be safe.

I'm putting in a 929 with the application as my passport and address have both changed since the last application.

Still haven't got my Police checks back from AFP or The Met, but my previous AFP one was only done in May 2006 so it might be ok - I've put a photocopy of it in as the original got taken with the previous application.

Have no idea about doing a medical over here, so I'm just going to wait untill I get a request for one.

Hopefully its all a formality.

Anyone know how long Perth DIMA take to process this kind of thing?