phontan

I am going to apply for Australia Prospective Marriage Visa in Feburary 2005. I have a few questions to asks. I met my fiance on an internet chatroom on summer of 2002. At that time we were just friend because it was just online thing obviously. It wasn't until march of 2003 we started to have a real interest in each other (wanting to get to know each other more). From then we moved from chatting online to talking more often on the phone. Finally, after one and half years of phone corresponding, I went to visit her on 9-16-2004 in Brisbane, Australia and stayed there for three weeks. Anyways here are my queastions.

1. For evidences that we maintain contact, should I send all my phone bills prior to 9-16-2004? Well, I don't have them because prior to 9-16-2004, all my calls were made from phone cards. However, i do have my credit card statements listing the purchases of phone cards from March 2003 up until present. I do have call history with the current phone card since Oct 30, 2004 up until now. My fiance has all her phone bills since march 2003. Should I send my credit card statements along with my current phone call history.

2. For the letter that we have to write detailing our relationship history, should I state that we met online? We just chatted online for a brief period because it just was pen pal thing. From march 2003 on, our conversation was entirely on the phone. Would DIMIA put some weight on the genuine of our relationship because we met online. It just a brief period. These days it's very common for people to meet online and become friend.

aussiegal

Wow..that's a difficult one. Maybe you can contact an agent and see what he says. Don''t think I can help you with this.

Meryl

My advice is to tell the truth as written here.
I met my fiance via the Internet. We mentioned it in our statements re
the history of our relationship.
We also included evidence of visits to each other and phone
conversations. Collect as much evidence as possible. Statements from
others verifying the genuineness of your relationship are vital.
It is not unusual for people to meet online these days.
Good luck.
Meryl


On Mon, 06 Dec 2004 03:59:09 +0000, phontan
<member32999@british_expats.com> wrote:

    >I am going to apply for Australia Prospective Marriage Visa in Feburary
    >2005. I have a few questions to asks. I met my fiance on an internet
    >chatroom on summer of 2002. At that time we were just friend because it
    >was just online thing obviously. It wasn't until march of 2003 we
    >started to have a real interest in each other (wanting to get to know
    >each other more). From then we moved from chatting online to talking
    >more often on the phone. Finally, after one and half years of phone
    >corresponding, I went to visit her on 9-16-2004 in Brisbane, Australia
    >and stayed there for three weeks. Anyways here are my queastions.
    >1. For evidences that we maintain contact, should I send all my phone
    > bills prior to 9-16-2004? Well, I don't have them because prior to
    > 9-16-2004, all my calls were made from phone cards. However, i do
    > have my credit card statements listing the purchases of phone cards
    > from March 2003 up until present. I do have call history with the
    > current phone card since Oct 30, 2004 up until now. My fiance has
    > all her phone bills since march 2003. Should I send my credit card
    > statements along with my current phone call history.
    >2. For the letter that we have to write detailing our relationship
    > history, should I state that we met online? We just chatted online
    > for a brief period because it just was pen pal thing. From march 2003
    > on, our conversation was entirely on the phone. Would DIMIA put some
    > weight on the genuine of our relationship because we met online. It
    > just a brief period. These days it's very common for people to meet
    > online and become friend.

mlbonner

There are several people on here who met their partner online and that is perfectly acceptable by DIMIA. In your case you're not trying to prove your on-going r'ship as such, more your intent to come to Australia, get married and have a married r'ship. The spouse visa that you'll have to apply for once you're married (and within 9 months of visa grant) is when you need to prove your defacto r'ship.
As Meryl says, the important thing is to be honest, if you're not you risk having your visa revoked.

phontan

On the letter, which i m still writing at this point, i state that we met in person in Brisbane on the the 18th of September 2005 and later i state that our friendship began in August, 2002 when we became acquaintance the internet. To summarize everything up, i just talk about important events that have happened since our friendship became serious in February 2003 such as the following:

How it got started
How our relationship developed
Reason why we decided to get married after we physically met


Our relationship is genuine. Everything that we mention on the letter are honest statement.

Evidences that i have available:

Phone/Email
Photo of us together, plus photo taken with her family
Our genuine intention to get married
Letter from marriage celebrant

Our whole intention is to be together, get married and spend our lives together.

Pollyana

Sounds good so far - do you have any statements to support the application - from family and friends for example?

phontan

Her Aunt (whom she lives with at the time), her other family members, and my family acknowledge our relationship and of our intention to get married. So I should get them to write a statement saying that they have acknowledged our relationship?

Meryl

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:59:00 +0000, phontan
<member32999@british_expats.com> wrote:

    >> Sounds good so far - do you have any statements to support the
    >> application - from family and friends for example?
    >Her Aunt (whom she lives with at the time), her other family members,
    >and my family acknowledge our relationship and of our intention to get
    >married.


* So I should get them to write a statement saying that they have
    >acknowledged our relationship?*

Yes, in the form of statutory declarations. If they can include dates
or times that they met you or became aware of your relationship it
strengthens your evidence.
Do you have photos?
Meryl

phontan

I have so many pictures taken with her and her family in Brisbane plus 5 tapes of family video. Her family and my family both became aware of our relationship when it started out as friendship back in Feb. 2003. Is statutory declarations in the form of formal letter with signature? Accordding the immigration booklet, i though statutory declarations only apply to those who are in defacto relationship. I can do one for prospective marriage visa also?

bondipom

Does not look compulsory for Prospective Marriage Applications however Stat Decs help with the evidence.

Pollyana

Comes under the heading of Evidence of Rel'ship I think. I certainly enclosed some with mine, and I think everyone else I know has too.

bondipom

I just had a look. Indeed I would not put in an application without stat decs however it seems like a lack of stat decs on its own would not kill an application. A lack of stat decs would probably cause one of those "requests for more information".

Pollyana

Thats my way of thinking - I guess it depends how much other info you have to prove the rel'ship. For us they were invaluable - not having been able to spend much time together we needed the views and support of family and friends to help show the rel'ship wa solid. If you can show that you have been open with your friends and family about your rel'ship, and even better that they themselves have been in touch with your new partner, it all adds weight.

phontan

Evidences that i have available pretty much cover the eligibility requirements.
My whole genuine intention is to be together and get married. I m just scared that they will use the fact that we have not spent time together for a long period of time to make their decision. It's hard to spend time together like other real couples when you are a world apart. We spent time together for 3 weeks physically. Phone is the only logical choice, at this point, to maintain our genuine relationship. Both of our family is aware of our intention and on going contact. I make regular contact with her family and she also make regular contact with my family. Isn't the idea of prospective marriage to give couples a chance to be together and get married.

Pollyana

We only spent a few weeks together before we applied for my visa, hpwever, having statements from friends etc helped to show that although we had not spent much time together physically, it is a real rel'ship