Baggy

Hi, my situation is fairly simple, I think, and I was just wondering if anyone else with a similar story could allay any fears that my fiancée and I have. I'm 23 years old, my fiancée is 25. I live in the UK, she lives in Australia. We met online about 18 months ago, and have met once irl in that time, when I spent 3 weeks in Oz last month. We want to be together (obviously), and have decided to go for a prospective spouse visa for myself. Having looked at all the forms, and found them pretty straightforward, we have decided not to use a migration agent, but to save some money and do it ourselves.

We believe we have all the necessary "evidence" of our relationship - letters, emails, plane tickets, photos taken together, phone bills, phone bills and more phone bills - as well as proof that we intend to get married - a letter from our celebrant.

I just have a couple of questions that were brought up today when my fiancée met with our celebrant. According to her, the average time for processing this kind of application is 6-8 months. Is this correct? I only ask, because we intend to get married in September, and if I'm not granted a visa until August, well it doesn't give me much time to sort out plane tickets, shipping, etc, not to mention helping out with wedding preparations. I've heard people on here mention their applications only taking a month or two... was there something exceptional about these applications, or is the 6-8 months only a worst-case scenario?

Secondly, although our celebrant seemed optimistic about our chances, she raised questions about the length of time we've spent together in real life. Is this relevant? Since I work full time, and my fiancée is at college, it's difficult for us to either afford a lot of trips to each others' countries, or to be able to get enough time off to make the trip worthwhile. Surely the people processing applications must realise this?

My third (and final, sorry for the lengthy post) question is about a change in the law. Our celebrant mentioned this in regard to the amount of time we've spent together, and said something about there being a change in the law in a couple of months time. Could anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks in advance
Gerry

George Lombard

Hi Gerry,

No relevant changes in the law as far as I know, but I think this highlights
the difficulties of doing it yourself against doing it through an agent.
None of the inputs involve the highest mental capacities, but employing an
agent gives solid reassurance :-)

On processing time for London prospective spouse visa cases, these are
posted in a couple of places on the web, but they are rarely maintained and
up to date and the Department of Immigration itself does not publish them,
although it does distribute them to most migration agents. In our
experience they are pretty misleading because they are invariably skewed by
the difficult cases.

Cheers

George Lombard
--
www.austimmigration.com.au


"Baggy" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi, my situation is fairly simple, I think, and I was just wondering if
    > anyone else with a similar story could allay any fears that my fiancée
    > and I have. I'm 23 years old, my fiancée is 25. I live in the UK, she
    > lives in Australia. We met online about 18 months ago, and have met once
    > irl in that time, when I spent 3 weeks in Oz last month. We want to be
    > together (obviously), and have decided to go for a prospective spouse
    > visa for myself. Having looked at all the forms, and found them pretty
    > straightforward, we have decided not to use a migration agent, but to
    > save some money and do it ourselves.
    > We believe we have all the necessary "evidence" of our relationship -
    > letters, emails, plane tickets, photos taken together, phone bills,
    > phone bills and more phone bills - as well as proof that we intend to
    > get married - a letter from our celebrant.
    > I just have a couple of questions that were brought up today when my
    > fiancée met with our celebrant. According to her, the average time for
    > processing this kind of application is 6-8 months. Is this correct? I
    > only ask, because we intend to get married in September, and if I'm not
    > granted a visa until August, well it doesn't give me much time to sort
    > out plane tickets, shipping, etc, not to mention helping out with
    > wedding preparations. I've heard people on here mention their
    > applications only taking a month or two... was there something
    > exceptional about these applications, or is the 6-8 months only a
    > worst-case scenario?
    > Secondly, although our celebrant seemed optimistic about our chances,
    > she raised questions about the length of time we've spent together in
    > real life. Is this relevant? Since I work full time, and my fiancée is
    > at college, it's difficult for us to either afford a lot of trips to
    > each others' countries, or to be able to get enough time off to make
    > the trip worthwhile. Surely the people processing applications must
    > realise this?
    > My third (and final, sorry for the lengthy post) question is about a
    > change in the law. Our celebrant mentioned this in regard to the amount
    > of time we've spent together, and said something about there being a
    > change in the law in a couple of months time. Could anyone shed any
    > light on this?
    > Thanks in advance
    > Gerry
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Don

Gerry,

I don't want to stand in the path of true love etc and good luck to you and your fiancée, but I reckon you might have to really work at it to prove the genuineness of your relationship. An agent might help.

Look at it this way. Put yourself in the position of a very skeptical Immigration Officer. 'I see, this Gerry has a fiancée he only actually met in Oct 2002 and only spent 3 weeks with, and although I believe they enjoyed a friendly telephone/ email relationship over a much longer period, I wonder how compatible those two really are and how longlasting their relationship will be. Will they really get married and stay together?'

Of course, if you got married first it would take away any doubts.

But I reckon an experienced immigration agent would help you put your case in the best possible light or at least give you a realistic view on whether the application would pass or fail and possibly save you time and money.

Cheers - Don

Cato

G'day Gerry,
It soundsl like you're in a situation I was in...similar....I met my Aussie
husband online via IRC programmes, etc...in October 1997...emailed, called
one another and wrote snail mail for 4 months before we met in real life in
February 1998. He flew over to the States and stayed with me for 3.5 weeks.
During that time, we got to know each others personally and drove down to
Los Angeles to collect paperwork on Prospective Spouse/Fiance Visa at the
Australian Consulate.
I sent the paperwork and all the necessary stuff they requested from us both
during the first week of March, 1998. Did my medicals and xray in
June...was granted the Visa in July. (total of 17 weeks - 4 months)

It also depends on where you're from, etc. If you're in the States, it
should take between 3 to 6 months, but for other countries between 6 to 9
months. Have a look on http://www.immi.gov.au , there should be some
information on the waiting times.

Hope this helped...regards,
Dawn

"Baggy" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi, my situation is fairly simple, I think, and I was just wondering if
    > anyone else with a similar story could allay any fears that my fiancée
    > and I have. I'm 23 years old, my fiancée is 25. I live in the UK, she
    > lives in Australia. We met online about 18 months ago, and have met once
    > irl in that time, when I spent 3 weeks in Oz last month. We want to be
    > together (obviously), and have decided to go for a prospective spouse
    > visa for myself. Having looked at all the forms, and found them pretty
    > straightforward, we have decided not to use a migration agent, but to
    > save some money and do it ourselves.
    > We believe we have all the necessary "evidence" of our relationship -
    > letters, emails, plane tickets, photos taken together, phone bills,
    > phone bills and more phone bills - as well as proof that we intend to
    > get married - a letter from our celebrant.
    > I just have a couple of questions that were brought up today when my
    > fiancée met with our celebrant. According to her, the average time for
    > processing this kind of application is 6-8 months. Is this correct? I
    > only ask, because we intend to get married in September, and if I'm not
    > granted a visa until August, well it doesn't give me much time to sort
    > out plane tickets, shipping, etc, not to mention helping out with
    > wedding preparations. I've heard people on here mention their
    > applications only taking a month or two... was there something
    > exceptional about these applications, or is the 6-8 months only a
    > worst-case scenario?
    > Secondly, although our celebrant seemed optimistic about our chances,
    > she raised questions about the length of time we've spent together in
    > real life. Is this relevant? Since I work full time, and my fiancée is
    > at college, it's difficult for us to either afford a lot of trips to
    > each others' countries, or to be able to get enough time off to make
    > the trip worthwhile. Surely the people processing applications must
    > realise this?
    > My third (and final, sorry for the lengthy post) question is about a
    > change in the law. Our celebrant mentioned this in regard to the amount
    > of time we've spent together, and said something about there being a
    > change in the law in a couple of months time. Could anyone shed any
    > light on this?
    > Thanks in advance
    > Gerry
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com


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wizzywozza

Is there any barrier to coming over here on a tourist visa and marrying, then applying for a spouse visa whilst in Australia?

I would be interested to know as I am in a similar position, although I have personally known my fiance since 1975.

Baggy

Thanks George and Don for your advice on using an agent. It's something we're going to look into. Neither of the two migration agents local to me will charge unless the application is successful, so that looks to be a win-win situation - although we do have a wedding to save for, and we're both pretty confident that we understand the forms well enough to do it ourselves.

As for getting married first, the way I understand it, that's not really an option.

Also, thank you Dawn for the reassurance. It sounds like you and your husband were in a situation very similar to our own. I'm not in the States, but I'm in the UK, which I would guess has similar waiting times.

Regards,
Gerry

Steven O'Neil

Hi Gerry

The test of the relationship for a fiance visa is much less that that of a spouse or defacto relationship. As George said earlier in this thread, I have not seen any potential changes to this visa class in the short future.

You do not have to get married on the date you have nominated after you arrive. You can obtain a new Notice of Intent to Marry and as long as you marry and apply for your further visa within 9 months you are okay.

I have been the agent for 3 cases this year for people who have met over the net initially, later met in person and not had a huge amount of information on their relationship. All three were approved without an interview. Not to say that they all will or that using an agent helped. just pointing out that the level of evidence is less than a spouse and giving you some confidence that you are not alone.

If you have desribed gathered info about the development of the relationship, statements from friends, your thoughts for the future ,a few photos and phone bills, and is a genuine intent to live as husband and wife, then you are doing fine.

As George said it is helping to use a competent agent, question is whether it is helping as much as we charge ! Is an individual thing.

Regards

Steven O'Neil
www.iscah.com

wizzywozza

Steve .....

I wonder if you could answer my question about this?? What is there to stop someone marrying here on a tourist visa and then applying for a spouse visa?? I have heard many tales of this happening and wonder if it is feasible.

Steven O'Neil

You can arrive in Australia on a visitor visa (as long as it does not have a no further stay on it - if you are on an Electronic visa on a UK passport you are fine).

Then get married in Australia and apply for a spouse 820/801 visa. many people do this.

Problem is, and this is very very important, if when you arrive through the airport in Australia, the customs/immigration people think you intend to apply for permanent residence in Australia, you are very likely to be a 'non genuine' visitor. As such you risk having your visa cancelled and being sent back on the next flight to the UK. As such you will have a 3 year exclusion on returning on any temporary visa (ie visitor, student etc).

This will not affect an application for a spouse or fiance visa (even though this also is initially a temporary visa) as it lead to a permanent visa. However it is very expensive and stressful to be turned around at the airport. The chance of it happening is probably less that 10% but the penalty is harsh.

You can take the risk, many people do, but that is the one thing you have to be aware of.

Regards

Steven O'Neil
www.iscah.com

wizzywozza

Thankyou so much for your reply Steve. I really appreciate it. We have much to think about, not least the finances involved in doing things the correct way. Once again, thankyou.

Regards

Sharon