biggers

Hello there,

I am a british 26 year old female, and my partner of 2 years (lived together for 18 months) is a 24 year old male from Australia. We live din auz for around a year, i was on a working/holiday visa back then..i also had been granted a bridging visa whilst my 2nd year one was processing.

Anyway,we are both wanting to emmigrate back to auz in sept 2011 (if the visa processes in time) and we were wondering if anyone can help us with a few things.

Firstly, is it worth paying for a agent? We're not the most organised of people, basically we both work 6/7 days and long hours, it seems a real effort when you get in from work, having to delve into this huge file of words!! I can't seem to find info on how much it is likely to cost if we did hire somebody to do it. Also, would i be correct in thinking the de-facto visa is round the $2,500 mark?

Next, i have read that you need a s much proof of your relationship as poss. When we were living together (for the last 6 months) we were in a house that in effect he ownes, the house belonged to his grandparents so we didn't need to pay rent!
For the first 6 months we lived in Sydney, we were house sitting for a lady who travelled around europe, so its no hassale to get a stat dec from her.

Any handy tips would be gratley appreciated!!!

Thankyou in advance,

Ps- Congrats to all those who have had thier visa's granted!!! :0)

Bermudashorts

Hi and welcome

Firstly note that the visa you will be applying for is called the partner visa not the defacto visa (not being pedantic, just so you can locate the correct one).

I believe it does cost about $2,500 yes. You should focus on getting proof of address to evidence living together. A statement from somebody you house sat for is not brilliant evidence without some proof of address.

scotsista

Hi there

In my personal experience, I would recommend employing an agent - especially if you don't have much time to do alot of paperwork yourselves.

We were unsure about going through an agent ourselves but opted to in the end. Saying that, there was still a fair bit of paperwork to be completed our end. We were soooo glad we did go with an agent as they were much more aware of all the recent changes in migration - they were able to get our application in just before a deadline which we weren't aware of - The DIAC had put a hold on processing our type of visa for a couple of months. My husband turned 45 within this timescale and thankfully our agent was able to push our application through in time. Don't think we would've got it without them to be honest.

I think we paid around £3,500 in total. We both felt we still had alot of work to do ourselves though filling in forms, evidencing info etc and were a bit overwhelmed by this but all in all, still glad we employed the agent!

Mazza12

Hi
I applied for a de facto visa in September without the use of an agent. It cost £1100. I didn't find the process particularly difficult but very time consuming. I had been collecting evidence of proof of relationship for 4 years which helped. Regardless of whether you employ an agent or not you will still need to provide all the information and evidence which is a lot of work in itself. Personally I wanted to keep the cost down so opted to do it independently. My Case Officer informed me, in September, that current processing times for de facto visas are 5 to 6 months. If you read the Spouse visa threas you will get lots of ideas for the types of evidence that you could use to prove your relationship is genuine. Hope this info helps.

pumpkin blossom

Not an agent answer, but just suggestions on ways you could show living at the same address.

Presumably you both had the address regisered with a bank while you were there, and employers. Possibly insurance, medicare letters, tax letters?

moneypenny20

Using an agent will not cut down on the form filling, information finding, certifying etc etc etc. The Spouse Visa is without doubt the easiest visa to go for - in my opinion anyway. Download Booklet 1, read, read and read again and start gathering proof. Don't fill in the application form until the last minute. The only time I got stressy was when I was about to send everything off and found out the application form had changed three days earlier. I think one word had changed but I still had to download the new one and fill it all out again

If you want to pay someone about 2,500 pounds for telling you what the booklet says then fine, otherwise if you're really keen to get back here do it yourself, dribs and drabs and it won't take long even if you're working long hours.

Good luck and don't forget all the masses of info on here. The Spouse Visa doesn't change drastically like the skilled visas so even old info will be useful.

biggers

Hi Guys,

Thankyou all so much for hasty replies and good advise.

I think the first thing i will do is to contact as many people in oz as poss who can help me, eg- the lady who we house sat for, (who isn't an aussie citizen btw, she's from sweeden but has been in oz for around 25 years...does this make a differnce if she does a stat dec? I seem to rememeber seeing something to do with this)
Next i will gather as much info from the banks and try and get my hands on as much proof of us living togther as poss, it seems this is one the most importnat things to do?! Does anyone know the lengh of time (on average) a partner visa tends to take?)

Thanks again! This forum is ace!! :0) x

Biggers

Jamie Smith

Assuming of course that you are absolutely certain and 100% correct in thinking you have no "issues" that might affect you - health, police reports, previous partners, kids, earlier failed applications or wrong info given etc - then of course DIY.

zultan

Applications through Australia House in London are currently taking around 5-6 months to process.

Just to add to the discussion, personally I used an agent for my defacto visa and I was happy to have peace of mind of someone filling out the forms, guiding and nagging me. The agents fee was around £800 and felt like money well spent.

biggers

I suppose i just feel a little bit over-whelmed by it all the min!

Adam and i did open a joint acc whilst we were there, but we never paid any bills together as his grandad was in charge of all the paperwork (rent bills, council tax etc in the house which we lived in located in Canberra) so we actually don't have any proof of us living together in auz, apart from when we lived in Sydney and that was the house sitting!
I guess what i'm trying to say is i'm worried that we don't have enough evidence to back us up in Oz.

We have lived, and been paying bills/rent together in the UK since June..we obviously are able to back this up! We also bought a timeshare(in both of our names) in bali in March. Will this help?
I really feel like a lost little sheep, and don't know where to start...its starting to stress me out!! :0(

Pollyana

Would his grandad be able to write a Stat dec to say that you were living in the house together as if you were a married couple, but he paid all the bills? Thats quite acceptable proof of living together, just like having a letter from a landlord. Also Stat decs from any friends over here who knew you were living together Unofficial proof often helps as much as official documents

biggers

Yes his grandad would do this, i'm sure of it! Thankyou for your msg, i was under the impression that they would only take formal stac decs etc!!

Pollyana

If you have official documents as well thats good, but statements from family and friends are good for proving a rel'ship. He can say you shared the house, and shared any expenses etc. If you have any bank statements showing where either or both of you paid towards any bills - even if the money went to Grandad not direct to a company - you can use that kind of thing too. Anything that help to show you both lived there together as a couple

pumpkin blossom

If you had a joint bank account I am sure the fact that you did not pay bills wouldn't matter too much. After all, how many people have joint bank accounts with people they are not living with? It can't be very common.

biggers

Yeah true...and i looked on his netbank yesterday..and theres money which i have transferred. Like $500 for 'savings' and $500 for 'Our Trip'. All of this i'm sure is good!!
I'm halfway through 'Booklet 1' and i already feel better! The hard stuff is going to be contacting everyone in Oz. His grandfather isn't very technichal and the family all live quite spread out!
Does anyone have any advise on Stac Dec's? What they should include etc? Obviously i know they need to have all the points like us being cosha and living together etc..But is there any little tops i should know? Do they have to get them signed in Oz? I think i will get to all this in the booklet but any extra would be nice!!

Thanks again everyone|!

amy