jayde

I am hoping this thread will give others a heads up, if they are facing this one time chance to change the minds of DIAC

When we were told the decision that we hadn't met the requirements and that we could apply for a waiver, we hovered between "OMG, we are cooked", to "lets think what is it they want".

We shared with another couple what our submissions contained and were helped by talking to other couples who had been both approved and in sad cases denied. We wrote and rewrote the submission, we read and reread the email containing the request.

I haunted the boards for other countries reading what waivers were applied for and how they formatted their replies. While stressing out waiting to hear if we had been successful I researched the MRT and read many cases trying to see what defined them as either a positive or negative result and a lot of it appeared to rely on financial reasons but compelling compassionate reasons held weight too.

We came up with:

• Our main argument did not rely on altering any of the medical evidence or questioning their costing, as the CO has to accept the decision of the MOC.
  
• We looked at showing that I, the citizen would be seriously disadvantaged if the visa was denied. Bank/mortgage/investment details showed our finances
  
• We gave evidence of strong commitment to Australia. ie references from employer/organisations, voting enrolment, and wrote to my local Member of Parliament
  
• Declarations from friends and family regarding support in the case of my spouse having medical problems
  
• We researched and documented the cost of health insurance
  
• We gave reasons why living in another country would be disadvantageous
  

I knew that some CO's try not to look at pictures so they dont form an emotional bond, so in my original statement in support of the visa application I had embedded our pictures of the progress of our relationship.

We tried to personalise the waiver application. We went over and over the draft refining a word here and a sentence there, trying to make it readable for someone who didnt know us at the beginning but would end up feeling compassion and want to help us. Following the completion of this statement I called the CO (the one and only time) to ask if there was anything I could write that would make our case more compelling.

I am hoping anyone finding themselves in this situation will be helped by this and other posts added to this thread.

Just remember though ymmv

JAJ

According to your signature you're a spouse visa applicant ... there is a little more flexibility on spouse visas compared to skilled visas, for example.

PMV

Great post, and well done on doing such a great job researching the problem and the best solution.

I know there is another recent thread about spouse visa medical problems, so although as mentioned above the rules applied to spouse visa may be different to those applied to skilled visas, I'm sure your post will be a great help to others who meet similar problems.