wavydavy

My Fiancée will shortly be applying for her Prospective Marriage Visa in the UK (I'm in Australia). Can she just stick it in the post (or more likely give it to her Migration Agent) and then jump on a plane to visit me in Australia the following day (on a Tourist Visa)? Does the Australian High Commission have to receive it before she can leave the UK?

Or can she drop it in to the AHC and then leave the UK?

Thanks

Pollyana

She must be outside Australia when the application is lodged". Its not lodged until AHC get it, so just consigning it to the mail, or leaving it with an agent probably doesn't really count as AHC haven't got it. If she has an agent, she should check with them to be certain, but I'm 99.9% sure it has to be received by AHC in order to count as "lodged".

wavydavy

Thanks P.

So I'm guessing that if we arrange to drop the application off at Australia House, in person but arranging it with them first, it won't count as "applied outside of Australia" until the case office has acknowledged it to my Fiancée by email.

roaringmouse

Why doesn't she just send the visa application to Australia House a couple of days before getting on a plane? Seems a much easier approach. She may not get an acknowledgment of application, and even if she does it may not happen for a number of weeks - doesn't mean it hasn't been received though.

wavydavy

Thanks RM, you raise some good points.

Time is of the essence here. We have 8 days in which to get a Notice of Intended Marriage from a UK Registrar and for that we both have to meet with her\him and I have to be a resident in the UK for 8 days prior to that meeting. Only after receiving the NOIM can she lodge the application. I can't waste 3 weeks annual leave getting to the UK, waiting to see the registrar and then waiting for the AHC to recognise it as being lodged if we want to come back to Australia together.

AHC have told my beloved that it would be best to post it in. It seems that I will have to come back on my own and she will have to follow me a week later. I await news from her when she wakes later telling me what the AHC advised her to do.

Pollyana

Then get a NOIM from a registrar in Australia. You can do that with only one of you here provided you have a letter from your partner agreeing to you booking everything. Take the NOIM to the UK, file it with the application, fly to Aus together.
You are at liberty to change the date of the marriage, as well as the place, as long as you get married within the 9 months,

wavydavy

Really? I never knew that. I knew we could change the date and place of the wedding after lodging it but not that I could be the only one to sign it. Looking at the Australian NOIM form it says:

If a party to an intended marriage cannot conveniently sign this Notice at the time it is intended to give notice of the intended marriage, the other party may sign the Notice and give it to the proposed authorized celebrant. However, in this case, the party who has not signed the notice must sign it in the presence of that celebrant or another authorized celebrant before the marriage is solemnized.

I'm guessing that this NOIM -form 13, with mine and the registrar's signature on is all AHC require.

EDIT: I've just realised that we need a UK NOIM anyway. We're getting married there next year so I need to do the eight-day-wait. Fiancée can post the completed application in on 31/12 and we can safely leave the UK on 04/01

Pollyana

When you apply for the visa you need to submit a NOIM. The date, place, celebrant etc can all be changed after the visa application is submitted.

You can apply to an Australian Registrar's Office, produce written permission from your fiance for you to BOOK the marriage. Before it can be solemnised she would have to go to the Registrar here with her documents, sign papers etc - but if you are not marrying here that is irrelevant.

If you submit an Aussie NOIM to get the Pros Marriage Visa, you can change your mind, get married in the UK, submit the proof of the UK marriage with the application for the actual Spouse Visa within the 9 months allowed, and that is all perfectly acceptable

To eventually get married in the UK you still need the 8 days residence there etc but you can do that independent of the visa application. So, for example, you could file the Pros Marriage application with an Aussie NOIM, she flies to Aus for a holiday with you, then returns to the UK, you go over at some point, do the 8 days, do the interview, fly back to Aus if you like, then back to the UK again for the actual marriage ceremony. The UK equivalent of a NOIM need never go near DIAC

roaringmouse

Just to add to this approach, the OPs partner would also need to enter Australia after the visa is granted but before the wedding takes place in the UK (i.e. the holiday on an eVisitor/ETA would not count for this visa requirement of a PMV).

wavydavy

Thanks RM. She'll live with me in Aus while a decision is made on her PMV. Once she has been granted the PMV, we will leave Aus and then come back on her new PMV. We then carry on living in Aus for a couple more months before going back to the UK to get married.

Pollyana

Yep, you're right of course. I didn't mention it cos I knew the OP's fiance was planning to go offshore then re-enter on the PMV before getting married
Only thing for them to remember is that if the tourist visa/evisitor is aboutn to expire before the grant of the PMV she will need to leave. Don't be here illegally, whatever happens!

wavydavy

Yes... everything will be by the book. We don't want any of this application coming back to bite us.

She'll be applying for a Tourist Visa (Subclass 676) before the PMV.

Pollyana

ahhh, excellent, should have long enough on that to avoid having to leave too early then ;thumbup:

JAJ

Is she not eligible to use an ETA/evisitor electronic visa?
And isn't all this something that her migration agent can advise on (ref. post #1)?

Pollyana

I think the idea is that if she is on a 676 she will be able to stay until they are ready to grant the Pros Marriage Visa (currently 5-6 months) - rather than using an e-visitor and having to leave then re-enter and risk refusal.