Hi my boyfriend is UK citizen and I am Australian citizen - we're exploring different visa options to get him to Sydney, including the Prospective Marriage visa. I have a few questions regarding showing evidence that we have an ongoing genuine relationship. We never lived together and are doing the long-distance relationship thing at the moment.
1) My legal name in my Australian passport and other official documents is the romanised version of my Chinese name - something something CHAN. But in our correspondences like emails/online chats and so on, my boyfriend addresses me by my English name eg. Mary or Jane etc. - this name is not used in any of my legal documents, only on my business card! Would this cause any problems with the authorities?
2) I understand that phone bills highlighting the calls we made to each other are used as supporting evidence of our relationship. However both my boyfriend and I are very Internet-savvy. We utilise online text chatting and voice over IP ie. Internet phone to talk which means the voice calls are not recorded on a bill because it's made over the Internet broadband connection! We do however archive our online text chat conversation histories. Would the authorities accept printouts of the archived text chat histories as evidence?
3) My boyfriend is originally from the UK but in the last couple of years have been based in Amsterdam, Netherlands for work. For that reason where we do make phone calls to each other over the landline, the calls are to his Netherlands home phone or mobile and would be reflected in my phone bill. Would this be a problem for the authorities because he is supposed to be applying the visa as a UK citizen but he is not physically in England and any calls reflected in our phone bills are between Netherlands and Australia, as opposed to England and Australia. Does he have to show proof that he resided in Netherlands or has a work permit in the Netherlands? Under the Dutch law, being an EU citizen he does not need to register for residence there even though he is working there so he has no residency records in the country.
4) If he lodges the application for prospective marriage visa offshore, can he then visit Australia on tourist ETA while waiting for the prospective visa to be granted?
5) We write emails to each other but sometimes we use different email addresses - office email, yahoo, gmail etc. Would the authorities raise questions when examining printouts of our emails because of different email addresses cited? We have different email accounts which we use interchangeably.
6) In our online chat histories and email exchanges we sometimes "fight" and argue like most couples do! Sometimes we use harsh words or talk about things not working out in the heat of things. Of course after that we always cool down and make up like most couples would anyway! If such emails are shown to the Immigration dept will they question the stability of the relationship and cast doubts? Will these work against us?
7) I understand we have to provide a statement outlining the history and development of our relationship. We met in England - we fell in love and became a couple all within a week! It sounds a bit unbelievable but love at first sight does happen so once again if this is written in our statement will this have enough credibility for the authorities since it's such a short period of time from meeting to becoming boyfriend/girlfriend?
Sorry for the lengthy post but any advice on the above would be most appreciated!
One of the agents who use the site may be able to offer you advice. I'm pretty sure with the visa you're talking about you have to marry within a certain period of time.
I'm only guessing but a stat declaration from someone who also knows you by the name of Jane may be helpful and your partner would need to have a police check for both the UK and the Netherlands.
You don't say how long you've been together as a couple in the UK before you moved back to Aus - you're probably best seeking the advise of an agent.
Ali
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Hi,
Sounds complicated dosent it !!! i have friends here in oz who she is a pernament resdient and he came over last year like me (i came on a spouse visa) he supplied evidence as you have suggested like phone calls along with texts which can be got from your phone supplier or on your bill, emails letters etc the main thing for him to supply was stat decs from their friends and family who stated that they were in a pernamnet relationship and it was a genuine one.
Not sure if the fact that you havent lived together would be an disadvantage as my friend here in oz who applied for his defacto applied after he landed in oz and was then living with his girlfriend (the one with the aussie pernament residency) think you may be best to contat a agent and get sure advice as i have known of some defactos that have been rejected. Also i think that he would need police checks from the uk and netherlands along with the rest of the normal documentation.
good luck with it all
gizmo
__________________ ** Here There,Where Ever Be Happy**
1) My legal name in my Australian passport and other official documents is the romanised version of my Chinese name - something something CHAN. But in our correspondences like emails/online chats and so on, my boyfriend addresses me by my English name eg. Mary or Jane etc. - this name is not used in any of my legal documents, only on my business card! Would this cause any problems with the authorities?
You have what is referred to as a common-law name. A statutory declaration stating the obvious would help in this situation. Of course, other evidence like your business card helps too.
The application form also has a space for you to quote your common-law name. Suggest you read the form thoroughly before applying for the visa.
5) We write emails to each other but sometimes we use different email addresses - office email, yahoo, gmail etc. Would the authorities raise questions when examining printouts of our emails because of different email addresses cited? We have different email accounts which we use interchangeably.
DIAC will question you as much as they will question why you aren't wearing the same dress in every photo you submit.
I would suggest limiting the number of pages of emails you plan to submit to a reasonable amount, though.
3) My boyfriend is originally from the UK but in the last couple of years have been based in Amsterdam, Netherlands for work. For that reason where we do make phone calls to each other over the landline, the calls are to his Netherlands home phone or mobile and would be reflected in my phone bill. Would this be a problem for the authorities because he is supposed to be applying the visa as a UK citizen but he is not physically in England and any calls reflected in our phone bills are between Netherlands and Australia, as opposed to England and Australia. Does he have to show proof that he resided in Netherlands or has a work permit in the Netherlands? Under the Dutch law, being an EU citizen he does not need to register for residence there even though he is working there so he has no residency records in the country.
Obviously your boyfriend will have to declare his current place of residence - have you even looked at the visa application forms yet?! DIAC officers aren't blind to the fact that the Netherlands and the UK are part of the EU, and UK citizens don't need a work permit to work in the Netherlands!
7) I understand we have to provide a statement outlining the history and development of our relationship. We met in England - we fell in love and became a couple all within a week! It sounds a bit unbelievable but love at first sight does happen so once again if this is written in our statement will this have enough credibility for the authorities since it's such a short period of time from meeting to becoming boyfriend/girlfriend?
Ever heard about arranged marriages? No offence to people who've had arranged marriages and I have no professional opinion on such practices, but some people meet for the first time after legally marrying each other. Doesn't make the marriage any less legal or real than any other marriages. Might even last longer than normal marriages!
Do note that the fiance visa has a 9-month rush-to-the-altar-or-lose-your-ticket clause.
Thank you Peter for all your tips and advice - I understand much more now. I did read the application forms but I wasn't sure how the authorities view or "interpret" responses hence my questions.
I have another question:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ptlabs
You have what is referred to as a common-law name. A statutory declaration stating the obvious would help in this situation. Of course, other evidence like your business card helps too.
The application form also has a space for you to quote your common-law name. Suggest you read the form thoroughly before applying for the visa.
You mentioned about a stat dec to declare the obvious. This stat dec is just declaring one thing - my common-law name - and not to declare other stuff right?
