Spouse Visa

Hiya,

We've just found this site and been reading lots of stories about homesickness, doubts on where the right place to settle is and form filling dilemnas.

We oldies are doing it the spouse way because Bob can't go down the skills route as he's over fifty but have been advised to wait until we have been married for five years before applying as proving a relationship prior to that is a grey area. So, 2007 it is then!

Our first experience of migration wasn't a good one. We paid a wad of money for help filling in forms and received none so now we are going through a small private firm where the agent lives locally and comes from Melbourne where I'm from.

Is there anyone else out there who has gone through this method who could offer us a little support. We are fairly well set up for our arrival as we already have a house in rural Victoria, halfway to lovely Phillip Island but worry about finding jobs in a smaller market.

Is there anyone else out there in South Gippsland who could give us a bit of advice? I've researched franchises but Bob wasn't too keen on having to pay a weekly fee without any idea of his earning capacity. Businesses are cheap but he doesn't want to be his own boss, been there, done that. Over here he's a heating engineer but would need different qualifications so he's looking for a new challenge. He's very handy and practical so not looking for office work like me.

We are hoping everything will fun smoothly but hey, we are realistic enough to know that it rarely does. Love to hear from other older couples.

Regards,

Marion and Bob

AKA The Oldies

Hi Marion & Bob

Welcome to poms in oz, this is a lovely site, with some really helpful people on it who are really nice and supportive as well.

I noticed that you are applying through the spouse visa route. We have just posted our application off for a spouse visa (although we applied through defacto) and are in the process of Carl having his medicals done. I noticed that you had been advised to wait 5 years from when you were married. I don't think you have to wait that long as the criteria on the application is that you have to prove that you have been together in a relationship for at least 12 months, if you can prove you have been together for at least 5 years then they by-pass the tempory 2 year visa and issue a permenant visa straight away. We have been together for 7 years and lived together for 6, and are getting married this November. We did the application ourselves, as it really isn't that difficult, the form is easy and just general info, it is the collection of information that takes time, and writing statements about the history of your relationship that we found to be time consuming. We read though the help book and we had to apply for as if we were married, just had to tick the defacto boxes, and we found the booklet to be really helpfull. As we were going along, I was worried that we hadn't provided enough, but we just sent anything that proved we had been together. We sent it off a couple of weeks ago and within 2 days they had emailed Carl to say go for your medical and to ring them and they basically said as long as the medical is fine then they will issue him with a visa and it would be a permenant one.

Have you had a look at the spouse visa application form to see whether you think you could do it yourself? (and save a bit of money!!) And the time frame is I believe about 3 months if you don't front load it (we did with the police check, but waited to be told for the meds).

I don't know if this is any help to you or not but just thought I would let you know what we did, and we found this site to be very useful from other peoples experiences.

Good luck with everything and let me know if I can be of any further help

heidi & carl

Hiya Heidi and Carl,

Bob has tried filling out paperwork himself before and totally lost the plot as he thought it too intrusive. My opinion of having an agent organising things is that he'll stay focussed because they'll act as though it's nothing unusual.

We bought a house in a village outside Banbury and are extending and renovating it so we are still a work in progress and won't be ready to put it on the market until next year so waiting until around April to apply for the visa isn't a big deal. My home sickness is though, the thought of facing another bone numbing British winter fills me with dread. No I'm not being a 'Big Aussie Wuss', I've an underactive thyroid which means I feel the cold more than most

I wanted to go to Oz during the summer so he could check out if he'd really be able to cope with the heat but as a heating engineer winter is his best time to earn so he's none too keen. We bought a house in South Gippsland and have it rented out until we arrive but need to explore if it is cost effective to ship household stuff or just start from scratch again. What are you guys planning to do? We also have a cat to send, are you taking any pets? I worry about Whingy Whiskers really, he's a free spirit exploring acres of farmland around us but when he goes to Oz he'll have to be indoors from 10 p.m. and won't have the territory he enjoys now.

Have you decided where you want to live? Isn't it cheap to buy a house in Oz with the strength of the pound. Ours was around $43,000, a three bedroom brick veneer near the swimming pool, medical clinic, schools, shops and on the best side of town too. I would have preferred to buy in the outer east or south of Melbourne where all my mates are but Bob loves the idea of village life and saw rural Victoria as fitting that bill, sigh. He's no idea how far out he ism, how much more expensive fuel is away from the big smoke or how closed shop some rural communities can be. Still, the government wants people in rural locations so I expect it will go in his favour.

This is our only option for a visa for him because he's over fifty and can't get in on a skills visa. He's horrified at what plumbing involves in Oz and doesn't want to retrain at his age so he isn't sure what he wants to do but as we will be mortgage free he thinks he could get by on less. I'm a qualified primary teacher but due to not having all my wits about me anymore prefer to do mindless office work instead. It worries me that the job market is that much smaller in rural areas, our friends who live nearby have had a struggle to find permanant work and have had to get by on part time or temporary contracts. What is the work situation looking like for you? I expect you are a younger couple with more options open to you. The UK is very good about hiring older people so I worry that Oz will still be geared toward the youth market, it certainly was when I left six years ago.

We've so many questions. I'm both excited about going home and afraid of it at the same time. There's so much about Britain that I love, so much I will miss. There's so much about Oz I hold dear that from what people are saying has changed over time that I'm afraid I'll be disappointed. I feel as though I have a foot in both camps but belong in neither. Bob is full of promise, so sure that this move will be the answer to all his problems, what if he drops his bundle when it doesn't happen? There's no two ways about it, life is hard and there will always be problems to deal with. He doesn't realise how much he's going to miss his family either as he dismisses all my emotions as just being female weakness. I know he's going to pine for them and all that he holds familiar. He says when I mention the different tastes to same products that as long as he has his marmite he'll be fine. Ya gotta laugh, don't ya!

Thanks for your comments, we really appreciate your support.

Regards,

Marion and Bob