wellieboots

The posters above are suggesting that you attend the medical with a report from your doctor detailing what your current prescription is, what your condition is, what the prognosis is. If the panel doctor wants further reports these will probably need to come from a private doctor chosen by them. I think people have been pretty clear as to what the report needs to contain so I won't repeat it here. Good luck!

Hi, you're a citizen, no worries then. The sentence you've quoted refers to PR or New Zealand citizens. We've been out here for 2.5 years now but my DH was living in the UK with me when we applied, had been for almost 2 years. It's a very normal situation - if you think about it, if you're lodging an offshore application for a partner visa, it is more likely that the Aussie will also be offshore as they are in the relationship with the applicant. Good luck with everything

I have heard of people doing this before but obviously there is always the risk that you will get stopped at the border and they have to tell you that. If your visa has just been granted, why didn't you add your little boy to your application while it was still being processed? Or has he only just been born? Either way, congratulations :biggrin:

All you are required to do within the first 2 years (well, actually before the enter by date) is enter Australia and validate the visa. You don't need to live there. The 2 year probationary period is just to make sure you remain in the relationship with your partner, somewhere in the world!

You send it to your local DIAC office. You don't say where you are, but for example if you are still in the UK you would send it to Australia House in London.

airlines forbid staff to interact with infants for OH&S reasons?! I've heard it all now! What kind of world are we living in? We've now booked with Virgin Australia and discovered there are no bassinets available anyway as they've all been reserved...back to the drawing board for me.

Thanks snifter that's really good to know. I guess I could call Etihad and ask them whether they're strict about the 10 months thing - they are one of the cheapest and were ok when we flew last year, and Virgin Australia who partner with them on the Abu Dhabi route have some of the longest bassinets and the highest weight limit for them, so it's a bit rubbish that you could buy one ticket and then depending which days you fly, you get either the best option or you're not allowed to use a bassinet at all as your baby is deemed too old. Very weird...

Hi and thanks for any input! We have previously flown with BA (hated it, not good at long haul), Emirates (were handy for us as we were based in Scotland before we migrated and could get straight from Glasgow to Dubai so avoiding LHR) and Virgin Australia/Etihad (ok). But we now have a little person to think about - we did a short flight to NZ with DD in June (on Emirates points). The flight out was good, coming home not so good, flight much busier and the crew even forgot to bring us a lap belt for the baby, never mind making a fuss of her! One thing we were very conscious of was that, while she fitted nicely in the Emirates bassinet in June, it was a bit snug and I don't think there's any way she would fit in it in September/October. We can't afford to get a seat for her, and I don't like the thought of having a baby sleeping on me or lying on me or playing on me non stop for 24 hours! The reasonably priced options seems to be BA, Emirates, Cathay, Etihad and Singapore. I read something on Ethihad saying they only offer bassinets for under 10 months. This is a bit of a nightmare as DD will be 10 and a half months when we go. If they are strict about it, even though she is petite we might be stuck! Anybody have any other pointers or things to think about? In terms of timing, I've heard that night flights is the way to go - any thoughts on that too?

Put them on your wife's visa, absolutely. There is no need to pay for 3 visas! I think they can only get citizenship after they have been resident for 4 years, though?

No, they don't want you to do that. You have to show that you can support them, yes, but you do that by evidencing your current earnings, and by explaining in your personal statement what your plans are to get work, accommodation etc once you get there. Like I said before, people who apply to sponsor their partners for offshore visas are generally not living in Aus, because if their families are offshore, so are they. Otherwise immigration might wonder if the relationship is genuine. Good luck!

I remember the form asking about the house, we answered based on the house we were living in at that time in the UK. Are you referring to the question which asks about your citizenship? If you have never been to Aus, then I would suggest that you leave the box blank (it isn't asking when you plan to come, it is asking when you started living here). That does not apply to you so surely you just leave it.

No you don't need to already have a job and a house in Aus in order to sponsor, who told you that? If anything, it gives more proof that your relationship is genuine that you are living offshore with your family. Plenty of people in your circumstances are granted visas all the time. You need to provide employment evidence, but that doesn't have to be from Australia. I don't recall being asked when we planned to move, but the form may have changed. Just put an approximate date or write unknown. Good luck!

Yes you could apply for a visa from different countries but you don't seem to qualify for a partner visa on your current circumstances so for that reason I would not apply until you qualify

It is some time since I completed the visa application but why would he need his fathers birth certificate and passport details? Do DIAC now ask for that info? I can't see why they would. No, as I said before, we only sent photocopies of any documents apart from the ones you listed which we got certified, and the police check which has to be original

I would recommend waiting until your meds and police check are requested. They are only valid for a year and it can take longer than that for 820 to be granted

Sorry not sure what you mean about not being able to supply your sponsors passport and bith certificate? You've already said above that you have certified copies of them. We only provided certified copies of the things you listed, everything else was photocopy, other than police check which must be original.

Our stat dec people just got the same people who witnessed them to certify the passport. If they need more info they will ask

Sorry for piecemeal response, currently feeding a baby! Your husband will not get a partner visa on the spot, no, they take something in the region of 12 months. Provided the application is lodged before his WHV expires, he will go on to a bridging visa while he waits. This will have the same conditions as the WHV.

You need certified copies of certain docs eg passports birth certs, just get these certified by a professional person

Your son is not migrating, he is Australian. So he should be listed in the application but only as a non migrating dependent. He is not actually applying for migration

When you talk about his passport and their passports, who are tthey'd?

Send the application to Aus House in the mail, I would use special delivery. We sent our personal statements, 5 form 888 stat decs from friends and family, photos of holidays, how we met, family gatherings etc, joint mail, bank statements, joint invitations, etc

Your police check is the thing that occurs to me, that will need to be done again closer to the time, as they are only valid for a year, so be aware that you won't be able to send the one you have now. Otherwise all good as far as I can see, if you're not planning to apply for another 10 months or so you have plenty of time to collate evidence. In terms of working, studying etc I would just make sure you address your financial circumstances in your statements and what your plans are in terms of supporting yourselves.

Hi snifter, I think I sent passport only, but I'm not 100%. Maybe You could send the bc that you have just in case, if it has parents names it is probably fine. yes I would think straight to PR, the usual requirement is 2 years together if you have a child. You can ask your CO this once they confirm that they have all info required. If you apply offshore which is what it sounds like you're doing, you will need to let your CO know if you plan to come in on a tourist visa before grant. This is because an offshore visa can only be granted while you are offshore. So your CO needs to know you are in the country so that he doesn't grant your visa. If you are in Oz when ready to grant, your CO will let you know your visa is ready and you will need to arrange an overseas trip to allow your visa to be granted, and then return to activate it. All your evidence sounds good. Any reason you're holding off to the new year to apply? On passports, I rang Australia House and asked about this as I was in the same situation. They said that they had never heard that the booklet says that, and just to send my current passport. So that's what I did and I never heard any more about it.

Second stage just involves each of you making a stat dec about your relationship, providing docs to evidence any changes of circumstances, (marriage certs, birth certs), giving the names of two Aussies who can vouch for you if needed (ours didn't get contacted) and providing an updated police check. It's very simple.