west49th

We are having problems getting form 888 certified from one of our statement writers - can anyone help with this? Apparently the solicitors are saying they don't witness foreign documents??

The Australian High Commission on the Strand also provides notorial services for a fee and you don't have to make an appointment. http://uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/Consular1.html

My husband is Aussie. He thought I was mad for putting vinegar on chips as did his family & friends! They'd never heard of it! We are talking Tasmania though! Hubbie does now put vinegar on chips here in the UK though! Wonder if he'll revert back to type once we're back in Aus??

How strange! I grew up in Perth and we always had vinegar on our chips, but then maybe that's because we used to have more Pommie immigrants than other parts of the country :wink: There were also big jars of pickled onions on the counter and I'd always nag my Mum and Dad to have one, with only limited success.

Having lived in Britain for 11 years, I still can't get used to cod and haddock though. I'm much more partial to a nice thick slice of deep fried Snapper.

Hi Guys

 

I was wondering if you could help me with a question relating to the statements you have to write about how you met etc.

 

For a bit of background information - I had been living as a permanent resident in Australia since 2009 (originally from UK).

I met my current partner when I was living with my previous boyfriend in Dec 2013. My current partner (also from UK) was in Australia on a 1 year working visa and was in the process of being sponsored by his employer for permanent residency. Our relationship became more serious however his sponsorship fell through and we found out in March 2014 that he had to leave Aus by 1 April. Obviously we were distraught and I moved to back home to England to be with him in May of the same year and we have been in a de facto relationship ever since. As we have now been in a de facto relationship for at least 12 months, we are applying for a partner visa so we can both return to Melbourne and live happily ever after :biglaugh:.

 

My question is, do I mention in my statement that I already had a boyfriend when the relationship with my current partner began? I was still living with him until Feb 2014 (for financial reasons and had to wait until the end of the lease). If I didn't mention it, could they find out and would it be used against us?

 

Thanks

You definitely don't need to mention the ex. Just say you were staying with a friend :-)

My CO is MT....still drumming fingers...

Hi Playghirl, our CO was MT as well. She doesn't usually say anything other than the application is progressing and doesn't normally give any other details.

We applied very early September last year and ours was granted just before Christmas, so it was just under 4 months all up.

Good luck!

Thanks west!! Are you there yet? If not when and where are you going?

Unfortunately not - we've got a house to sell and until that's done we won't be able to book any flights. Fingers crossed it will be off our hands soon so we can finally get going!

Best of luck to everyone still waiting for their visas :smile:

We dropped all our stuff into Australia House in person back in November. We had a case officer approx one week later and an email to say 5-6 month wait, and to send our medicals and police checks. We posted those about a week later. I then left it for about two weeks and emailed them to double check all was received etc. They had received all bits, said health checks were fine, and that they didn't need any further information from us. I received our photos back in the post a couple of days after we dropped them to Australia House (waste of time that was, to have all the pics printed out, stuck in little book with little snippets to say where they were taken and who was in them etc). So now have been waiting nearly four months, hoping secretly to hear something in the near future!!

Hi Laroo, we submitted ours in early September in exactly the same way that you did and it was approved in just under four months, just in time for Christmas :biggrin:. We were also told at the time that it would be a five to six month wait, so fingers crossed you'll get some good news through very soon!

We got MT allocated today. Meds requested and more evidence of our ongoing relationship. Huge amount of stuff.................sigh.

 

nyoelsehad MT?

We had MT and were granted a defacto visa in just under 4 months. We were asked for meds and 1 additional piece of information (very specific to our circumstances, which I won't go into here).

Wellieboots & mtlboi are right, this does sound a bit strange. We submitted our application at Aus House in September and it was approved just before Christmas. I would have thought a 6 month backlog would only affect people who had only just sent their applications in, not those that had already been sitting there for 7 months.

After my post on the forum this afternoon I get home to find out that the visa has been granted today! 3 months & 3 weeks after it was submitted. Our CO was MT. :ssign19:

And mine! Submitted ours on 26th August, no news yet :-(