SpaghettiWinston

I entered Australia on a Prospective Marriage visa in April 2017 and got married the following month. I then applied for a Partner visa. At the time the application was submitted, I attached the same statutory declarations that I used for the Prospective Marriage visa (from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.) They are from April 2016. I have not yet provided any additional statutory declarations. So far, I have received one letter requesting further information (which was supplied) and my husband received another from the Sponsorship Assessment Unit. We supplied the information that they requested. However, on neither occasion did they ask for another statutory declaration. Looking back through the documents I have submitted, I am apprehensive that they may not accept the "old" statutory declarations even though they have not flagged this with us in the two instances they have been in contact. They didn't mention the fact our police checks were more than 12 months old either, but to err on the side of caution I ended up obtaining some new ones in November. Do you think we need to supply more statutory declarations, or should it be fine as is?

That's right, yes - I meant to post this in a PMV thread I had open in another tab. D'oh!

I don't know if this is useful since it's from last year, but my application took 4 months and 28 days. Now I've got the Partner visa to worry about... EDIT: Ugh, I was meant to post this in another thread and don't know how to delete it!

Okay, I've looked at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection website and it would appear the person at the High Commission gave me the wrong advice. As a holder of a subclass 300 visa, I may apply for the subclass 820 / 801 visa (also meaning I don't have to pay the full price of another Partner visa.) So I can apply for this onshore and obtain a bridging visa if necessary.

Yeah, that was my next course of action. I just wanted to see if there was a clear answer, but it doesn't seem like there is

I was under the impression that I could stay lawfully in Australia if I applied for a bridging visa until the Partner visa was approved... now I'm confused again. So I'm going to have to go back to my country? For how long?!

Thanks for your help! I hope that is the case, it would make matters considerably easier. I sent a message to the High Commission in London and got this response: That's what threw me... then again, the person who responded also got my first entry date wrong, so...

My Prospective Marriage visa was approved on 27th September 2016. The terms of the grant stated that I needed to enter Australia by 13th January 2017, so I am currently in Australia visiting my fiancé until Friday (I got here on 10th January.) I am returning in April as our wedding is in May. The grant also dictates that my visa expires on 27th June 2017. It is my understanding that between my wedding date and this date, I must apply for a bridging visa in order to remain lawfully in Australia whilst awaiting a decision on the Partner visa. This gives me a window of about a month and a half in which to obtain a marriage certificate, change my name and reissue all of my identification documents (e.g. passport, driving licence) back in the UK, then apply for both the bridging visa and the second phase of my PMV / Partner visa. My questions are: What bridging visa should I apply for - I am guessing bridging visa A? If I apply before 27th June 2017 for the bridging visa, does my PMV count as a substantive visa? Will I have the right to work in Australia whilst on the bridging visa? How long will it take to receive the temporary Partner visa after submitting the application? Am I to understand the waiting period is not as long as it would be if I had not already been granted a PMV? What would the time frame be for my Partner visa to become permanent? Thank you in advance for your time and help. Sorry if these are stupid questions, this is all so confusing!

Thanks for your advice. I didn't make it very clear in my initial post - although we have lived in Perth, we are still undecided as to where we want to settle down. His family are from Queensland so that's where he's been living for ~2 years. Our wedding is also in Queensland so I will be there for at least a couple of months before we choose where to go.

I have teaching experience (and specifically, language teaching) but it's not something I would enjoy doing as a career. I've also heard teaching is quite bad for people with mental health issues because it can make you feel exhausted, depressed and anxious. Although the situation isn't as bad in Australia, I have it on good authority from friends in the sector that it's headed that way in some respects. If it didn't work out, it would also be tricky to get out of teaching and into another career path. In my current job I encounter teachers trying to escape teaching all the time... The idea of "giving back" is nice, but I wouldn't want to do counselling or social work. Again, I don't think that would be very good for me emotionally. I should point out that one of the reasons I chose my degree subject was the breadth of situations it can be applied to. It's not a vocational degree in that you graduate and get a job in a directly-related field. Some people are surprised to hear that language degrees are in high demand generally, not just for jobs such as interpreting / translation or language teaching I wouldn't want to be using languages as a main component of my role, although they do come in handy from time to time in the job I have right now and I don't mind that.

I learned a bit of Chinese during my gap year. It's not a language I am that interested in learning to working proficiency, though.

That's not a bad idea, I'll look into that Everyone else, thank you for your help so far. It has been immensely useful and I am so grateful!

God, that is such a shame about the pupillage! Things are better now than they used to be in terms of opportunities from regional / working-class candidates, but it's still quite an elitist profession in my view. I went to a top grammar school in the UK and attended a decent university, so things are a bit easier for me but it would still involve a lot of time and money. Plus I'm still not 100% sure it's a good choice for me, I need to keep doing my research. If I went into law, I would try to get some entry-level role at a law firm to tie me over until I start the professional qualification. I'm not sure what the earning potential is while you are still doing the practical training in Australia and I can't really do it unpaid even if by then I was a permanent resident. Ah, I love food trucks! We are having a pizza truck at our wedding in place of the typical catering service :wink:

That's so inspiring to know - I guess it is never too late! I'm not having children so don't need to worry about taking time out of my career either (unless I feel like having a sabbatical.) I like the more consultative, process-driven side of HR rather than the sales-y side because I'm quite a diligent person and don't mind supporting other people in my team. So I've thought about branching out into human resources, management consulting or some similar corporate field. Alternatively, I wouldn't mind going into law. Probably not the high-flying commercial stuff, but helping private clients... but until very recently I'd assumed this was something beyond my reach. And even if that's not the case, I don't want to invest money and time in something then walk away from it straight after because it's "not for me." But at least I know a bit about the everyday aspects of that career from helping candidates at work. Those examples might give you guys an idea of what sort of jobs I could enjoy, but I'm open to hearing any options. There are so many fields out there I know nothing about, and the Australian job market is different from the UK one!

That's very kind of you, Nick I am actually a woman, my partner is male lol. I guess my username is a bit misleading... I did think about starting a business, but it's a big risk particularly as I am a non-permanent resident until the permanent component of the visa is approved. I also have no idea what I would do! In regards to your recruitment suggestion, the idea is to get out of recruitment! I don't mind doing it for a few months until something better comes along, I can find enjoyment in my everyday role but it's not something I want to end up stuck in forever.