CharleyOz

Just got my notification email! Application went in on 22nd May, I'm UK citizen but resident in Singapore. I did my medical early June, UK police clearance in July and Singapore clearance last Wednesday (it's a long process here). No interview, no further clarification requested. My CO did ask for certified copies of some documents but that was all. And I got my approval an hour ago. We're moving to Australia! Good luck to everyone still waiting. And thanks to everyone who helped with my dumb questions.

I've applied online recently, so here are answers from my experience. If I scan and send all of my evidence in color copy, does any of it still need to be certified? Everything online says that it does not have to be certified if you submit colour scans. A word of warning, though - my application was submitted via Singapore and the dept there insisted that my 'official' documents (passports, birth certificates etc) were all certified. I think it was their mis-interpretation of the rules, but hey - like I was going to argue?! You should be fine with colour scans, I've not seen anyone else have the issue I did. Can I scan the actual passport/birth certificate itself, or do I need to photocopy then scan? Can't see what difference it would make. Scan the document direct into a PC. Do I send all the scans to an email address/ how is it sent to them? Log into your immi account and go to the details of your application. You will see a menu option on the left hand side saying Attach documents. Choose that and you will see a whole list of evidence categories and you need to upload documents against whichever evidence categories apply to you. Be aware - I don't think it's hard, but it's very fiddly and very time consuming. I ended up with a separate checklist on my PC which lists all the evidence types, the title of the document I had for each and the upload status. It took me another 3 weeks of work (working an hour or so a night) after lodging before I really got everything uploaded. Treat it like the most important job interview of your life and be as organised as you can . And can I upload the photos I have from my phone, or do I need to print them out? I would upload them to a PC and store/organise them first, to be honest. I also don't know what access to your immi account is like from a phone, I never tried. Don't underestimate how long and fiddly the job is. One more thing - make sure you check what is required before you start. Once you have lodged your application online, you can't review it and there are bits of information on the application form that you will need again. An example from my own - you have to fill in all the travel you've done in the last 10 years (a LOT in my case). I entered it directly online as I worked it out. Then later I found that the exact same info was needed somewhere else and of course I hadn't written down what I'd entered. I had to go through the same process again, and hope that I got the same results! Good luck!

Ooooh, now I hadn't even looked that far south. There's a thought. Thanks, both. Although technically you both just added to my list, of course Northern Beaches shall drop off in exchange. Anyone else?

I seem to spend every waking moment crawling round domain and cityhobo. I even bought a suburb map which is pinned proudly to my wall. Our list of possibles gets bigger, then smaller, then bigger again! Can anyone help add some personal experiences? Here's our situation: 40 something couple with 2 children, 6 and 11 He and the children are citizens, she is waiting to hear re partner visa - we've never lived in Australia as adults This is a permanent relocation, so we want real life His office will be in North Sydney but depending on which role he takes he may do a lot of work from home and/or travel Her job is up for grabs at the moment, but likely to be tech-based/management consulting type work based North Sydney, maybe Ryde, maybe CBD We need to rent initially, but would like to buy at some point Family are based in Castle Hill Houses only, with some outside space Expecting to both drive, but the option of public transport would be nice Proudly suburban - we want green, cul-de-sacs, kids all playing out on the street together. Don't need nightlife and occasional culture will do us fine. Need 3+ beds + work/study space. In previous locations we've gone for 4 beds, but if we can get a 3 bed with extra living space that would be lovely Pool would be nice but we live in a full-facility condo right now and barely use the pool, so it's not a deal-breaker We'll do state school, maybe selective state secondary for the oldest We're going to need childcare after school unless she's very lucky with jobs Budget - if we can keep it below $1K a week that would be fine and dandy. Clearly the cheaper the better So far we've looked at St. Ives, Davidson, French's Forest, Pymble, Lane Cove.... and on and on the list goes. At one point we even thought about going right up to the bottom of the Central Coast, but I think that's right out. Anyone want to weigh in and rule anything in or out for us? ETA: D'oh. In case I wasn't clear enough - I'm after suburb recommendations!

Thanks Lisa - that's what literally everything I've read says, and other people have confirmed. Still, I played nice - got all the official stuff certified (at a cost, of course) and uploaded the certified copies as well. Thankfully I still had some spare document slots.

Thanks MaggieMay. I did reply to the mail in a bit of a panic - she's replied this morning to say We require for the official documents to be certified for partner migration application. Not what it says in the guidance (which you confirm) but hey ho. It's not like I'm in a position to argue! I'm hopeful that the fast fast response means that at least the processing times are low here.

I finalised my submission for the 309 Partner visa a couple of weeks ago, and today I have a mail from the DIBP. It's requesting a police certificate from Singapore (where I'm living currently), which I was expecting, but it also says the following... You are required to UPLOAD all the documents below to the IMMI Account: 2. Certified copy all official documents (includes passports, birth certificates, divorced certificate, children’s Australian passport) – applicant, children and sponsor to provide Now I'm really confused! The guidelines for online submission say Your documents do not have to be certified Do you think I've just been sent a standard reply? Should I get the key documents certified and upload them again anyway? (I do have some space in my 60 documents still). Is there anyone I should check with? The email does give stern warnings about not contacting the department unnecessarily, but it does say if I am going to be delayed in uploading to contact the signatory.

I did this recently and yes, you just provide their details in case they need to be contacted. The UK one is actually pretty straight forward and came back within a couple of weeks.

I asked a very similar question a couple of weeks ago and got some very helpful answers - have a look down the page a bit and you'll see my thread! Several people have suggested stressing quality over quantity - so my evidence mostly shows that we have been intertwined for many years and have a variety of different ways to demonstrate it. I have included similar to snifter - random bills etc from most years we've been together and more detail for the last couple of years.

Quinkla I wish I could like your post multiple times! That's very reassuring in a logical way (rather than just 'sure you'll be fine' that I get from friends and family).

Late Jan 2018. Lots of ducks still not in rows so that may slip a couple of months. Ideally I want my children to start school just after the start of the new year in Feb. About 36 weeks - almost long enough to cook a baby!

Thanks all again. I have just lodged my application! I've got most of the evidence sorted, and I got to the point where I decided to submit and see exactly what they asked for. I then had a total panic as the confirmation screen said 'no documents required' and I assumed I'd done something really wrong. It's updated itself now though. Turns out when you don't really like having your photo taken, the result is that there aren't many photos of you, even with your beloved husband with whom you have enjoyed most of life's adventures . Managed to find lots of other evidence though, so I'm hoping it's enough. Quite frankly, if it's not then who knows!

Just applied for 309, 10 mins ago, so 22nd May 2017. From Singapore. it will be interesting to see how the timeline goes here. I've now got instructions to go do some biometrics and my immi account has updated to require a health assessment. I was literally typing a new thread on here, because the screen initially said that 'no documents are required' so I panicked and thought I'd done something badly wrong. Luckily that's now changed, so I can start uploading everything.

Thank you all, I really appreciate it. Everything I'd read was from people saying things like "I included something from every month we have been together" which just made me boggle! I've told himself I'm tempted to put our children in an envelope and call that our evidence! Thanks again, I'm hoping a big push this weekend will mean I can submit next week. @TinaK - how did you present the Facebook download? I'm sure other people have done that but I can't remember seeing it described before.

After a couple of false starts I'm finally getting through my partner visa application. I'm British, married to an Australian with 2 children with dual citizenship. I seem to have a slightly different challenge from pretty much every answer Google has been able to find for me, which is... how long should I go back? We've been together for 15 years and married for 13. I have a lifetime of shared stuff - how far back should I go for evidence? Seems like there is an argument for including the last couple of years but then maybe some highlights from the earlier days? For instance we bought our house in 2004 and sold in 2014, so none of that was in the last couple of years. I can get photos of holidays together over the whole time, but older bank statements would cost me a fortune to reprint if I can't find them in the filing boxes. Has anyone else applied with a similar long relationship? What was your rule of thumb?