TheWayOfThePony

13 Under 18 (13)

Hello! I'm in the process of filling form 80 for my Partner visa (subclass 820) and I have a stupid question - my husband (and sponsor) has a child from his first marriage. I haven't adopted the child, but that makes me their stepmom. Do I include my stepchild in the application (question 43: do you have children)? I would have thought it was only for dependent children on my side (i.e, not related to my husband/sponsor: biological children, or step children from a previous relationship etc) but I want to double check... And if I do have to include them in the form, does it mean I have to provide their birth certificate etc as well? Thank you!!!

Personally I will put evidence of things we have bought for the house there (furniture, kitchenware, etc) - so, either highlight the purchase on the bank statement, or provide the receipt of the purchase (confirmation email etc), or screencaps of chat conversations going LOOK WHAT I'VE BOUGHT. Same with daily shopping (supermarket). And elaborate in the statement saying, he usually takes care of this, I take care of that, etc. This is something that could go in the Financial aspect as well I suppose, given that finance matters are part of the household, so maybe it can go in either category.

I'm a European citizen, not an Aussie I moved to Aus because my partner is Australian, otherwise I would probably have stayed in London for a few more years (though most likely not forever!). Sorry the job offer fell through, but depending on the sector the job market is pretty active there... keep your eyes peeled! Is going on a working holiday visa an option for you? You could stay in Aus for a few more months and save like crazy so you can give London a go. It is a very expensive city (though admittedly Melbourne is not on the cheap side either) and maybe I'm not very adventurous, but I wouldn't go there without knowing I'd have a source of income once there. Mind you there are a lot of short term jobs in the hospitality sector, but maybe it's not your thing.

You can either apply for a Prospective Marriage Visa (subclass 300) if you intend to marry; you apply offshore and then have 9 months to move to Australia and get married; after which you have to apply for an onshore spouse visa (subclass 820).The PMV means you have to be able to move to Australia on a relatively short notice, so that might not fit your plans. https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/300-/Prospective-Marriage-visa-(subclass-300)-document-checklist Or an offshore partner Visa (subclass 309) if you can prove your de facto partnership (which among other things includes providing evidence that you have been together for at least 12 months, that you have been living together with no significant period apart; note that dating doesn't count as de facto): https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/309-/Partner-(Provisional)-visa-(subclass-309)-and-Partner-(Migrant)-visa-(subclass-100)-document-checklist Either way you are looking at 7,000 Australian dollars (plus additional fees: medical, police check, etc). Global processing time is roughly 11-16 months at the moment for both visas, although they can be processed quicker (many straightforward PMVs lodged in London were roughly processed over 3-5 months in 2017 as far as I can see) but that is in no way a guarantee. Good luck

You have to remember your CO doesn't know you, or your partner, or your family. There is a human aspect in assessing whether a relationship is genuine or not, so give them a bit of context to help them know you better! So yes, a little caption for each pic saying where it was taken, who are the people, what is the event...

I know there are a few threads on the subject, just thought my own experience might help. I know I trawled the internet looking for reviews! The choice: MoveCube or packing company? I found the prospect of self-packing and loading quite daunting (I was on my own and had some pretty heavy stuff to move). So for peace of mind I went for Anglo Pacific (which had been recommended by two friends who had moved to Australia) over MoveCube. Preparing the move: getting a quote, an estimate, a date - Quote: I had a phone call to AP during which I was asked to roughly estimate how much stuff I would be shipping to Oz so they could give me a provisional quote. No fret if it's a bit off the mark or if you can't think of everything, they want a rough idea and if on moving day it turns out you are bringing more (or less) than estimated, the quote will be adjusted. Just don't forget to mention the piano or any Big Thing that doesn't lead itself to improvised packing Moving day was confirmed over email. - Making a list of my belongings: it helped for getting an accurate insurance quote, but also for flagging any problematic stuff that customs might object to (organic material, tools, etc...), and which will have to be declared on the customs form. - Insurance: AP offered insurance, but following the general wisdom I went with a third party (Letton Percival). In the end I had no claim to push so I can't tell you how Letton Percival are in a time of crisis! All I can say is that I found them very efficient and professional in our communications. - Arranging parking space for the truck: I had off-street parking so that was never an issue, but this is definitely something they will ask you about. Moving day Miscommunication between the office and the packers meant the truck was 5 hours late... so that wasn't great. But I have to say that once there the packers worked with incredible speed. In less than an hour they had packed and loaded about 25 boxes. Which was a good dozen more than estimated (I had way more books than I thought during that first conversation with AP!) but that wasn't a problem: the packers are prepared for that turn of event and always bring extra boxes. The quote was re-adjusted accordingly, but I thought the final quote was fair. The packers bring their experience of shipping goods to Australia and can advise you on some items you're not sure about (I thought about bringing sand and seashells from the motherland but they advised against it, so I left it behind). They also put all the potentially problematic stuff (I had objects made out of wood) together and labelled the boxes accordingly - that way if Customs wanted to check all the wooden objects they could go straight for those boxes instead of opening them all. All in all, knowing my belongings were packed in accordance to customs requirements justified the extra amount, I thought. Not breaking my back trying to load a dozen box of books into a cube is also pretty neat. Row, Row, Row Your Boat The container took a couple of months to arrive in Australia, which was the estimate I had been given. AP kept me up to date with the shipping status over email and gave me a tracking number as well. Christmas Delivery Day Once in Australia, Allied Pickfords took over for delivery. Once again, the office and truck didn't seem to communicate that well as my delivery didn't arrive on the agreed day, so I had to call again and rearrange the delivery. All boxes were accounted for, HOWEVER a couple were bashed in... one of them pretty seriously - though thankfully the content was unaffected, so I didn't have to investigate any further. But there is no telling when that occurred: on the truck? on the ship? in customs? It's not like anyone left a note saying hey, sorry we handled this one a bit roughly... The boxes containing my wooden objects looked like they had indeed been opened by customs. Nothing was removed/destroyed. In the end my belongings arrived pretty much in the state I had left them, save for a few books which ended up with crumpled pages, and a couple of tins which suffered some bumps. Pretty sure this occurred during packing, as the packers probably wanted to make up for their late arrival and just crammed things into boxes. But this is very minor stuff, and there's not telling I'd have done any better! And on the other side, all my fragile objects (vases, frames etc) were completely fine. So there you go! Not perfect, but nothing is, and overall I'm pretty satisfied . Should I ever need to move back to Europe(God forbid) I'd probably use the same companies.

I moved to London when I was 29. Yes, it's incredibly expensive (and getting worse), it's not as safe, clean or friendly as Melbourne, the quality of life is not the best (check the huge aisle dedicated to ready meals in supermarkets - food is not as important there as it is in other parts of the world). But there is no city like London. It's the most open-minded place I know, no one will judge you for the way you dress, your accent, your haircut, your sexual orientation or whatever. The cultural life is vibrant, you'll meet people from all over the world and will learn so much from it. And the riches and marvels of the rest of Europe are only a one-hour, low-cost plane ticket away Personally, I don't miss it much (too expensive, unsustainable in the long term), but it really is an experience I recommend. It's worth it. And you might find this is the life for you! Many of my friends have! But that is a question only you can answer. As suggested above I'd definitely advise you to find a good house share as (1) it will bring down the cost of living (I know very, very few single people under 40 there who can afford a studio) and (2) they will be your family away from home. It's essential as London is a huge city of over 8 million souls and it can feel very lonely - I know I was homesick for a good while!

Yes, onshore partner visas can be subject to an interview too.

Actually, I just checked the home affairs website(https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/801-) and they say: "Send each document only once. For example, if you are using your dependent’s birth certificate to prove their identity and to prove their relationship to you, only send the certificate once". So there you go

I'm not sure which form you are referring to (80? 47sp?) but for peace of mind I would download the form from the government's website to make sure you have the most recent one. With any luck they won't have changed much and you can re-use the info from your husband's old application and copy it into the new form. Seriously, the Partner Visa is too expensive to try and cut corners...

I am wary of the limit of 60 documents per application so I think I will only upload each document once in the category that seems the most fitting; I can always upload them in a second category if there is space left! But I seem to have read, and correct me if I'm wrong, that the many categories listed on the website encompass the evidence required for *all* types of visa, so some will not be relevant to our case. For instance I assume uploading a tenancy, bills etc in the "Evidence of the couple living together" doesn't require me to upload them again in the "Evidence of residential address" (which is a category that might concern non-partner visas more generally). I think the main thing is to upload all the evidence listed in the Partner leaflet one way or another; to elaborate on the relationship/household in the personal statement to give the evidence (bank statements, bills etc) some context (the bills are split this way or that way etc); and to give a very clear title to each document to make the life of your CO easier. As for the photos, as @snifter said I wouldn't upload tons of pics, only a few spread over the years/months and if possible involving other people (friends and family) to support the Social Aspect of the relationship.

Brilliant, thank you so much! aside from the visa I have to get my mariage registered in my home country and among the documents I have to provide is a copy of my birth certificate which has to be less than 3 months old... I agree, it's not like the details change, but they like their paperwork back in the motherland Glad to see Australia is not as neurotic!

Hello! I'm starting the process to apply (online) for a 820 on the back of my PMV/300. Everything seems straightforward but I was wondering, since I already provided a copy of my birth certificate when I applied for the PMV, can I send the same document instead of requesting a fresh copy? The copy of the birth certificate I sent in my PMV application is dated from Oct 2016 - so over a year old, and I wonder if it'd be considered "past its date"? In my home country a copy of the birth certificate is generally considered valid for 3 to 6 months max... The reason I ask is because requesting a birth certificate in my (European) hometown takes a lot of time - they still don't do online services so you have to send an application by snail mail, and wait for your copy of the certificate to make its way back to Aus... plus I have to get it translated on top of that. So it can easily take a month or more and I'm a bit worried about the time frame! Thank you!

I was in the same boat as living in Europe, it was very easy to get on a city break abroad for the weekend... but since you don't get a stamp on your passport (free movement and all) and you don't always think about keeping the plane ticket or the dates recorded somewhere, having to recall the exact dates is a bit of a nightmare, so I know where you're coming from! I just entered the dates as accurately as I could - i.e. a constant was that I was going back to my home country (low risk) every Christmas, so I put down a couple of weeks in December there for each of the past ten years, and that seemed to have been enough. You can always elaborate in your statement, explain that you regularly went to the States etc.

I was not living in my native country when I applied for an offshore fiance visa. It was never a problem, I just had to provide extra documents (certified translations of documents originally issued in my native tongue - birth certificate and the likes; and police check in country of residence + in my native country as I had accumulated over 12 months there in total over the past ten years - be aware that it is cumulative, so it's not 12 months in a row! a week here or there do add up...). Not sure if it is different for a spouse visa tough... Good luck!

Woop woop! With any luck it won't take too long. I've seen several subclass 300s lodged in London and processed in 3-5 months this year, mine included Keep us posted!

Thanks for the heads-up!

First of all, congratulations, and fingers crossed that the legislation goes ahead (about time)! I just want to add one thing, just in case - the good thing about the Prospective Marriage Visa (300) is that once you obtain it, you have the right to work in Australia, which you wouldn't have if you came and married in Oz on an e-visitor visa. The downsize of course is the cost and the processing time, and the fact you have to be offshore when it's lodged and when it's granted (but you can come as a visitor in between!).

Great news @nava24 and good luck preparing the move!

Going back to that - do the proposed changes to the partner visa (extra step to get the sponsor approved, possibly extra fee for it too) have actually gone through? I know they were being discussed, but I don't know if they have actually been implemented. Asking for a friend (no, not really. Asking for me ). Thank you!

Well, the more photos the better, but as long as you have at least one of you two together (=proving that you have met in person), I guess you tick the bare minimum... maybe if you explain in your statement that she is photo-shy, they will understand. In the future though I suggest you get into the habit of taking more pictures of you together, because you are going to need to lodge another application for the next stage (visa 820). As for the date: the way I understand it (someone correct me if I'm wrong) as far as Immigration is concerned, an online relationship (or a long distance relationship with no "physical" contact, just skype calls/emails/text messages etc) is dating, not a proper relationship. Your "starting date" for a committed relationship would be when you met in person and decided that yes, you definitely wanted to be together. As for questions regarding your family, I'm not sure what to do in that situation to be honest... I don't want to take a guess and tell you something incorrect that could jeopardize your application! Sorry

Hey, of course, that's what this forum is here for We included about a dozen pictures of us together. It's not a lot, but as snifter pointed out it's not so much quantity than quality that matters - ours showed us with friends and family (so that covers the social aspect of the relationship), and were taken over the course of our relationship (and so prove a continuous relationship).

Hi! We've just gone through the process, so this is based on our experience but of course each case is different. - applications lodged in the UK are processed by the Australian High Commission in London, I believe. The time frame is impossible to estimate, it depends on the backlog at the Commission, how straightforward your case is, etc. The official, global time frame is 12/15 months. Our application took 3 months. - proof that you have met in person: photos are the obvious answer. Plus bookings made for activities in common (travel, theatre etc), hotel bookings... - our CO asked specifically for photos of us together (which we had included, but I guess they were buried in the rest of the evidence), so in our case yes, it was a must. - I was quoted 295 GBP for the medical at Knightbridge Doctors clinic in London. Good luck!

No, a PMV/300 is a temporary visa. So I ticked temporary.