Sam Urai

Thank you for highlighting this. We will check her visa against condition 8354 and decide accordingly,

Sorry, but your "advice" was geared towards using an agent, which you are one. I consider your "advice" to be biased, especially when you suggest I seek an agents advice regarding making life choices. For the record, I've made plenty of life choices and so far have been successful without the need to pay for so called professional advice. You stopped short of touting your own business because from what I can see you would be breaching the forum rules and potentially losing a revenue stream which this site offers. You are limited to telling people to use an agent, and I guess from there you will be wishful that the agent a person chooses is you. My analogy of the baker offering free bread samples still stands. Except the baker doesn't pray on anxieties and create doubt about doing anything other than using their services. You could have equally suggested that a well researched and prepared application is just as likely to approved without the need for an agent. My hope in coming on here was to hear other peoples experiences and perhaps take onboard their advice if it seemed relevant and applicable to my situation. If you would like to talk about insulting, then look no further than your reply to my post - "It would be sensible to have a chat with a professional before you make any "life choices" on the basis of expecting a particular immigration outcome." Sensible? So if I don't chat to an agent regarding the visa I lack sense? Expecting? Where did I state that I expected any outcome? I remain hopeful, wishful, and would be grateful should it be granted. You don't know me yet you chose to be belittling in your reply. If you can't see that from the choice of words I've highlighted above, then may I suggest the use of a dictionary before pressing the submit button.

Sorry but is this a question or a statement?

Since my original post, I have came to learn that my girlfriend will continue on her student visa after we apply. This is fine as it doesn't expire until September next year. This was always going to be allocated as study time anyway as she has a particular outcome she wants to achieve in her education. She is enrolled in her courses until July next year (if my memory serves me correct) which satisfies the requirements of the student visa. We don't plan on lodging our application into early into the new year where we will have lived together for a year, and would have been married for two months.

Thank you for your reply and I appreciate what you are saying. I should perhaps clarify that what irked me about his comment was he said I should speak to a professional about making life choices on the basis of expecting a particular immigration outcome. To clarify, I have no expectations regarding any immigration outcomes, far from it. I am not someone who expects or assumes, the wording of my original post does not cast me in the light of someone who does (I feel).

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I take note of what you said and I'll keep that in mind. We are cohabiting and have been since January. Our life is very much intertwined as you'd expect from any couple. Our names are both on our rental agreement, and our only utility bill is addressed to us both. We share a joint bank account which will shortly receive both of our salaries and joint savings. I should add that this arrangement is born out of what we feel is the right thing to do as a couple, but perhaps we should be more considerate of documenting our life from now on.

Having paid an agent a good amount of money in the past for very little service, then I feel that my experience and perspective is correct in saying that they offer no value to me. We could both buy the same mobile phone which I like but you don't. I'm sure your opinion about that particular phone would be weighted towards the negative, and your opinion of the phone shaped as such. With regards to where I talked about researching the visa myself. Please don't take it literally as I simply meant I'd like to pursue this application without the services of an agent. I'm more than happy to hear peoples own experiences and thoughts. I would be grateful if it was honest and sincere and not just from someone who is touting for business. I also don't expect anyone to have all the answers, but I'm sure I can collate information from lots of sources including those willing to share their experience.

Hi there. To be honest, I didn't receive any free advice other than I should use their services. The bakers local to my house give out free samples of bread which I don't consider anything other than a strategy to lure me in as a customer. If people feel they benefit from migration agents then good luck to them. There's no doubt the immigration process churns up lots of anxieties and being guided through it may soothe that. I'm not a fan of any occupation where persons pray on anxieties for their own monetary gain. I may have a more cynical outlook on their occupation than you, but I have good reason to distrust migration agents.

I'm sorry but I find your reply slightly offensive. Never did I state that I had any expectations regarding "a particular immigration outcome". In the original post I used the phrase "Although we dislike the association of our wedding with visas. We also realise that PERHAPS our options change with regards to having a life here". Reading back again I find your reply a bit condescending, and perhaps purposely so in order to cast doubt in my mind regarding the process. It feels a bit like used car salesman chatter to be honest. Do you have something to sell?

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. We are trying to avoid using a migration agent as they offer no value we feel. Their fees are disproportionate to their skillset (in my opinion). We'll research ourselves and collate as much information as we can through the Immi website and resources such as this website.

Hi there. I'm just wondering if anyone can help me out please. I met my current girlfriend just before I left Korea (where I'd been living). My reason for leaving was my student visa expired, and so I had to return to Australia (Feb 2018). I kept in contact with my now girlfriend, although we never intended for anything other than friendship. Over the weeks since returning to Australia, we chatted on the phone constantly and felt like something could develop between us. Luckily I work FIFO, and was able to visit her for a month in May of 2018. From then on, we knew that we could have a really good relationship. Everything with my girlfriend has been natural and organic. We started a long distance relationship with occasional visits between Korea and Australia. Thinking long term, and because I missed Korea, it was agreed that I would come back to live there. Prior to going over, I wanted to work and to save some money as my earning potential in Korea would be limited. My girlfriend wanted to study again, so she applied for and got a student visa for here in Australia. We are currently living together and have been since she arrived back in January. With regards to the student visa, it was only meant to serve as a way for her to study whilst I continued to work and save. Since discussing moving back to Korea, we have started to settle into a life here in Australia. We are content at present, and would like to continue this life we're now starting to develop. We discussed early on about the idea of marriage, and we have now settled on a date in October for our wedding back in Korea. Although we dislike the association of our wedding with visas. We also realise that perhaps our options change with regards to having a life here. We just wonder though if my girlfriend can go from being on a student visa onto a marriage visa (820 if I remember correctly). Thanks in advance for any help you may have. Sam.