Questionsearch

I just learned that my 820 was granted (For future readers and 820 applicants we knew each other online for many years, but have not lived or been officially together for more than 2 months when we applied, we got married instead before application and we also didnt have that many social activities are we were both more computer/video game people, he has disabilities so i mostly support my partner at home, just mentioning this since it seems many Agents seem to be against applying if you havent lived together for a long time or something which is impossible if you dont live in the same country), 20 months after the initial application and would like to ask a few questions. 1) Considering you went through the main hurdle which was getting the 820 and the case officers were satisfied, I assume getting the 801 is easier assuming your relationship status and lifestyle remains the same? Like there is no extra scrutiny or something? 2) It says you can apply exactly 2 years after the 820 application, does that mean you need to apply the moment the 2 years after application pass or can you apply let's say 5 months after that? Considering it says it can take up to 19 months right now, what if the two years pass and your 801 application is still in process? Do you go back to a BvA or something? 3) Would I need to redo all the medical and police checks again? When I applied firstly for the 820 I had to get US/Greek police checks and a medical check, when I received the S56 request I was asked for another medical because more than a year had passed and an Australian police check but nothing about a US/Greek police check, I am assuming that is because I never left Australia since I applied. Will I need to get those police checks(US/Greek) again on the initial 801 application? 4) I know this is obviously something nobody can answer specifically but on average, how much would a 801 visa agent cost? I assume it has to be cheaper than 820? Thank you.

Was surprisingly easy to fix, medicare phonecall which lead to them adding my mobile phone as work and home phone as well required 24 hours to register since the next day I was able to link it using those manually. Ato was also surprisingly easy and helpful, asked me some basic questions and then gave me a linking code once he added some extra information and even told me of the non lodgement advice option since I had the previous year overdue since I was told I didnt need to lodge a tax application if i had no types of income (i depend on husband financially), wish someone would have mentioned that I should make a mygov account earlier and link medicare/ato and everything since the only reason I decided to make that was to update my new address everywhere.

I assume that they would transfer your application details to your immiaccount if you asked, they shouldnt be able to withhold them. I am actually curious about this as well, I assume after experiencing the requirements of 820 you need to upload similar evidence so how hard could it be to do it yourself? Since i assume the application process just requires input of your details and then uploading evidence documents. And prices seem to vary a lot, AIA for example required 7k payment(not including the department fee)

From what I understood I can update my details on medicare/ATO online by linking those accounts to a mygov account. I recently moved to a new address so i decided to make that mygov account, link medicare/ATO so i can update the address, yet when trying to link either I receive "Insufficient details are held by the agencies you have selected for you to prove account ownership using this service. Please contact us to resolve this problem." I contacted them and from what I understand they just added my mobile phone as both business and home phone to add more sufficient details but that didnt work either. How am I meant to update my address on either if ATO/Medicare refuse to be linked to the mygov account, especially since it looks to be mandatory and with a deadline. On a partner visa/BvA atm since I applied onshore and have my interim medicare card in case that is relevant.

I read a lot of older posts talking about interviews when it comes to partner visas, is this something that still happens or was it some old practice? Mainly because from my limited understanding, they make their decision based on the documentation and statements you provide them, are interviews something rare for weird cases or just an older practice from years ago?

Mostly a question about Ndis policy i guess, but can a disability worker who is assisting the sponsor of a visa(My partner) be allowed to write a statutory declaration for us, seeing us together, knowing that we are in a relationship, seeing me assisting him etc, nothing too complicated, would they be allowed to do that or are they extremely strictly only allowed to assist that person with physical stuff and nothing else? Asking because I have not found a confirmed source stating if it is possible or not.

Thanks, and a clarification, does my interim Medicare card count as secondary ID for the afp check? mainly asking since it is an interim card and I am uncertain if that is accepted or they only need full Medicare cards

What happens in the case you are asked to retake the medical examination but the Bupa locations in Melbourne dont have any appointments until middle of June and some even July? The RFI's 28 days ends on the 5th of June but I havent found any appointment before that date on multiple centers. And just another small question but when you are asked for an AFP police check, does that need fingerprints or not cuz it seems to have multiple types?

I already have but since I have worries over the competency/knowledge of my agent I am trying to get extra opinions since I do not currently have the finances to spend another 7k on a new agent for an application that is already in process.

I was suggested by my immigration agent to prepare a statutory declaration when I asked him how would I give updates regarding my relationship. (I wanted to give an update since things have evolved since our initial declaration when we made the application a year ago, I became more aware to the extend of his many disabilities and we decided it would be better for me to be around and be in charge of most house related stuff rather than try to find work while he supports me financially either via his disp or work when he works, something that wasnt in our initial statements since we said we were both planning to find work and I was unaware how inconsistent he could be due to his firbomyalgia condition) I have 3 questions: 1) Is this advised? Can you use statutory declaration in this manner? Mainly because I assumed such declarations are used for quite simple, clear and to the point declaration, not huge paragraphs explaining our relationship, how it has evolved, me explaining the effects of some of his diagnosed disabilities such as adhd/autism/ptsd(And the main source of his issue that is in the process of being diagnosed-fibromyalgia), reminding them that because some tasks are easy for people they might require more effort from someone with disabilities, list things I am and have been assisting him, all of which I have done in at least one occasion so it is accurate and true and the fact that I pretty much only personally go out for either paperwork or shopping since we are both more computer focused people which means I am around to assist. 2) Is talking about such disabilities from the side of the sponsor a good strategy? Mainly because I have heard they even deported a family because their kid was diagnosed with Autism, there was a popular article going around, I know partner visa could be different but I do have a degree of apprehension in this area because I dont know how the department sees disabled sponsors. 3) How accurate are you meant to be in these statements? Legally speaking, can they be misinterpreted if your statement isnt written in a perfectly clear and direct manner, a few examples. -Like there was a moment of speculation when I wrote "a core part of his symptoms is his inconsistency in energy levels..........that could also be connected to stress", fibromyalgia is often connected to stress but I dont feel confident to say with absolute certainty so I used the word "could" instead to allow some room for error. -I also wrote that there was a time I had to call the ambulance at around 3am because he was suffering from extremely heavy pain on his arm (Firbomyalgia induced pain) but I cant remember the exact time, pretty certain it was around 3-4am by the time the ambulance arrived but there was no way I can be specific. -Another statement i wrote "I will more often than not be found at home since the only times I would need to go out and leave him for a few hours would be for grocery shopping or the occasional paperwork." That is true because I dont really have any friends here or go out for entertainment and wrote that to also make it clear this is a genuine relationship but there are times I had to go out to throw the trash or pick him up later at night form the nearby station because he doesnt feel comfortable walking alone at nightime, can I write that or could they imply because I have gone out for a few minutes for another purpose my statement is not truthful? Thanks

It apparently made everything take longer even though there were less applications incoming due to the pandemic i presume. Mainly made this thread cuz I found this statistics article and I was curious as to why is there such a stark change in refusal numbers once the pandemic started. https://abcdiamond.com.au/subclass-820-visa-refusals-2018-19-and-2019-20/ Refusals went from 100-200 to only 1-8 while the finalized section seems to have mostly remained the same after March(Where things started to close down), so they clearly havent stopped working on them, is there an explanation for this or could this be politically motivated?

Yeah i had those suspicions as well, I am honestly uncertain why I hear some people I know obsess over the economy and work when it comes to a PARTNER visa, after some research on 820 visa rejections, none of the rejections had anything to do with work or financial related stuff

I was chatting with a friend and we ended up talking about immigration and my partner visa, he said he knew someone who was on a bridging visa(tourist to partner) who was living with their partner, their partner(Australian citizen) was working and they were more than financially stable yet the department apparently rejected their application because the person with the visa was not working, something about "contradictory statements" because he said in his statement that he was planning on finding a job but he ended up not finding any and was depending on his Australian partner financially instead. Could this story be true or is it the usual scary exaggerations/misinformation? I am asking because that made me worry because I, myself on my application said that I was planning on finding work yet with the pandemic and me becoming more aware of the extend of my partner's disabilities finding work has not been a priority. Are there any "unofficial" requirements for approving partner visas that you are aware of? I keep hearing things like "they must work to benefit the economy", if not they might reject your visa application even if your visa is a PARTNER visa, which doesnt make sense because you are here to live with your partner, this shouldnt be about the economy.

Just had to google it again to confirm "If you haven't been in the relationship for 12 months, tell us in writing why the 12-month requirement does not apply". For example: provide evidence you have registered your relationship with an Australian births, deaths and marriages agency, or explain any compelling and compassionate circumstances exist to grant the visa" Maybe it was my mistake for forgetting to mention it, but we are married (in Qld) and in our statements we did include the importance of being together for mental reasons and his disabilities which I would assume counts as compelling and compassionate reason.

Yeah I actually remember this being a big issue for many agencies but after some research I remember finding cases where it was possible to apply if you had enough evidence that shows the relationship is genuine without the 1 year requirement(we knew each other online for many years but only then did we decide to be together). That requirement was a little absurd since unless he moved to Europe with me there would be no way to live together for a year together. I assume big agencies like Australian migration agency wouldn’t just outright lie since they also looked to be more reputable and experienced with all types of cases and they did tell me that it is possible without the 1 year rule though it definitely makes things harder. We were also advised that we can submit more evidence after the application was lodged, things like extra 888 statements, joint bank account info, work documents and I assume bank statements would work as well to add to the proof that we are genuinely together.

I am pretty certain they were talking about the future aka the period after the application when the department officers check our case and not before unless you somehow already lived together in a previous country. I remember the specific requirement for shared finances BEFORE making the application, it was pretty complicated because in our case we decided to be together after my second vacation together here(was on a tourist visa at the time) so our only shared finances were hotel bills, shopping and food really. Only AFTER we made the application we moved together and started living together full time but the only evidence the department has is our rent agreement, this discussion makes me think that we should give our bank statement for the last year as further proof that we live together but I am a little bit hesitant since like I said I do worry that living with my partner’s dsp ‘could ‘look bad’ in their eyes

It might not be there officially, maybe I didnt type it clearly enough, my immigration agent said before making the application a year ago that the department when checking our case would mainly care about 2 areas: -That the relationship is genuine, which I believe our detailed statements, history and the fact that we ve been living together for more than a year now should make it clear (Though I am not sure if they know that fully since we havent uploaded things like bank statements since we made the application and from their perspective they just see 2 partners moving to Melbourne and not much else outside of backround checks from their side.) -That we are able to live and be safe financially, i dont remember the exact wording but I assumed it meant that you are meant to have a steady source of income and some savings so an emergency doesnt send you on the streets and it makes sense to a degree, cant really approve someone who is barely surviving since one accident/emergency could ruin them financially. I would argue that with our quiet and cheap lifestyle we are more than safe financially and being able to get through the pandemic easily proves it but my view isnt really important here, what matters is how the department officers view it and I wouldnt be surprised if they view it in a negative way since living only with my partner's Dsp(disability support pension) has quite a bit of stigma on it and they might also believe someone needs to have a job to be financially stable and a decent amount of savings, maybe around 10k

Here’s the situation, It has been around 14 months since I ve made the onshore partner visa(820) application BvA and since we moved together in Melbourne and due to my partner’s disabilities/needs and the whole pandemic finding work has not been our priority, especially because I wasn’t aware of the extend of his disabilities until we started living together. After many years of medical issues he finally found out that many of his issues were caused by fibromyalgia which is good news since we finally can explain many of his medical issues and find actual treatments that work, he has been improving in that area lately through exercise and a more balanced schedule and has been talking to an disability employment agency hoping to maybe finding casual work soon. Though another issue is his paranoia which does have mild schizophrenic symptoms like auditory and visual hallucinations(seeing a figure at the corner of your eye in the kitchen, hearing someone walking behind him etc) which specifically happen (some times) when he is alone which finally explains why he never liked living completely alone, this is a thing that again he only recently explained, it can be hard to get him to talk about those things sometimes. Anyway the issue is that because I wasn’t aware of either, in our initial statements for my visa application I mostly focused on saying how my presence helps him a lot mentally and in reality it helps both of us, and I also wrote how the plan would be to find jobs sooner or later after moving together in Melbourne, this sadly hasn’t happened due to finding out the extend of his disabilities and mental needs and the pandemic making things harder too. I worked as a 2nd officer in the merchant navy in the past so I had a decent amount of savings but those are long gone after paying the pretty high visa and agent fees so at the moment we live with his Disp payments, it isnt hard since neither of us care a lot about luxuries and I always cook homemade food so budgeting is pretty easy but savings are limited to 2-3k but slowly rising. My concern is about the department’s visa decision since my agent told me they mainly care about 2 things, that the relationship is genuine and that we can live financially ok, my worry is the latter part since living with just his disp probably looks bad so I would like to ask for your opinions in two areas. 1) Do you think it would be a good idea to send his diagnosis(once he gets the ) of the above to the agent to upload to immigration as proof and explanation about why my daily presence around him is important and the main reason i haven’t focused on finding a job? 2) Because I am worried that due to lack of work they might outright refuse the visa with no interviews or chances to explain our situation should I just abandon everything and just try to find some form of work in order to guarantee that the visa won’t be refused? Because for both of us a refusal of the visa would be the worst possible scenario. I do have an agent but sadly the one I was assigned to doesn’t seem as helpful so I would like your opinions, I know you cannot know for certain but would like to hear your opinions or experiences, especially if you know any similar cases with disabled partners.

That is a good suggestion, will have to try that. If that is true then I could do that then, thanks I did but it expired last June and the embassy was pretty much closed till November due to the virus, only managed to finally get a new one late December, took them almost a month to ship here, now I am just awaiting for my immigration agent to upload it so details are updated. I live in Victoria so I assume my options are either this proof of age card and keypass ID, proof of age card seems easier to get though I assume there is no issue with me being 28. On category B though the only thing I have is my debit cards from my EU accounts and I am not sure if they count as "Credit card or bank passbook" so might have to wait to get that medicare card first.

Yeah in that case it wouldnt work again mainly cuz they need a document with the address on and neither passport or my ID has the address. And my license agreement is the only thing that includes and address which I could use since i have no utility bills since they are included in the rent. And I am not sure if my mobile internet bill from optus would count since it is prepaid

I have not contacted them directly to ask but the application "Medicare enrolment form (MS004)" question 19 asks for an Australian bank account and considering how medicare works(You paying first and then them returning an amount) I assume that having an Australian bank account is mandatory. And yeah my bridging visa has full working rights so I know that is possible though from what I hear there are times people arent aware that this is possible. After some research I found that what the Auspost showed as 100 point system doesnt seem to be the full 100 point system option and each bank seem to have different requirements under the same 100 point system(At least that is how they call it, they dont mention points) For example mebank has these which dont include any rental agreements or medicare cards but does include this "centrelink pension card" and doesnt have any option for medicare card "Primary identification documents • Australian driver licence or learner permit (current) • Australian passport (current or expired within the last 2 years) • International passport (current) (in English or with NAATI translation) • Proof of age card/NSW photo card (current and government issued) • Australian birth certificate (not an extract) • Australian citizenship certificate Secondary identification documents with residential address • Utility bill or council rates notice (less than 3 months old) • Taxation notice or Centrelink statement (less than 12 months old) • Centrelink pension card (current) • Under 18's letter issued from a school principal (less than 3 months old) " Meanwhile HSBC has different 100 point requirements PRIMARY IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS You MUST use one of the following to verify your identity: • Photocard Australian drivers licence issued by an Australian State or Territory # • Passport• Government issued Proof of Age card • Foreign National Identity card † • Foreign drivers licence * SECONDARY IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS You MUST use one of the following to verify your address (except if using an Australian drivers licence): • Local Authority or Government Department letter, or statement dated within the last twelve months, e.g. Australian TaxationOffice (ATO) notice letter or Council Rates Notice • Bank statements and utility bills (including e-statements) dated within the last three months (internet screenshots are notaccepted) – must contain full first and last names • Residential property lease agreement / Residential Serviced Apartment lease agreement ^ ( Must record the individual’s lease of a residential property; be current; and be issued by a real estate agent or serviced apartment ) •Mobile phone bill, home internet bill, pay TV bill or utility welcome letter ~ From the looks of it HSBC seem to accept lease agreements unlike mebank, I just hope mine counts because it has this specific clause "be issued by a real estate agent or serviced apartment" and my agreement is "AU-PRres18 Lodger agreement: licence to rent a room" and was issued by my landlord, not some estate agent and unsure what serviced apartment means.

How are you meant to create a joint bank account as a partner visa under this 100 point system? I am on a bridging visa(From tourist to partner) and been for a while due the whole pandemic and assisting with some of my partners disabilities. Now that things were improving I was planning on making a joint account on mebank since it seemed like the 2nd best choice after bank of Australia since they are more ethical, the issue is they said they only needed your passport if you go through Auspost identification. I went to auspost only to find out that they have that 100 point system which makes it impossible for me to actually make a bank account with my Australian partner, which I will kinda need if I am to get a medicare card/find work etc in the future. I only have very limited number of documents that could work but most dont seem to be an option, my updated passport, my rent agreement which has our address/names etc(bills included in rent), marriage certificate, Eu debit cards, Greek issued national ID, translated birth certificate I dont have a drivers license cuz I dont drive and never plan to. I dont have utility bills because those are included in the rent, and apparently the rent agreement doesnt work for that. I dont have tax payment forms since I havent started working first and will kinda need to make a bank account first for that. I dont have a centerlink card since I am not a citizen and I cant get medicare card because the application requires an australia bank account. (Also apparently the employee asked my partner for his medicare card only to find out that they need a centerlink card instead so medicare card isnt in the list anymore) The employee noticed I had things like marriage certificate but when she checked her list none of those were there so we couldnt use those either. Is there any way I can make a joint bank account with my partner with the documents I have available? Because there has to be a way.