Evidence of Relationship

[coker]

For a married couple, it it enough to provide the marriage certificate or do we have to provide similar evidence as is required for a de-facto relationship? I am getting married at the end of August and was looking to file the application together with my spouse after I am married.

[lebourvellec]

Which visa are you applying for - GSM.

 

At time of application if you have been married for some time mostly you only need to provide your Marriage Certificate.

 

If as you are getting married after you have lodged your application you will be requested to provide more evidence that your relationship is genuine and continuing to prove your relationship status. I have seen couples that have only been married a short while requiring to provide more evidence than only a marriage certificate.

 

Things are different if you are applying for a Partner visa - you need to provide alot of evidence - even if you have been married for years and have children within the relationship.

[wakeboard1980]

If it's for a souse visa you will need to provide a lot of evidence. If it is this visa you will be applying for then have a look at the summary spouse visa applications thread in this section, you will find posts from people as to whatbthey have sent.

[coker]

This is for a 190 visa. I have received an invitation to apply. I am getting married at the end of August and was thinking of applying for the visa jointly with my spouse after the wedding since the invitation was valid for 60 days.

 

The website is a little confusing. On http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/including-family-members/ it says:

 

To include your partner in your application, there are requirements and evidence that must be provided to prove dependency.

You must prove that you and your partner are:

· legally married, or

· in a de facto relationship.

Acceptable forms of proof include:

· a certified copy of your marriage certificate issued by an official registry office, or

· evidence to demonstrate that you have been in a genuine and ongoing relationship for the 12 months immediately before making the application, unless there are compelling reasons.

 

Then it goes on to say:

 

Other requirements include providing:

· evidence of the history of your relationship, through a signed statement regarding

o how, when and where you first met

o how your relationship developed

o your domestic arrangements, that is, how you support each other financially, physically and emotionally and when this level of commitment began

o any periods of separation, when and why the separation occurred, for how long and how you maintained your relationship during the period of separation

o your future plans.

· evidence of a genuine and continuing relationship, within the four broad categories of evidence below

o financial aspects of the relationship, such as:

o joint ownership of your house or joint names on a lease

o correspondence addressed to both of you at the same address

o details of financial commitments including bank statements, and any joint liabilities.

o the nature of the household, such as:

o any joint responsibility for the care and support of children

o your living arrangements including sharing responsibilities within the home.

o social context, such as:

o evidence that you and your partner are generally accepted as a couple socially such as joint invitations

o evidence of common friends

o assessments by your friends and family of your relationship

o joint travel or joint participation in sporting, social or cultural activities.

o your commitment, such as:

o the duration of your relationship including knowledge of each other

o intention that your relationship will be long term through things such as the terms of your wills, and

o correspondence and telephone accounts to show that contact was maintained during any periods of separation.

 

So does this mean that if a couple have been married for less than 12 months, the spouse cannot be added to the same 190 application?

[wakeboard1980]

This is for a 190 visa. I have received an invitation to apply. I am getting married at the end of August and was thinking of applying for the visa jointly with my spouse after the wedding since the invitation was valid for 60 days.

 

The website is a little confusing. On http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/including-family-members/ it says:

 

To include your partner in your application, there are requirements and evidence that must be provided to prove dependency.

You must prove that you and your partner are:

· legally married, or

· in a de facto relationship.

Acceptable forms of proof include:

· a certified copy of your marriage certificate issued by an official registry office, or

· evidence to demonstrate that you have been in a genuine and ongoing relationship for the 12 months immediately before making the application, unless there are compelling reasons.

 

Then it goes on to say:

 

Other requirements include providing:

· evidence of the history of your relationship, through a signed statement regarding

o how, when and where you first met

o how your relationship developed

o your domestic arrangements, that is, how you support each other financially, physically and emotionally and when this level of commitment began

o any periods of separation, when and why the separation occurred, for how long and how you maintained your relationship during the period of separation

o your future plans.

· evidence of a genuine and continuing relationship, within the four broad categories of evidence below

o financial aspects of the relationship, such as:

o joint ownership of your house or joint names on a lease

o correspondence addressed to both of you at the same address

o details of financial commitments including bank statements, and any joint liabilities.

o the nature of the household, such as:

o any joint responsibility for the care and support of children

o your living arrangements including sharing responsibilities within the home.

o social context, such as:

o evidence that you and your partner are generally accepted as a couple socially such as joint invitations

o evidence of common friends

o assessments by your friends and family of your relationship

o joint travel or joint participation in sporting, social or cultural activities.

o your commitment, such as:

o the duration of your relationship including knowledge of each other

o intention that your relationship will be long term through things such as the terms of your wills, and

o correspondence and telephone accounts to show that contact was maintained during any periods of separation.

 

So does this mean that if a couple have been married for less than 12 months, the spouse cannot be added to the same 190 application?

 

Looks like its basically the same requirements for the relationship as the spouse visa. How long have you been living together, both married and in a de facto relationship? if you have been in a defacto relationship for more than 12 months then you will still be fine.

 

I would still have a look at the partner visa thread as it will show you what others have sent in. If you cover each of the topics listed above then you will be fine.

[lebourvellec]

If you are just newly married when you apply your CO may still ask to provide further documentation regarding your relationship.

[Guest GeorgeD]

This is for a 190 visa. I have received an invitation to apply. I am getting married at the end of August and was thinking of applying for the visa jointly with my spouse after the wedding since the invitation was valid for 60 days.

 

The website is a little confusing. On http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/including-family-members/ it says:

 

To include your partner in your application, there are requirements and evidence that must be provided to prove dependency.

You must prove that you and your partner are:

· legally married, or

· in a de facto relationship.

Acceptable forms of proof include:

· a certified copy of your marriage certificate issued by an official registry office, or

· evidence to demonstrate that you have been in a genuine and ongoing relationship for the 12 months immediately before making the application, unless there are compelling reasons.

 

Then it goes on to say:

 

Other requirements include providing:

· evidence of the history of your relationship, through a signed statement regarding

o how, when and where you first met

o how your relationship developed

o your domestic arrangements, that is, how you support each other financially, physically and emotionally and when this level of commitment began

o any periods of separation, when and why the separation occurred, for how long and how you maintained your relationship during the period of separation

o your future plans.

· evidence of a genuine and continuing relationship, within the four broad categories of evidence below

o financial aspects of the relationship, such as:

o joint ownership of your house or joint names on a lease

o correspondence addressed to both of you at the same address

o details of financial commitments including bank statements, and any joint liabilities.

o the nature of the household, such as:

o any joint responsibility for the care and support of children

o your living arrangements including sharing responsibilities within the home.

o social context, such as:

o evidence that you and your partner are generally accepted as a couple socially such as joint invitations

o evidence of common friends

o assessments by your friends and family of your relationship

o joint travel or joint participation in sporting, social or cultural activities.

o your commitment, such as:

o the duration of your relationship including knowledge of each other

o intention that your relationship will be long term through things such as the terms of your wills, and

o correspondence and telephone accounts to show that contact was maintained during any periods of separation.

So does this mean that if a couple have been married for less than 12 months, the spouse cannot be added to the same 190 application?

 

The way I read it is...see the bits in blue. These apply directly to you. You are married, so you need to prove you are married. You are not in a defacto relationship (you can't be if you are married!) Note that this means there is no 12 month relationship requirement. This is important as you now don't have to prove you have been together gfor 12 months (even if you have been, it's still a pain to get evidence for every month)

 

Then there are the bits in red. Everyone needs to provide those. It's actually not that bad. This is pretty much exaclty the same as the Spouse Visa...that being the case, yes you will need evidence of your genuine and ongoing relationship...but you don't need to prove you have been in it for 12 months prior to application. Being married removes the 12 month criteria, but you still need to prove you have a genuine relationship...which is fair enough, you could've got married purely for one of you to get a visa off the back of the other.

 

The sort of evidence you are looking for is a utility bill or bank statement sent to both of you at the same address...or one to each of you at the same address. Do you have wills made up? If not, get them done, married people provide for each otehr. are you on each other's car insurance, etc? Are you named as next of kin with each other's employers, beneficiaries of life insurance each, etc? The difference with being married is that you don't need to prove you have been together for at least 12 months. I applied for my Spouse Visa 6 weeks after getting married. My wife and I had lived in different countries with no joint commitments prior to that. Wequalified for it as we could demonstrate a commitment going forward, and we didn't need to provide any evidence going back 12 months as that wasn't a requirement due to us being married.