Submitting a subclass 309 application without stat decs

[Lbaines]

Ok - right I am sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere but I am new to this and couldn't seem to find in the searches!

 

I am British, married to an Australian who has British Citizenship. We have decided we would like to go to Oz and I have almost finished pulling together the Partner offshore visa (subclass 309).

 

Anyway we pretty much have everything we need, except the certified passports to go with the statutory declarations from our friends.

 

Seeing that the processing time is between 8/9 months at Australia House London at the moment I want to get this in as soon as possible as we are looking to go March 2014. Therefore should I submit without the stat decs noting that they are to follow or should I wait and hope that the certified copies arrive soon?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Although this is my first post this forum has already be invaluable in advice in getting the rest of the application together!

 

Thank you in advance!

[Guest GeorgeD]

You only need certified passports from Australians making declarations. (This proves they are Australian) Anyone else isn't Australian, so they don't really need to prove which nationality they are,s o don't need certified passports.

 

Typically a letter will take 5-7 days to go from Oz to the UK via Airmail. I'd wait a week for them, it's really not going to make that much difference. If they haven't already done and sent the stat decs, then tell them to get their fingers out and get a move on. I found this to be the hardest bit. Two people let us down...promising to do them. One even said they had sent their stat dec to the wrong address, and then didn't have a copy,a dn had lost their passport, etc. You'd be amazed how hard it is to get people who are close to you to actually put pen to paper. Which leads me on to another point...what happens if you submit then the stat decs don't come through? Or they don't come through in the time your CO has given you to submit additional evidence? Wait till you've got them all would be my advice.

 

Remember they don't have to be done by Aussies. Australians are better, but you can get them done by anyone and they have to be considered as evidence.

 

How much other evidence do you have? Have you been married a while with a paper trail as long as your arm, etc? The stat decs are less important if you have piles of documentary evidence of your relationship. They just provide a social context.

[Lbaines]

Hi thank you for your response! We have 2 stat decs already with us just not with the certified passports (a complete oversight by me!) They are both Australian citizens (one living in Oz and one in England).

 

We do have quite a lot of evidence we have been married over a year but together for 5 years so have a joint accounts, bills, tenancy agreements, travel docs, photos etc etc so I guess they would be less important.