General Advice Sought About Getting A Fiancee/Marriage Visa

[Mick Davidson]

Hello everyone,

I'm British and live in the UK. My girlfriend is Australian born and bred and lives in Melbourne. We want to start a life together in Oz, initially living together, but the criteria for the de facto visa seems to exclude us. So we're looking at a fiancee/marriage visa.

 

We've been going through the visa info together (online of course!) and although lengthy and involved, we think we can handle it ourselves. I know down the line we'll have to provide paperwork of various sorts and have an interview. I'm 55 and she's in her late 40s. I'm a technical author working in IT/software.

 

Does anyone have any general advice about taking the DIY approach or what might happen in an interview. We're keen to be as prepared as possible, so want to avoid falling down holes we could have avoided had we been better informed. You know what it's like, everything's easier once you've made the mistakes! It's going to cost an arm and a leg to do this and take a lot of time, so we want to avoid wasting either.

Thanks in advance!

[Rupert]

Of you mean the prospective marriage visa, the criteria is not particularly rigorous in fact you just need to show that you have met. DIY should be fine and I would not expect an interview.

[k8bug79]

Hi,

Good luck with your application. I don't know much about the Prospective marriage visa but I applied for the Partner visa by ourselves. It was relatively straight forward, although our case was relatively straight forward as we are married and have 2 children together. Even so we did still fall down in a few places. Most of the time they'll ask for more information rather than throw it out. Plus there is loads of information on the forum on how to fill it in and provide the evidence they require. It is perfectly achievable but if you feel there is any difficulties in your circumstances or providing evidence etc I would enlist the services of an agent.

[Mick Davidson]

Rupert,

Thanks for the quick, and very positive, reply. I suppose, having gone through a few 100 pages worth of visa documentation (and having watched Border Security...) that I'm not expecting it to be easy. Also, getting a de facto visa is pretty tough, there's a lot of criteria you have to fulfill and prove. So that adds to my feeling that it won't be easy.

 

I'd very happy to think that the process (bar the form filling, and gathering all the other paperwork) would be quite simple, but it's hard to imagine that it could be. You know what bureaucracy's like.

Cheers.

[Mick Davidson]

k8bug79,

And thanks to you for your response and info too. We do have some complications, but I'm not expecting these to be major hurdles, just some explaining. I've already been to Oz twice in the last 20 months, so am assuming that if they didn't like me, they would have said so by now.

[Rupert]

Rupert,

Thanks for the quick, and very positive, reply. I suppose, having gone through a few 100 pages worth of visa documentation (and having watched Border Security...) that I'm not expecting it to be easy. Also, getting a de facto visa is pretty tough, there's a lot of criteria you have to fulfill and prove. So that adds to my feeling that it won't be easy.

 

I'd very happy to think that the process (bar the form filling, and gathering all the other paperwork) would be quite simple, but it's hard to imagine that it could be. You know what bureaucracy's like.

Cheers.

 

Getting a partner visa would be much more rigorous, but the prospective marriage visa is not. You just have to prove you have met, plan to marry and then of course you must get married within 9 months (or leave of course).

[Mick Davidson]

Rupert,

I don't wish to sound over-dramatic, but nothing's going to stop me marrying the woman of my dreams.

[Quinkla]

The tricky bit is that you will need to get your partner to book a celebrant and get him/her to lodge a Notice of Intention to Marry (NOIM) and write a letter confirming that they will carry out the ceremony. That may also involve booking a venue. This, of course, when you have no guarantee of the date you'll get the visa - therefore make sure you agree up front that dates can change at no extra cost. Once you arrive in Australia, you can change all the wedding arrangements as you please.

 

You will also need to get statements from two people who have met you both and can vouch for the genuineness of your relationship.

 

I doubt that you would be interviewed - that tends to be reserved for people who give grounds for suspicion (e.g. only met once, don't share a language and have a large age gap).

 

You can certainly arrange everything yourself - I did. You just start at the beginning of the form and work your way through it. It is time consuming and there are elements of paperchase, but you'd pretty much have to do it all yourself anyway, even if you did pay an agent lots of money to fill in the form.

 

One consideration: Australia is expensive and at your age, you are unlikely to have much opportunity to build up a super fund prior to retirement. I know it is not very romantic, but you do need to consider how you will support yourselves in the future.

[wrussell]

Getting a partner visa would be much more rigorous, but the prospective marriage visa is not. You just have to prove you have met, plan to marry and then of course you must get married within 9 months (or leave of course).

 

 

In prospective marriage cases the DIAC has recently bee calling for the level of evidence previously called for in partner cases.

 

but the criteria for the de facto visa seems to exclude us

 

Have you asked for a professional opinion about this?

[Quinkla]

I'm British and live in the UK. My girlfriend is Australian born and bred and lives in Melbourne. We want to start a life together in Oz, initially living together, but the criteria for the de facto visa seems to exclude us.

Have you asked for a professional opinion about this?

Um, does it really take the experience of a migration agent to ascertain that someone living in a separate country to their intended fiancee would not meet the requirement of a de facto visa that "they live together, or do not live separately and apart, on a permanent basis"?

 

Snake oil, anyone?

[wrussell]

Um, does it really take the experience of a migration agent to ascertain that someone living in a separate country to their intended fiancee would not meet the requirement of a de facto visa that "they live together, or do not live separately and apart, on a permanent basis"?

 

Snake oil, anyone?

 

Yes, it does.

 

I have had de facto clients who lived together for 6 weeks in total and had not seen each other for 18 months at the date of visa application. They were able to satisfy the 12-month 'spousal relationship' criterion, which does not require living together.

 

It might be possible to come to Australia on some other visa to accumulate time together and lodge onshore. I have managed hundreds of partner (including same sex) cases over more than 10 years and I have not had a finalised application refused.

 

May I suggest that you confine your posts to topics about which you are better informed?

[Quinkla]

If I were looking for a migration agent, I would probably go for one who was not rude.

I have managed hundreds of partner (including same sex) cases over more than 10 years and I have not had a finalised application refused.

This is a statistic that would alarm me as a prospective client. We had this discussion the other day when I said that if you hire an agent, you risk the agent telling borderline cases they were not eligible in order to preserve a 100% record. Your fellow migration agent, Alan Collett, seemed to be dismissive of those who might make such claims:

 

By the same token, if an agent makes a fundamental mistake they will affect the outcome. This is actually more likely since agents are in the habit of telling potentially borderline cases that they won't get a visa - simple because 50-50 cases that go against the applicant will mess up the agent's success statistics.

 

=> I don't think advisors are particularly concerned about success statistics, unless it is a marketing exercise you are alluding to (eg "we have a 100% success rate").

 

We're generally happy to take instructions from individuals who have what you might call a borderline case and to bring together a well structured and documented application, so long as a client is acknowledging the risk issues - informed consent, if you like.

It's easy to wow people with claims of universal success, but as a client I might be more inclined to go for the people who take on the trickier cases, even if they don't always succeed. I presume your use of "finalised" means you cherry pick which cases to submit and leave the rest "unfinalised".

[Mick Davidson]

Thanks to you all for your advice and thoughts etc. We've read the de facto info and we've never lived together apart from when I'm in Oz or she's over here. Then it's only for 2-3 weeks maximum. So that isn't go to fly. We've spoken to one agent about this and he was quite positive about the de facto visa, but less so once I pointed out that we have never lived together. Marriage is fine, I'm going to be very happy being married to Miss Fabulous.

 

As for DIAC, sounds like we ought to get a move on then!

[Peach]

If I were looking for a migration agent, I would probably go for one who was not rude.

 

But you're not. You're a well meaning amateur, that is trying (unsuccessfully) to prove a professional wrong. It's great to offer advice, just need to know when to step back and let those that are paid to make comment.

[Quinkla]

But you're not. You're a well meaning amateur, that is trying (unsuccessfully) to prove a professional wrong. It's great to offer advice, just need to know when to step back and let those that are paid to make comment.

I think I did so quite successfully on this occasion, thank you.

 

I am sure there are good agents, and they would be ones who have an eye for detail and bother to read what people say. Incidentally, I think your inference that only migration agents should be able to comment on migration threads is very dangerous, particularly since their sole motive in coming on these threads is rent-seeking.

[Peach]

I think your inference that only migration agents should be able to comment on migration threads is very dangerous

 

That was my inference at all - for clarity, I suggested amateurs should know when to shut up..

[blossom]

Ok, well the op's question has been answered now. Thank you one and all.