Emmie2010 Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 Hello, i'm new here so please bear with me. My family and i are looking to move to Australia from the UK within the next year or so. My husband is a Australian Citizen and our 2 children have both been granted Australian Citizenship by decent. Now its just me that's left to sort, so we can start getting things moving along. Now i'm in need of a spouse visa, a lot of people have said we should be using a migration agent to help with forms and to move application along quicker. Has anyone had any experience with them? We have had a quote from one and the charge is almost the same as the visa charge :err: Also is there a company that you would recommend? Thanks in advance Emma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldun Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 Hi Emmie2010, We are using a migration agent; whilst not cheap, in my opinion they are worth it to make sure everything is right. We are using GoMatilda and they have been great. We applied at very short notice and had to provide our own forms, plus those from my daughter in Perth. Without Alan and his crew we would not have lodged the application on time - as it was he had a whole day and a half to spare! Also GoMatilda comes up in several threads on this forum, all with excellent reviews. cheers Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 Very surprised you have been told to use an agent for a partner visa, most people do this one by themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldun Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I was just replying on a general basis, as my one wasn't a partner visa. I did mean to mention that, but glad you did as I wouldn't want Emmie2010 to use one if it is easy to do yourself. cheers Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmie2010 Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 I just did a huge reply but pressed the wrong button and it deleted it :arghh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmie2010 Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 Will try again. Thank you for your replies..Is a spouse visa straight forward? I have had a few replies from agencys i contacted and their fees are around £1300-£1500 mark so far. I had a reply saying "As you are married and have children together, then you would be offered permanent residence in the first instance. However, all of the aforementioned is not sufficient evidence to allow the visa officer to reach the conclusion that “your relationship is genuine and on-going and not purely for the purposes of obtaining a visa”. We do therefore have to provide detailed and extensive documentation to support your claims of co-habitation. We utilise financial, legal, photographic evidence together with supporting claims from friends and family." If we did it ourselves do we have to give them photographic evidence and supporting claims from family? Sorry for all the questions..the more we read into it the more confusing it gets Thanks again :0) Emma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 You need to include stat decs from two Aus citizens regardless. Also all the other supporting evidence DIY and using an agent. The evidence you need to provide is the same regardless you using an agent or doing it yourselves. It can seem like a lot but really if is pretty straightforward. Don't overthink it. An agent will not speed up your application being processed. Once an application is lodged it goes into a queue and is processed accordingly. I'd sit down, download and print off the partner visa booklet, read it, make notes and so on. It really isn't rocket science and you still have to gather the evidence either way. An agent isn't going to do that for you. Once you've done that then the form filling from you both is simple enough. If you keep bills etc it is easy to provide the supporting evidence from over a few years and to supply your kids Aus citizenship certs, birth certs, wedding cert etc. I supplied a couple of bills from each year showing us at the same address. Also random bank statements and hubby as the sponsor threw in 2 years worth of salary silps to show he was the main earner and supporting the family financially. We both write our own statements (which you have to do regardless). Fwiw we didn't include any supporting statements from people in the UK. We supplied. 2 stat decs. IMHO in a straightforward case using an agent for a partner visa application is overkill and the money is better spent elsewhere in the move. Plan it properly, ask questions on here, read things a few times to understand etc and it's fine. We have a partner visa thread active. It can take a few weeks to a few months to be ready to lodge an application, we could have had it all ready in a few weeks but took our time as we had a timeframe we were working to and so paced it all out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatpack Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I did a 190 visa for myself and my family without any problems what so ever. I'm sure a defacto visa would be easier. The only people who told me I'd need an agent were agents. In fact a few tried to make it sound like we'd struggle with them never mind without. It's in their own self interest to tell you that you need them. There is so much information on this and other forums, and lots of people who cannot wait to help. The decision is yours to make but think about it and do plenty of research first. PS If you do use an agent make sure they're MARA registered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CollegeGirl Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I agree - your case sounds very straightforward. As long as none of you have potentially expensive health conditions or criminal histories, it's usually completely possible to do it on your own, IMO. Incidentally - I'm assuming you've been married at least two years? If so, that agent is right and you'll go straight to Permanent Residency, so that's great. One less thing to worry about for you. But yes, you will still need to provide all the evidence that agent talked about - and it's all evidence you'd have to collect yourself anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 An agent will not speed up your application being processed. => S/he will if you don't lodge all the required documents with the application. And there are circumstances where an agent can make appropriate enquiry to achieve an outcome. Agreed though that partner visa applications are usually more straightforward than other visa types. That's why advisor fees tend to be lower for partner cases. Best regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 An agent will not speed up your application being processed. => S/he will if you don't lodge all the required documents with the application. And there are circumstances where an agent can make appropriate enquiry to achieve an outcome. Agreed though that partner visa applications are usually more straightforward than other visa types. That's why advisor fees tend to be lower for partner cases. Best regards. To be fair though, the documents and evidence required is pretty straight forward and, at least for us, easy to provide. If a couple share bills, or pay them individually but can show they are at the same address when doing so or have a home together (rented or owned) and so on the paperwork is there for them, they just need to sift through and compile. I was asked to submit a couple of extra things (not listed on the checklist and we thought they may be requested but waited to be asked), they were common sense things like our sons full birth certificate with both parents names on and my husbands UK visa or citizenship. I was asked to provide these the first time my CO made contact after I lodged and given 49 days to do so. I had them in within 3 days and nothing further was requested. If the checklist is followed and the evidence listed submitted and extra evidence if requested, is supplied within the timeframe given by a CO I don't see any difference in time to visa grant. My medical was undertaken 3 months after lodging as asked by CO. It was referred (as expected and was told about 3 months for referrals by my CO) but that still put me inside the 9 month timeframe. As it was, for those things my visa was granted at the 7 month mark. OP - we submitted for years we were covering. We only had to cover 12 months but covered the years of our marriage, so about 6 all up. We didn't submit heaps from earlier years, just enough to show us together. Council tax bill to both of us from a random month from a few years. Utility bill in hubby's name from each year Phone bill in my name from each year Car insurance with both of us as named driver from current year and random year Bank statements - joint - random 2 years of most recent salary slips to show hubby as main earner and salary going into account therefore supporting us as a family. A couple of other bills showing us named from random years. 2 stat decs from Aus citizens who know us and could vouch for our relationship Our own supporting statements. Mine 2 pages of typed A4, hubby 5 pages of handwritten A4. A handful of photos of us and son. One holiday booking. Also certified copies of full wedding certificate, our birth certificates, passports. And also our sons birth certificate showing us as parents, hubby's UK documentation showing his right of abode in the UK and iirc our sons Aus passport. It sounds like a lot but honestly, when you sit and get your head round it and start putting the evidence in a pile, it soon becomes more manageable. Like Collegegirl said, if your case is straightforward it should be fine to do yourself. Just the initial getting your head round it thing can make it seem OTT. It honestly isn't though IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmie2010 Posted October 31, 2013 Author Share Posted October 31, 2013 Thank you all for your replies. Have been a lot of help. We are going to do it with out an agent and save ourselves that £1000+ it would of cost. We always keep our letters so while we have 7 years worth of bank statments and bills for them to have. I have a afternoon of reading and making notes from the partner migration booklet..yay Thanks for all your help again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Emmie - check out the offshore partner visa thread, well, the more recent pages of it. Lots of people going or gone through the process who are happy to help answer questions and give pointers. You sound like you have a good amount of paperwork you can use and I am sure once you get your head round it it'll not seem so bad. I remember I went through the booklet and crossed out all the sections that didn't apply to me (ie the PMV sections) which made it a bit shorter to wade through. After a few reads over the course if a week or so I really felt more confident in what I needed to do. Unless your application is potentially complicated (criminal record, serious medical condition and the like) it really is doable on your own. Lots if us have applied and gone through the partner visa process and come out the other end Feel free to drop me a PM if you want to pick my brains about any of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldun Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Very best of luck with it Emma. We have just had our application accepted, and that is exciting enough - and the process hasn't even started. cheers Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmie2010 Posted December 2, 2013 Author Share Posted December 2, 2013 Thought would let you all know we lodged my visa last week. Was no need for an agent as you all said Thanks again for all your help. Now to play the waiting game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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