De Facto Partner VIsa, About to lodge application, grateful for any assistance

[appleosprey]

Hi everyone,

 

I am Australian and live on Gold Coast with my partner who is on a 3 month tourist visa expiring in a few weeks. We have been in a defacto relationship for over 12 months and we want to apply for the partner visa.

 

We do not have all the information at the moment but will be ok if we write a letter stating this is what we have and this is what we don't have but are in the process of getting and will supply the department with once we have?

 

We are wanting to hand in our documents in person at the Brisbane office. What will be the procedure to get his bridging visa in place to take over from his tourist visa. Will they be able to do that when we hand in the application form?

 

Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer

 

[MaggieMay24]

I don't believe they accept in-person submissions so you'd have to mail/courier the application to them and wait for the bridging visa to be issued when they send you the acknowledgement letter. Applying online would ensure the bridging visa is received more quickly and would also enable you to add your evidence more quickly as well.

 

I'd be cautious about waiting too long before submitting evidence as they could simply assess based on what you've provided with your application. If it's medicals/police check that you're waiting for, you may be better off waiting for your CO to request those so they don't expire before the visa is granted. If it's statements, evidence that you've been living together for 12 months, etc., then I'd get that assembled as quickly as you can.

[vickyplum]

I would be a bit wary of doing it that way to be honest. You've got to fill in two fairly lengthy forms, so why not gather the supporting evidence at the same time? I would imagine if you have been living together for 12+ months, you will have most of the evidence needed already. A lot of the application process is about is writing the personal statements and gathering them from others.

[appleosprey]

I would be a bit wary of doing it that way to be honest. You've got to fill in two fairly lengthy forms, so why not gather the supporting evidence at the same time? I would imagine if you have been living together for 12+ months, you will have most of the evidence needed already. A lot of the application process is about is writing the personal statements and gathering them from others.

 

 

 

Well looking at things we may now go online and apply. I was just thinking we could go in person and receive the bridging visa.

 

We can get most of the documents very quickly and have no plans of delaying this, its just we need some statements from 2 australians which may take a couple of weeks for them to get sorted as they need their documents sorted for certification.

 

I would have thought that a detailed letter explaining this would help but not sure if we can lodge this online or not. We have bills etc and statements that we can upload with the application its just waiting for police reports that may be an issue

 

What is a CO?

 

Thanks for your help and advice

[vickyplum]

CO is case officer - the person who is assigned to process your visa application. They contact you after you have submitted visa application, with instructions for next steps (medical, police check etc) and they are your point of contact until the visa is granted. They would also tell you if you are missing information from your application.

 

You shouldn't do the medical or police check until the CO tells you (when they first contact you, they will tell you to do the two checks after a certain date). This is because they are only valid for one year, so you don't want to do them too early otherwise you risk having to re-do them if they expire.