Needing a little advice from you all - mostly the 'joint commitments' part of the visa :) :)

[elizabethfine]

Hi everyone! I'm happy to be joining your forum. Like everyone else, I am putting together my offshore partner visa right now and I have a few concerns/questions I'm hoping that you might be able to shed some light on.

 

1) I am American but I've lived in England for one year and will be living here for one more year (with my dual citizen AUS/UK partner). Do I need to lodge my application with the AU embassy in New York since I am not a UK resident...or can I just go through the embassy in London?

 

2) I have lived with my boyfriend for 1 year now and will continue living with him till our visa is processed. However, I'm worried about the joint commitments section of the visa. Both of our names are on our lease which is good. All of our bills are in his name, but I can show in my bank statement that I transferred him money every month for half of the bills. We also have statutory declarations we can give, and joint correspondences to this address from family members.

 

But...we don't have each other included in our wills (we dont even have wills), and we dont have any joint assets (neither of us have any assets..lol). We also don't have a joint bank account and havent really made any financial commitments together.

 

Is this bad? Its just that we haven't really undergone any major financial commitments as individuals (much less as a couple). No house, no car, no private insurance, no wills, no loans since we met each other, etc.

 

Thank you so much you guys!

Elizabeth

[wrussell]

1) Consider applying online.

2) Take professional advice from a registered migration agent about obtaining the supporting evidence that will be needed .

[Nemesis]

Hi everyone! I'm happy to be joining your forum. Like everyone else, I am putting together my offshore partner visa right now and I have a few concerns/questions I'm hoping that you might be able to shed some light on.

 

1) I am American but I've lived in England for one year and will be living here for one more year (with my dual citizen AUS/UK partner). Do I need to lodge my application with the AU embassy in New York since I am not a UK resident...or can I just go through the embassy in London?

 

2) I have lived with my boyfriend for 1 year now and will continue living with him till our visa is processed. However, I'm worried about the joint commitments section of the visa. Both of our names are on our lease which is good. All of our bills are in his name, but I can show in my bank statement that I transferred him money every month for half of the bills. We also have statutory declarations we can give, and joint correspondences to this address from family members.

 

But...we don't have each other included in our wills (we dont even have wills), and we dont have any joint assets (neither of us have any assets..lol). We also don't have a joint bank account and havent really made any financial commitments together.

 

Is this bad? Its just that we haven't really undergone any major financial commitments as individuals (much less as a couple). No house, no car, no private insurance, no wills, no loans since we met each other, etc.

 

Thank you so much you guys!

Elizabeth

You can apply online, much easier and saves working out where to send stuff.

Wills are excellent proof of commitment - you can get cheap forms from the Post Office or somewhere like WHS, or even Amazon, and just fill them in yourself.

[bobby122]

My partner and I don't have any of that stuff either (no wills, joint accounts, assets etc) and ours was ok. I printed off 3 months bank stats for each of us (registered at the same address obv) and highlighted everything (stuff like 'general household spending' 'personal expenditure' 'bills' 'transfers' etc )

[NicF]

Be very careful about do it yourself wills - they can have some unintended consequences if anything were to happen to one of you. In terms of financial commitments do either of you have pensions? If so then do you name each other as beneficiaries? Could you open a joint savings account and each pay a small amused not in each month? If you are really struggling for evidence then a consultation with a MARA migration agent might be useful. You don't have to get them to do the whole application, just provide some advice on evidence. Be prepared to pay for the advice but it would be money well spent in the long run.

[Killara]

1) ...Do I need to lodge my application with the AU embassy in New York since I am not a UK resident...or can I just go through the embassy in London?

2) ...However, I'm worried about the joint commitments section of the visa. Both of our names are on our lease which is good. All of our bills are in his name, but I can show in my bank statement that I transferred him money every month for half of the bills. We also have statutory declarations we can give, and joint correspondences to this address from family members.

 

 

1. Agree with the consensus - apply online. (Or use a registered migration agent who will).

2. You probably do need to get some professional advice about the evidence to submit. The lease in joint names and transfer each month to pay your share of the bills would not be enough, as this can be the case even with friends renting together. Evidence from family such as the joint correspondence and statutory declarations that you mention would help (depending of course on what they say). DIBP need evidence that you are in a relationship that is akin to a married relationship, not just as boyfriend/girlfriend.

 

....Wills are excellent proof of commitment - you can get cheap forms from the Post Office or somewhere like WHS, or even Amazon, and just fill them in yourself.

 

Be very careful about do it yourself wills - they can have some unintended consequences if anything were to happen to one of you.

I would second this concern. For some of the pitfalls and advice against using DIY wills, this Sydney Morning Herald article: http://www.smh.com.au/money/planning/avoid-pitfalls-of-a-diy-will-20120403-1w9vx.html.

If you going to do Wills (which I would recommend anyway - as a sensible thing to do), then do it for the right reason - to ensure that your wishes are accurately given effect if anything were to happen to you.

 

It is good that you are looking at this now rather than in a year's time when you plan to move to Australia given the time it has been taking to process partner visa applications lately.

[Guest]

If you have your own bank accounts and they are listed at the same address that is fine. It doesn't have to be a joint account.

 

Also are you both listed on the council tax (you should be if both living there and paying rent)? Do you have mobile phone contracts each of you? If so, if they have bills sent to you both at the same address, also good.

 

Things don't have to be joint or have both your names on them. People seem to miss this point. You can have bills to either of you or both of you. Hubby used to pay the electric/gas bill, I paid the phone/internet. We provided those. And bank statements. Plus council tax and life insurance policy etc.

 

Do you have a UK drivers licence listed at your address both of you? I don't think letters or cards from family really counts for much tbh. Bit like photos, they are a bit meaningless in terms of proper proof. What about pay slips for you both? If employed your pay slips will reflect your address I'd think. Then you can link those as going into your accounts and transferring payments etc for rent and bills etc.

 

What about food shopping? Do you pay for that? Does he? Both of you take turns? If so, receipts and matching it up with bank statements from the edbit card transaction... might be worth seeing if they would help. As has been suggested, if your supporting evidence is weak it may be worth discussing with a reputable MARA registered migration agent and if need be, taking them on to help and lodge on your behalf.

 

IIRC you are expected to provide evidence to cover the entire year or whatever timeframe it is they are asking for proof for. Not just a few months here and there. Its something from every month for the timeframe they want for de facto and if you've been de facto longer, just being able to add a few things in from other years to back that up.

 

You do seem a bit light on evidence to me. If you are waiting another year before applying you have plenty of time to get things in place like a life insurance policy that names you both and a few other things and then applying at the end and having better evidence. If you mean you intend to apply soon and will remain here another year while waiting for the grant, yeah, bit light. But doesn't mean is a disaster, just might need some help to pull it all together and ensure you lodge a decent application that isn't going to be lacking on evidence. Once you apply, you can't submit stuff from the time after lodging, its the time before that counts.

[Nemesis]

Be very careful about do it yourself wills - they can have some unintended consequences if anything were to happen to one of you. In terms of financial commitments do either of you have pensions? If so then do you name each other as beneficiaries? Could you open a joint savings account and each pay a small amused not in each month? If you are really struggling for evidence then a consultation with a MARA migration agent might be useful. You don't have to get them to do the whole application, just provide some advice on evidence. Be prepared to pay for the advice but it would be money well spent in the long run.

Hopefully people with stuff to leave each other would have the sense to look into it in more detail However as at present they seem to have no wills at all, then anything is surely better than nothing! I would still advise them to get wills done as they are good proof of a committed relationship.

 

Incidentally, I love the cheap will forms - my husband and I have nothing but debts and books to leave each other, so $20 on a will kit just for DIBP is a bonus!