De Facto Visa - FIFO Job

[Emjhadley]

My Australian partner and I are currently living together and building up our evidence for our De Facto Visa. He is currently working away and flies in and out of work/home. He is at home for ten days and is away on shift for two weeks at a time. It might sound silly, but I just want to check - will this affect our De Facto status? We are still living together and all of his bills etc are addressed to our home, but I'm just a bit worried that Immigration might see it that we're not technically living together 100% of the time.

[Evandale]

Emj, I wouldnt concern yourself unduly  with this. Both my OH and I FIFO to different parts of the country/world and I personally did not have any problems at all with Immigration.  It is extremely common to FIFO and Immigration will take into account your ife style, bills, commitment ,paper trail  / Wills etc. Rest easy and best wishes for a successful outcome!

 

Edited May 29, 2017 by Evandale
addition

[Nemesis]

We on the other hand got a rejection and are now back in London.

 

OP, make sure you have lots of evidence of a shared home address, all mail going there for both of you, and as much proof of shared activities as possible. Also have a lot of evidence of how you keep in touch. One of the comments made to us was that we did not have enough evidence on facebook to show that we missed each other when apart. Never heard anything so pathetic, but it was part of the grounds for rejection.

[Emjhadley]

Thanks Evandale and Nemesis for both of your very different responses. 

 

I'm sorry Nemesis that you got a rejection  

We have a LOT of evidence in regards to mail, joint bank account, bills, tenancy agreement etc. We also have a ridiculous amount of photos of us doing stuff together at weekends when he is back, plus our Facebook and my Instagram page should say enough about how much time we spend together/missing each other when he is away. It seems strange that they would base your application on how much you post on social media. I would have thought the main thing would be a paper trail of evidence of your de facto relationship, but I'm glad you gave me the heads up. 

Edited May 30, 2017 by Emjhadley

[Emjhadley]

Also, when reading some more in regards to this I have seen a lot of comments about proving that contact is maintained between the two parties when one of them is working away. This is fine, we message every day and speak on the phone. I was just wondering what we would need to do in order to prove this? Do we need to save WhatsApp conversations, print out phone records and stuff? We tag each other in things on Facebook and have the odd email correspondence. Would they want pages and pages of Whatsapp conversations?

[Guest]

I think if your partner is returning to your shared home when off from their job, that you are sharing that home then, that sort of thing will be ok. Its perhaps when you are spending many months apart with little or no real interaction on social media or emails that may be more problematic.

It could be worth when getting your stat decs done to ensure that those people perhaps include they see you both together socially during the times your partner is home (if they are able to verify that). If not stat decs then having friends who know you both (ie UK people who can't write a stat dec but can write a supporting statement iirc) to write something to this effect. I would expect you to socialise together when you are both home during FIFO time off and to have friends who could back this up.

 I doubt they would want pages of conversations like that if you submit a solid application with stat decs and witness statements and official paperwork. If they did require more evidence they would ask for it and give you X amount of time to submit it I would expect.  

I think being able to show your phone numbers call each other often is also good. Any way you could get a phone bill print out for those in case? 

 

 

 

[Emjhadley]

Thanks Snifter, I appreciate your response. I see what you mean about it being a problem if a party is away and no contact is maintained throughout. I don't think we will have a problem in that area, so that's good to know. 

 

Thanks for the advice about the stat decs, we have quite a few Australian friends who will be able to verify that we socialise together with and without friends when he is home from work, so that's good news.

 

I will definitely be able to get a record of us calling each other. I think the thing is, we genuinely talk, message, chat on Skype etc. a lot when he is away so I'm sure providing evidence of all of that will not be hard. It's just knowing exactly what evidence to submit! 

 

Your advice has been super helpful thank you.