Guest swerves Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 Hey all!!! Just wanted to write a quick post here to say thank-you to everyone on this site!! It's been soooooo useful reading everyones tips / hints over the last couple of months and here's what happened: May 30th 2008 - received police checks through post June 2nd 2008 - Went and had the medical June 11th 2008 - Sent off visa application! June 18th 2008 - Request for further docs & form 80 July 2nd 2008 - Granted subclass 309 Provisional Spouse Visa! That's 3 weeks from day of posting to it being granted - and I don't think that would have happened without following advice from you guys! cheers!!! So now the Passport has been sent off to get the sticker, and plane tickets have been booked!! Bring on the 2nd Novemeber! Hoorah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookiecrew Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 :jiggy:Congratulations! :smile: You must be very excited. I got a defacto visa too and it was all very quick and painless. Got the stamp to keep staring at for a while before deciding when to go. Enjoy your new life down under. c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shoeslucy123 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Hi there, I'd love to know if anyone can offer any advice on a situation I'm currently faced with- I am British, my partner is Australian. We met in Bali (romantic!) in November 2007. We travelled together and soon realised we were very happy together. I returned to UK in January and then flew to Australia in March for a month to figure out if we could establish a life together. We did but I had to return to return to UK for a further 3 months for work. I then returned to Australia on 13th June 2008 on a Working Holiday visa. We immediately moved in together. So technically we have been together over a year, but have only cohabited permanently since June. Thing is my visa will expire this June 2009, which will mark the year of cohabitation. Does anyone know if it is worth applying for this visa as we haven't been together a full year? Or will they consider circumstances I.E my visa will run out in June but we are in a serious relationship? We have followed suggested steps such as signing our super over to each other and opening a joint bank account etc.. Also, does anyone know how much the visa should cost considering I am currently on a Working Holiday Visa? I have seen $2000 on the immi.gov website but am really hoping this isn't the case! Thanks so much in advance for any help... Lucy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bexta Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Hi there, I'd love to know if anyone can offer any advice on a situation I'm currently faced with- I am British, my partner is Australian. We met in Bali (romantic!) in November 2007. We travelled together and soon realised we were very happy together. I returned to UK in January and then flew to Australia in March for a month to figure out if we could establish a life together. We did but I had to return to return to UK for a further 3 months for work. I then returned to Australia on 13th June 2008 on a Working Holiday visa. We immediately moved in together. So technically we have been together over a year, but have only cohabited permanently since June. Thing is my visa will expire this June 2009, which will mark the year of cohabitation. Does anyone know if it is worth applying for this visa as we haven't been together a full year? Or will they consider circumstances I.E my visa will run out in June but we are in a serious relationship? We have followed suggested steps such as signing our super over to each other and opening a joint bank account etc.. Also, does anyone know how much the visa should cost considering I am currently on a Working Holiday Visa? I have seen $2000 on the immi.gov website but am really hoping this isn't the case! Thanks so much in advance for any help... Lucy Hi Lucy, First of all, you may want to consider starting a new thread with your questions on there as there is more chance of people seeing it then rather than being tacked onto the end of another thread. :smile: Anyway, to answer your questions... Immigration is really quite strict about the 12 months cohabiting period needed as a requirement prior to granting a De Facto visa. The only times the usually allow this to pass is if you have "extenutating" circumastances, such as kids together, or if you are challenged on being short of the 12 months they will ask you for "compassionate and compelling" reasons as to why they should waive this. This is what happened to my and my OH when we applied (check back old posts for my story, you'll read about it there) and after a lot of hoo-ha and trouble we finally got it approved. The thing is, we still had technically been living together for 12 months, there was just a period of brief absence apart when my OH moved back to the UK and I had to finish up with my job before joining him. Unfortunately I don't think they will accept your visa running out as a suitable reason to apply before the 12 month mark is up. Anyway, my suggestions would be to wait until the last possible minute to apply and then do so in June 2009 as this will be the 12 months of living together. Is it poossible for you to leave the country and come back in a 3 month tourist visa whilst you are waiting for it to be granted? It is going to be quite expensive, I'm not sure of the onshore fees, but offshore (which is actually cheaper) the visa is about 700 pounds, which at the moment equates to around $1500-$1600 Aus dollars. I think onshore will be up around the $2k mark, but if you check immi.gov.au they will confirm for sure the cost. I would also suggest doing as much as possible to show joint evidence of a relationship, such as like you mentioned opening a joint bank account etc. The more you have the easier it will be to get the visa, particularly as you will be cutting it fine with the living together length requirement. Get joint insurance, health, car, home etc. Make sure you are both on your rental agreement and that all mail comes to both of you at the same address eg electricity, phone bills etc. Keep invites from friends to functions and start compiling everything in a sepearte folder so that when the time comes you have it all there. If you have any other questions be sure to post them on PIO as there is LOADS of friendly (and knowledgable!) people on here more than happy to help. Good luck with it all and let us know if you need any more information. Bexta. :jiggy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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