SUMMARY: Spouse Visa Processing times OFFSHORE-UK. Please add your Stats.

[LGannon]

Hi guys!

Hope everyones plans are coming along nicely!

Has anyone who had RE as their case officer now been handed over to somebody else???

X

[StuartH]

Any ideas on other forms of evidence anyone?

 

We don't have:

1. A joint account

2. Mortgage

3. Joint loan

4. Utility bills

5. Individual financial or legal documents showing the same address

 

Any suggestions would be great.

 

Thanks

[lucyh88]

Any ideas on other forms of evidence anyone?

 

We don't have:

1. A joint account

2. Mortgage

3. Joint loan

4. Utility bills

5. Individual financial or legal documents showing the same address

 

Any suggestions would be great.

 

Thanks

What have you got so far? We didn't have a joint bank account for long when we applied but used our individual statements highlighting where we've shared costs. Travel documents to see each other and trips made together, joint insurance also good.

[Guest]

Any ideas on other forms of evidence anyone?

 

We don't have:

1. A joint account

2. Mortgage

3. Joint loan

4. Utility bills

5. Individual financial or legal documents showing the same address

 

Any suggestions would be great.

 

Thanks

 

You don't have much by the sounds of it.

 

Do you have nothing coming to either of you at the same address? Ie your individual bank account statements? Mobile phone bill each? Car insurance where you are both named?

 

You really need to be able to prove de facto for the time frame required before your application.

 

I don't understand your situation so will check your posting history to get a clearer picture.

 

ETA - OK, so your wife is already in Australia it seems. Since when? How long has she been there and can you both explain the reasons for this to your CO in the form of statements? How long have you been married and together? Do you not have the supporting evidence from the time up till your wife went to Aus? All the bills etc when you were actually living together (if you were that is).

 

TBH I don't fully understand your application and you seem to have some key things lacking based on the above.

Edited July 16, 2013 by Guest

[LGannon]

Any ideas on other forms of evidence anyone?

 

We don't have:

1. A joint account

2. Mortgage

3. Joint loan

4. Utility bills

5. Individual financial or legal documents showing the same address

 

Any suggestions would be great.

 

Thanks

 

Stuart we were similar,

we couldn't provide any of the above as we only have lived together 9 months back in 2009. Since then we fly back and forth until my visa is granted. We have now been married a year.

 

I haven't been asked to provide anymore evidence as what I did was sufficient enough.

 

I submitted:

Phone bills

Money transfers bank and western union

Flight info when we have visited each other

Plenty of Photos

My NAB statements as their registered to his address and my old Rest account details as their also still registered at his address

His visa application to get married here in the UK last year

Proof of joint purchases for our wedding

Our marriage certificates and notice of marriage

Joint travel/days out/tickets etc

Plenty of supporting statements from our families and friends here and Australia

Emails and postage proof of letters/parcels

Cards from bdays and xmas

Joint invites for weddings and occasions

 

Work through year by year of your relationship and provide anything that you can think of even if it may seem ridiculous if your history together and the more you put in you have a background to show.

To be fair some of the other stuff I sent was prob not necessary but sent it anyways to back ourselves up as much as possible!

 

Hope that helps!

[sjn87]

probably being really dumb but how do i see this spreadsheet?

[StuartH]

Hey guys,

 

well my wife is Aussie and lives in Melbourne and i'm in London we have been together since 2011 and married 2012 but we have not yet lived together.

 

We submitted.

Phone bills

Money transfers bank and western union

Flight info when we have visited each other

Plenty of Photos

Our marriage certificates and notice of marriage

Joint travel/days out/tickets etc

Plenty of supporting statements from our families and friends here and Australia

Emails and postage proof of letters/parcels

Cards from bdays and xmas.

Joint invites for weddings and occasions

joint car rentals

joint hotel bookings.

 

We really are stumped as what else we can produce, the whole reason for obtaining this visa is so we can live together full time for the first time as husband and wife, not stuck 10000 miles apart. How can we have Mortgages, rental agreements if we are yet to live together it seems rather baffling.

I have today updated my next of kin at work to my wife but cannot think of anything else.

Would a joint account help now?

Would it be to late?

Do these accounts incur some kind of currency transfer fee?

 

We are both over 30, did not do the 3 year working visa thing and therefore never had the opportunity to gather this proof as others may........

 

Any suggestions

[Guest]

Hey guys,

 

well my wife is Aussie and lives in Melbourne and i'm in London we have been together since 2011 and married 2012 but we have not yet lived together.

 

We submitted.

Phone bills

Money transfers bank and western union

Flight info when we have visited each other

Plenty of Photos

Our marriage certificates and notice of marriage

Joint travel/days out/tickets etc

Plenty of supporting statements from our families and friends here and Australia

Emails and postage proof of letters/parcels

Cards from bdays and xmas.

Joint invites for weddings and occasions

joint car rentals

joint hotel bookings.

 

We really are stumped as what else we can produce, the whole reason for obtaining this visa is so we can live together full time for the first time as husband and wife, not stuck 10000 miles apart. How can we have Mortgages, rental agreements if we are yet to live together it seems rather baffling.

I have today updated my next of kin at work to my wife but cannot think of anything else.

Would a joint account help now?

Would it be to late?

Do these accounts incur some kind of currency transfer fee?

 

We are both over 30, did not do the 3 year working visa thing and therefore never had the opportunity to gather this proof as others may........

 

Any suggestions

 

Has your CO requested further evidence? I could not see that said anywhere so just checking.

 

In hindsight I don't get why you didn't apply for the PMV before you married so you could have married in Aus once it was granted and then just applied for a partner visa from there. Now you are married its changed things and am not sure what else you can provide if you don't have it.

 

You submitted stat decs from people in Aus right? You just said supporting statements above is why I ask.

 

Have you made wills? Named each other in them? Life insurance? Anything like that where the other is the beneficiary. You really would have been better to have done all this before submitting your application.

 

I don't know if you can add someone to an Aus bank account if they are not in Aus but it might be worth your wife doing so.

 

I recall someone on here did not live with their wife after marrying but they had more supporting evidence iirc. Hopefully they will see this thread and post to share their experience.

 

If you are struggling perhaps consult a reputable migration agent?

Edited July 16, 2013 by Guest
typo and added a line of text

[Guest]

StuartH - According to this thread you said your CO had requested more evidence but you only asked about medicals for non migrating children. You made no mention of the CO requesting extra supporting evidence.

 

Has your CO requested more supporting evidence? If not, then don't worry about it. If they have, hopefully you'll get given some ideas in this thread. Or go chat to an agent asap.

[StuartH]

Hi snifter,

 

yes enclosed stat decs from wife's family and friends these were submitted in bundle....

 

We was asked by c/o to enclose more evidence and also for the non-migrating child medical to be undertaken, which has now been sorted and is ok may i say.

 

Neither my wife or myself have a will, so i will look into that ASAP. or life insurance

 

We may have done everything in what may seem an odd way to many as we do not really understand this whole process and believed that everything would be fine as we have nothing to hide and are totally genuine.

 

We did not go for the PMV as it was only recently after months and months of deliberation we decided we would to settle in Aus to start our family.

Edited July 16, 2013 by StuartH

[Guest]

Hi snifter,

 

yes enclosed stat decs from wife's family and friends these were submitted in bundle....

 

We was asked by c/o to enclose more evidence and also for the non-migrating child medical to be undertaken, which has now been sorted and is ok may i say.

 

Neither my wife or myself have a will, so i will look into that ASAP. or life insurance

 

We may have done everything in what may seem an odd way to many as we do not really understand this whole process and believed that everything would be fine as we have nothing to hide and are totally genuine.

 

We did not go for the PMV as it was only recently after months and months of deliberation we decided we would to settle in Aus to start our family.

 

I really don't know what else to suggest I'm afraid. A PMV would have enabled you to go to Aus to marry and probably would have been more straightforward than this partner visa application. The whole living apart after marrying and not having the greatest evidence built up after all this time, its hard to know what to suggest, sorry.

 

If your CO has requested more evidence then obviously you need to provide some but it has to be more concrete than pictures or phone call records or anything else you've submitted.

 

You really should look to life insurance or wills asap. I can't think of anything else along those lines as you are living apart.

 

Can you link the money transfers between you to show you've help support each other financially in the time you've been married? Or is it just the odd transfer now and again for whatever reason?

 

You do seem to have gone about this a rather unusual way and are lacking evidence so am not sure of the boxes needing to be ticked to satisfy your CO.

[SkippyChick11]

If your CO has requested more evidence then obviously you need to provide some but it has to be more concrete than pictures or phone call records or anything else you've submitted.

 

You really should look to life insurance or wills asap. I can't think of anything else along those lines as you are living apart.

 

 

Hi Stuart,

 

My OH and I were asked for more evidence at the start of our application (which freaked me out a little, to be honest).

 

I went back to the CO and said something along the lines of: "if we go and get wills, etc and submit them, will that satisfy your requirements?" To which our case office replied "I am only concerned with evidence pertaining to the 12 months directly preceding the date of receipt of application" ie from Oct 2011 - Oct 2012.

 

So that put the kibosh on that. Luckily, within his response, KP also put in a roundabout way (I had the feeling that he was not able to just come out and say directly what he was after, and that it was up to us to figure it out) that he was more interested in us submitting extra evidence which supported that we did not live "separately on a permanent basis".

 

At this point I was working in London (and had a flat in London) and commuted weekly between there and my OH in Cornwall. I ended up putting all of my travel dates (backed up from train itineraries) into a table which showed the number of days we spent apart each time. This was presented to the CO with a supporting statement which pointed out that even though I paid for everything in London and OH paid for everything in Cornwall (and we didn't have the usual joint utilities), we actually spent nearly 50:50 together and apart, and the train tix came out of our joint account.

 

We also included future travel itineraries where we were going away at Xmas time etc (which showed an ongoing commitment).

 

I know that this stuff is particular to our case, but just thought I'd share in case any of it was relevant to you.

 

Wish you all the best of luck

[kmarees1986]

posted in error

Edited July 17, 2013 by kmarees1986

[Guest]

Hi Stuart,

 

My OH and I were asked for more evidence at the start of our application (which freaked me out a little, to be honest).

 

I went back to the CO and said something along the lines of: "if we go and get wills, etc and submit them, will that satisfy your requirements?" To which our case office replied "I am only concerned with evidence pertaining to the 12 months directly preceding the date of receipt of application" ie from Oct 2011 - Oct 2012.

 

I did wonder if it was too late to do anything about as its about prior to application, but thought it might be worth a shot. Ah well. Thanks for letting us know.

 

I think Stuart might struggle supplying more info re travel as his wife is in Aus and they appear to have already submitted that travel info. But maybe there is more he could submit. Here is hoping

 

Stuart - I suggest you consult a reputable migration agent and seek some advice asap if you don't have any more evidence.

 

If you can't provide more I don't know if it might be best to withdraw your application (or carry on and see if they approve or not???, really not a clue which way to go here) and start over again but getting all the things like accounts and life insurance etc in place before you submit again. Give yourself a better chance to meet the requirements on the checklist. Again, something you could discuss with an agent. Go Matilda and one or two others come highly recommended on here.

[Guest GeorgeD]

Hey guys,

 

well my wife is Aussie and lives in Melbourne and i'm in London we have been together since 2011 and married 2012 but we have not yet lived together.

 

We submitted.

Phone bills

Money transfers bank and western union

Flight info when we have visited each other

Plenty of Photos

Our marriage certificates and notice of marriage

Joint travel/days out/tickets etc

Plenty of supporting statements from our families and friends here and Australia

Emails and postage proof of letters/parcels

Cards from bdays and xmas.

Joint invites for weddings and occasions

joint car rentals

joint hotel bookings.

 

We really are stumped as what else we can produce, the whole reason for obtaining this visa is so we can live together full time for the first time as husband and wife, not stuck 10000 miles apart. How can we have Mortgages, rental agreements if we are yet to live together it seems rather baffling.

I have today updated my next of kin at work to my wife but cannot think of anything else.

Would a joint account help now?

Would it be to late?

Do these accounts incur some kind of currency transfer fee?

 

We are both over 30, did not do the 3 year working visa thing and therefore never had the opportunity to gather this proof as others may........

 

Any suggestions

 

Hi StuartH,

 

I was in a very similar position and got my visa, so there is hope!

 

My wife and I had been dating before she moved to Oz. She lived in Oz and I lived in the UK for over 2 years but we kept in touch...and then decided we wanted to get married, so she came back to the Uk for a week, we got married and she flew back to Oz a few days after the wedding. I applied for my 309 a month after our wedding. We hadn't lived together before or after getting married, and we had spent 2 years on the opposite of the world from each other...and we were living apart whilst married. We had no evidence of living together or joint accounts, etc, because we were never in that position. And that's the point...we didn't have that info because we had only just got married...so yes it was our intention to do all of those things, but we hadn't as yet because she lived in Oz and I was in the UK.

 

After we got married we added each other to our car insurances. We got wills made up, etc...that's what married people do. I was asked for more evidence, and the one piece of evidence which I think clinched it for us was that I went to Oz during the application and my wife moved house...the property manager let me sign the lease as a joint tennant even though I wasn't a resident. He knew she could afford the rent so we explained our situation to him and he didn't have a problem with it. That created a contract comitting both of us to a financial undertaking into the future. The important bit here is we only did this after my CO had asked for extra info...my wife was moving to the city at this time, so we were doing it anyway, and as luck would have it it gave us some extra evidence...but it was evidence which was only created after the application had already been made. I sent it to my CO with a couple of other things, and was told that she had sufficent evidence. So does it matter if the evidence is recent? No. I explained that we couldn't have had a joint mortgage, her bank wouldn't add me as a joint account holder and I couldn't open a new account as I wasn't a resident, etc. You can only provide evidence which exists. We didn't need to prove we had lived together previously, because as a married applicant there is no requirement to prove this! SOme people had said that we needed to create a paper trail to make the application easier, but our view was that we were getting married because we wanted to be married...the visa didn't come into it so we did it where and when we wanted to...and subsequently applied for the visa as soon afterwards as possible once we had gotten all the info we had at hand together. We didn't hang around to try and create a 'believeable' list of evidence...we were married and genuine as far as we were concerned (and still are!), and hoped we could prove to DIAC's satisfaction the same.

 

You need to get creative with your evidence. What you want is anything which places you and her together, either in the same location, the same polcy, the same financial commitment, as a couple as far as a government agency is concerned. Does she get any benefits in Oz, tell her to tell Centrelink you are married and they will want to know your income...if one part of the government believes you are geniunely married it makes it much easier for a different department to come to that conclusion too. Are you a couple as far as any utility provider, or financial institution (pension, insurance, bank, etc), etc. What about employers, doctors, dentists, etc...do they ahve you listed as Next of Kin? Add each other to your car insurances...you never know, one of yo may go for a visit so you want to be insured to drive. Why wouldn't you want your partner to be insured to drive your car...Ok they live 10,000 miles away, but you might as well just in case...and then you have the policy as evidence, etc. Yes, the evidence is recent, but you only recently got married and as a married applicant there is absolutely ZERO requirement to provide evidence for a specific length of time into the past...what you do need to prove is that your relationship is genuine and ongoing...it's more about now and the future...

 

Here's a link to the details I included in my application and how it went for me...http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/58449-summary-spouse-visa-processing-times-offshore-uk-please-add-your-stats-233.html#post865432

 

Good luck!

Edited July 17, 2013 by GeorgeD
spelling

[StuartH]

Thanks Guys,

 

much appreciated.

[Sims101]

Hi, I've been looking on the 309/100 timeline spreadsheet for the UK and it doesn't look like any visas have gone through in June.

Did anyone receive theirs in June?

[Guest]

Hi, I've been looking on the 309/100 timeline spreadsheet for the UK and it doesn't look like any visas have gone through in June.

Did anyone receive theirs in June?

 

I had a quick look at it and it seems to have settled down. There are only a few people from last year who either have not had their visa granted or not been back to fill in the spreadsheet re their visa grant.

 

Otherwise there is no one really due since the start of this year. Everyone who lodged in Jan isn't due till Sept/Oct time if you go out from the 8-9 month timeframe.

[Overly optimistic]

Hi all,

 

quick question. I am now 5 months in to the process, have sent off all info - no more req'd, done medicals and police checks 5 June.

 

I have been told 8-9 months which is fine, but as my fiance is already back in Aus am planning on flying out mid-October with no visa or not. From reading the posts that is quite common to be over there on a tourist visa and just leave country for grant date. My concern is when flying out in Oct without a return ticket, what evidence info do i need to give immigration at airport. it will be my third trip to Aus this year so do not want them to refuse entry (happened to my partner when she tried to come back to the UK)

 

Any suggestions, an email or something from the CO maybe?

 

Thanks - oh and good luck everyone it feels like a bloody long wait!

[Guest]

Hi all,

 

quick question. I am now 5 months in to the process, have sent off all info - no more req'd, done medicals and police checks 5 June.

 

I have been told 8-9 months which is fine, but as my fiance is already back in Aus am planning on flying out mid-October with no visa or not. From reading the posts that is quite common to be over there on a tourist visa and just leave country for grant date. My concern is when flying out in Oct without a return ticket, what evidence info do i need to give immigration at airport. it will be my third trip to Aus this year so do not want them to refuse entry (happened to my partner when she tried to come back to the UK)

 

Any suggestions, an email or something from the CO maybe?

 

Thanks - oh and good luck everyone it feels like a bloody long wait!

 

Your CO is of no use in giving you help to enter Aus on a tourist visa. You do need to inform them if you intend to travel to Aus and ensure they have a valid email/contact for you so as to coordinate with you when your visa is due to be granted so you can go offshore. Other than that, they have no say or can do anything, especially not for a tourist visa. My CO said to ensure I'd gained my tourist visa before booking a flight to ensure tourist visa was granted and I'd not wasted money on a flight.

 

You have to accept and take your chances along with everyone else I would reckon. If you have a valid tourist visa hopefully they won't look at you for too long. The fact you've left the other two times is a good thing IMHO

 

I'd think so long as you have sufficient funds to show you can buy a ticket out of Aus or an onward journey (say to NZ) then you'd be ok. In fact, if you know you'll need to head off shore for visa grant (3 working days iirc) then why not book an onward open flight to NZ or somewhere and then get a return flight sorted when you know you need to go.

[Shigella]

Hubby's visa had been granted! Almost exactly 7mo after submitting. For those who are waiting and wondering if they'll really have to wait 9mo we were advised to expect the full 9mo waiting period. He only sent off his police check a couple of weeks ago. He was granted a subclass 100, too. Woohoo!

[Guest]

Hubby's visa had been granted! Almost exactly 7mo after submitting. For those who are waiting and wondering if they'll really have to wait 9mo we were advised to expect the full 9mo waiting period. He only sent off his police check a couple of weeks ago. He was granted a subclass 100, too. Woohoo!

 

Fab news for you guys.

 

I'm still sticking to the 8-9 month timeframe and if it gets granted a bit earlier its a bonus. Just not planning on it so I won't be disappointed if it doesn't come in sooner.

[Overly optimistic]

Hi all,

 

quick question. I am now 5 months in to the process, have sent off all info - no more req'd, done medicals and police checks 5 June.

 

I have been told 8-9 months which is fine, but as my fiance is already back in Aus am planning on flying out mid-October with no visa or not. From reading the posts that is quite common to be over there on a tourist visa and just leave country for grant date. My concern is when flying out in Oct without a return ticket, what evidence info do i need to give immigration at airport. it will be my third trip to Aus this year so do not want them to refuse entry (happened to my partner when she tried to come back to the UK)

 

Any suggestions, an email or something from the CO maybe?

 

Thanks - oh and good luck everyone it feels like a bloody long wait!

 

Thanks for the advice. I will notify my CO and take my chnaces. Fortunately i already have a valid evisitor until jan 2014 as I went to visit partners family over there before I even applied for visa.

 

Let's hope I meet a nice immigration officer.

 

Thanks for the tips

[andyandloz10]

Hubby's visa had been granted! Almost exactly 7mo after submitting. For those who are waiting and wondering if they'll really have to wait 9mo we were advised to expect the full 9mo waiting period. He only sent off his police check a couple of weeks ago. He was granted a subclass 100, too. Woohoo!

 

 

Quality. How long have you guys been together? Reason I ask is I'm hoping I get the 100 granted too.

[Guest]

I would be stoked if we got both straight away. We have been married for 4 years and have a 2 year old daughter....it would make life a lot easier!