Guest coltrane Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 Hi all, Me and my wife (we got married 3 weeks ago) are just about to lodge application to DIAC. We have immigration lawyer who charged us so far 4000AUD for writing 2 stat decs (those ones which should be written by us) and for translating stat dec from my nonenglish speaking grandma, we saw him in office for about 1 hour. I was quite amazed when I saw the bill. Therefore, we want to lodge application asap so that there is no need to do any "further work" (= thousands of $$$). I want to ask you; i really need to do this now: 1) Do those stat decs from family and friends have to have certified copies of peoples passports, IDs attached? Do they also have to be witnessed? 2) If I add police checks and health checks after lodgement, can it delay whole process? 3) Do you think that if application is lodged by immigration lawyer on your behalf it can influence anything? That lawyer is good but goddamn expensive ! We are also including in application: Chronology of our relationship (with abot 20 photos with comments; documents with joint bills; stat decs...:eek: Thank for any reply, wish the best to all ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Lass Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 Hi Coltraine, The stat decs must be witnessed and yes, you do need to provide certified copies of the passport or birth certificate for each person who has provided you with a statutory declaration to prove their status as an Australian citizen or, in the case of others, their identity. It can delay things if you have to obtain police checks from a country that takes its sweet time to do them for you :cute: but otherwise, no, I don't think it does delay things. It's nice to supply everything they need to make a decision up front but it doesn't mean that you will be seen any faster than someone who has not. I don't think applications lodged by an RMA go into a priority queue but one of the most important things they provide that will help you, is an error free, comprehensive application that can be easily understood by the DIAC. Therefore I would have thought that once your application reaches the top of the DIAC's in-tray yours will take less time to decide. Best of luck for a quick and positive outcome :hug: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 My daughter has done these for a couple of friends hoeever she was born in Australia and had known the people for a considerable length of time 20 plus for her friend and eight years for a chap she worked with. They did not pay anyone anything. Both of these people were Australians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest coltrane Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Okay, thanks guys, we are going to follow through as we are almost lodging. That wouldn`t be smart to withdraw lawyer now despite the fact he is dear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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