jessm128 Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Hi, Me and my australian boyfriend are looking into applying for the defacto visa. We have been looking into it for the last 2 years and now we are finally at that stage. We have been together for 2 years this March. I am a british citizen and went over to Australia on a working holiday visa where i met my boyfriend, when my visa ran out i had to move back to England and my boyfriend stayed in australia for 10 months saving money and applying for the british version of the working holiday visa. The whole 10 months that we were apart we stayed in contact with eachother everyday and was stilll in a relationship but long distance. In March 2010 my boyfriend came over to England where we both now live together. We both live in my parents house but we do not pay any rent as my parents have kindly said we can stay in their house for free as they live over in America, in order to help us save our money. Therefore, we do not have a rental agreement. We do have a joint bank account and all of our paychecks, bank statements, any type of mail all get sent to the same address where we both live. Can anyone please help us with any useful information. For example; What forms do we have to submit? What evidence do we need? Is it okay if we do not have a rental agreement but we can get a written statement from my parents confirming we do live together plus all of our mail go to the same address. If anyone could help us we would greatly appreciate it Thanks! :smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bezza Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Hi, I have just sent off my forms for the subclass 309 visa (my boyfriend is Australian). We tried to provide as much evidence as we could that we have been living together for 1 year - this included statements from our joint bank account for the past year and bills addressed to both of us at the same address (electricity/gas/council tax/water) covering the past year. I think it would be fine to provide a written statement from your parents explaining the situation re living in their house. Have you had a look at the booklet for partner migration available on the immi.gov.au website? Its very useful as it provides a decription of what types of evidence to provide. Hope this has been helpful! It does seem like a big task when you start filling in the forms and collecting evidence but you will get there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 The Partner Migration booklet is the best place to start for info: 1127.pdf (application/pdf Object) You should read it cover to cover, several times (if you ever have trouble getting to sleep, my blog is mostly about my partner visa application). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessm128 Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Thank you both Peach and Bezza for your replies. How long did it take you to get all the evidence and forms filled out and sumbitted for the visa? I have read through the booklet and it does not say anything about living at home. Did either of you get an Migration Agent to help you out? Also, when did you get a health and police check done? Good Luck Bezza with your application!!! It must be very exciting for you and your partner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Hi, I used an agent and it still took me around 3 months to gather together all the evidence required. As I understand it living at home is fine, providing you can show that you're living as an independent couple - i.e. mum is NOT doing all the washing and cooking for her son, whilst girlfriend just lives there :biggrin: As i wanted to maximise the time I would be given to validate the visa, I held back from getting my health and police check until after the Case Officer asked for them (you are given 12 months from whichever of the two has the oldest date). I no longer think there is a benefit to front loading, as the visa process times are no so much longer than they used to be. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bezza Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Hi Jessm, Thanks-I am v excited but nervous at the same time about moving so far away from family and friends! Gotta give it a go though! We have been thinking about it for a long time so put together evidence gradually - we had been living together for 1 year in Oct 2010 so just made sure we kept a folder of bills with both our names on it. The bank was able to just print us off statements for the whole year in one go. Other evidence was a bit more hassle to get e.g. statements from Aus citizens about our relationship - we were able to get my partner's relatives to do this in Australia and then post it to us. I also waited for the CO to ask for the meds and police check. I sent my police check off about a week ago and waiting for this to be returned. It was pretty easy to get an appt for a med - had this done about a week ago. We decided not to use a migration agent. Maybe write a statement about your circumstances re living at your parents - explain you share bills/household expenses and duties etc, and get your parents to do one as well? Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessm128 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Hi Peach, When you applied for your visa were you in the UK or Australia? How did you get hold of an migration agent and were they expensive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 I was in the UK when I applied for my visa. The company I used was: Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - Visa, Tax and Financial Planning for Australia their MD Alan Collett is a regular poster to this site and they are considered respected. I think I paid around £700 for their services at the end of 2009. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piglet1 Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Hi jessm128, we are in almost the same situation, just that we couldn't open a joint account as he was here on a tourist visa. So every 3 months, he has to do a visa run and renews his visa for another 3 months. We've been doing this for 2 years now, it is a good way for a quick vacation for both of us. Our CO is very helpful, we provided all evidence of living together (he signed the lease, I'm the witness), letters, bank statements (only his, as my parents live in the same city, i didnt bother changing my address!), bills under my name (he cant sign up for internet, cable, etc), and others. Yes, it would be helpful to ask your parents to write a letter explaining the situation, which is what my landlord did for us. The utilities are still under our landlord's name (property owner name on bills) and he clarified it. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llessur Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Thanks-I am v excited but nervous at the same time about moving so far away from family and friends! Gotta give it a go though! I know how you feel - we are due to apply for our 309 spouse visa in April and it proving to be both the most exciting and most scary thing I've ever done. We've been planning for a while now and I think it's given me lots of time to think about what I'm doing - always a mistake as it's been a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions recently! On one hand am very much looking forward to spending the future with my OH in such a lovely place - but then on the other hand I have a very close family and a great group of friends and it will be a real wrench to move so far away from them. Strangely, I feel the complete opposite about my job though :wink: However, like you say, these things have got to be done. Life's too short to spend the whole thing doing the same things, in the same place with all of the same people - however comfortable that might be. Plus, they've got koalas. Koalas will make it all better.... Best of luck with the application! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessm128 Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Thank you everyone for all your replies and helpful tips! :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina G Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Hi Jessm, We recently sent off our 309 application, my boyfriend is Australia and myself being a British citizen. It took us roughly 2 months to get everything together. But I do have some recommendations based on our experiences. You don't need to use an agent it really is quite simple in the end. It does seem quite daunting in the beginning but it will all fall in to place after a few reads of the booklet that everybody has already mentioned. I recommend applying for the police and medical checks as soon as possible but keep in mind that once these are completed (whichever is first) you have to enter Australia within 12 months. When collecting the evidence make sure you cover at the very least every three months you have been living together. We have been living together for 5 years but only sent in 2 years worth. However we missed out a quarter and they asked us to supply more evidence. Some forms of evidence which worked well for us, official travel itineraries with our names on, bank statements. Basically any official document with both your names on is acceptable. Have you got the copy of emails that you sent whilst in correspondence? We used these in places for evidence as well. I can't think straight at the moment as my brain got fried at work today but I'll joint any more things I can think of here later. Also check out my partners blog on the partner 309 visa below. http://somethingbeautifulthiswaycomes.blogspot.com/ _____________________________________________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Slightly confused: Why would you recommend frontloading your medicals and police checks? What benefit do you think this brought? (These days applications sit in a pile for months waiting to be processed, by frontloading all you are doing is reducing the amount of time you'll be given to validate the visa). Also, why did you only send two years worth of evidence? If you had sent three your partner would most likely be issued a permanent 100 visa - rather than a 309 temporary one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest siamsusie Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Hi Jessm, We recently sent off our 309 application, my boyfriend is Australia and myself being a British citizen. It took us roughly 2 months to get everything together. But I do have some recommendations based on our experiences. You don't need to use an agent it really is quite simple in the end. It does seem quite daunting in the beginning but it will all fall in to place after a few reads of the booklet that everybody has already mentioned. _____________________________________________________ Hi Tina, Whereby I did not use an agent and was happy to complete my own application which was successful, I would always advocate an agent if the application was complicated i.e. criminal convictions/ health issues/ complicated children situations. Susie x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina G Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Slightly confused: Why would you recommend frontloading your medicals and police checks? What benefit do you think this brought? (These days applications sit in a pile for months waiting to be processed, by frontloading all you are doing is reducing the amount of time you'll be given to validate the visa). Also, why did you only send two years worth of evidence? If you had sent three your partner would most likely be issued a permanent 100 visa - rather than a 309 temporary one. Hi Peach, the reason I would recommend frontloading is if you are in a rush like us. We are trying to fit everything into about 6 to 8 months. Selling house, getting visa etc.. All was going smooth except for getting the medical, we were told initially we could get a next day appointment, ended up being two weeks and this is building up apparently. I guess it depends on which place you get it done as well. Police check ended up taking 3 to 4 weeks to process. Strangely enough we are likely to get a permanent visa, they have taken into consideration when we first started living together which was over 4 years ago. However they only requested 2 full years of evidence? Maybe this is done on a case by case situation? We do have some pretty rock solid evidence though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina G Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Hi Tina, Whereby I did not use an agent and was happy to complete my own application which was successful, I would always advocate an agent if the application was complicated i.e. criminal convictions/ health issues/ complicated children situations. Susie x Couldn't agree more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest loop the loop Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 As already mentioned, the partner migration booklet is a huge help. Definitely keep all of your paperwork, and if you have lost any, try calling the company/institution to get a copy posted out to you - that's what I did. We were apart for 7 months because we were trying to figure out how my partner could get over to the UK but then he got a job here, and we could have qualified for a partner visa before that but the gap just wasnt worth the risk...so we re-did the 12 month requirement and now are applying onshore! Best of luck with your application! Keep us posted. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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