309 Partner Visa - Declarations and Certifying??

[Guest sunseeker77]

Hiya, I am currently getting all my bits and bobs together ready to apply for my partner visa and wondered if anyone had any advise on the declarations required from friends/ family. I have read lots of leaflets and threads and pages, but am still a bit confused!

 

 

1. Can these statements be made by family, or do they have to be from a non-related person?

2. Do these people have to be in/from Australia?

3. What sort of things should these declarations say? Are they just one liners saying “yes these 2 people are in a genuine relationship” or should they be similar to my husband and my personal statements and more describe how these people know us and include details about our relationship?

4. Also, do these need to be certified?

5. For any documents/copies that do need to be certified, who can do this in the UK?

 

 

Thanks so much for your help! So exciting and so nerve racking, I'm a bag of good and bas nerves all the time at the mo, just at the thought of it all J

Thanks, Em

[belaroy]

Hiya, I am currently getting all my bits and bobs together ready to apply for my partner visa and wondered if anyone had any advise on the declarations required from friends/ family. I have read lots of leaflets and threads and pages, but am still a bit confused!

 

 

1. Can these statements be made by family, or do they have to be from a non-related person? So long as they are Australian, they don't have to be Faimily

2. Do these people have to be in/from Australia? Tehy should be Australian

3. What sort of things should these declarations say? Are they just one liners saying “yes these 2 people are in a genuine relationship” or should they be similar to my husband and my personal statements and more describe how these people know us and include details about our relationship? Our friends wrote maybe 10 lines in form 888, they just stated how long they have known us and that for that time we have always been a couple etc.

4. Also, do these need to be certified? Yes, our friends got them certified by a JP, they just went down the local courts. There is a list of who can do it in OZ

5. For any documents/copies that do need to be certified, who can do this in the UK? A solicitor can certify them for you. We just went to a local firm who we had never used before and they stamped and signed them for us - free of charge if you can believe it. Some may charge you.

 

 

Thanks so much for your help! So exciting and so nerve racking, I'm a bag of good and bas nerves all the time at the mo, just at the thought of it all J

Thanks, Em

 

 

Best of luck

[Peach]

1. Can these statements be made by family, or do they have to be from a non-related person?

For my partner visa, I submitted statements from my mother, my partner's mother and a close friend that knew us since before we were together.

 

 

2. Do these people have to be in/from Australia?

Ideally yes, but in my case only my mother-in-law was an Australian.

 

3. What sort of things should these declarations say? Are they just one liners saying “yes these 2 people are in a genuine relationship” or should they be similar to my husband and my personal statements and more describe how these people know us and include details about our relationship?

Each of ours ran to a couple of paragraphs around when they became aware of our relationship and confirmation that we were very much a couple.

 

4. Also, do these need to be certified?

This depends on the strength of your other evidence. If you are really relying on your statements as proof of your relationship then get them certified. I didn't bother and it wasn't questioned.

 

5. For any documents/copies that do need to be certified, who can do this in the UK?

Read this link: dima_cert - Australian High Commission

[boganbear]

We had 3 from Aussies - all family and another 3 from non Australians. Technically they didn't count but I;m sure more references must be a good thing. Didn't so us any harm as we got the visa in 6 weeks. We got my mate to certify them as he is a bank manager.

[Peach]

We had 3 from Aussies - all family and another 3 from non Australians. Technically they didn't count but I;m sure more references must be a good thing. Didn't so us any harm as we got the visa in 6 weeks. We got my mate to certify them as he is a bank manager.

 

Just to be clear a bank manager cannot certify copies for a 309 offshore visa.. The only people who can in the UK are a Solicitor, Notary Public, Justice of the Peace or Magistrate. Also processing times for London applications are taking 4-5 months presently. :biggrin:

[Guest GeorgeD]

1. Can these statements be made by family, or do they have to be from a non-related person?

 

Family are fine...if you think about it, you would expect your family to know about your relationship possibly more than anyone else, so yes it's fine

 

2. Do these people have to be in/from Australia?

 

Ideally you want 2 from Australians (no, they don't need to be in Australia), but if you don't have any Australians able to do it, then they can be from any country

 

3. What sort of things should these declarations say? Are they just one liners saying “yes these 2 people are in a genuine relationship” or should they be similar to my husband and my personal statements and more describe how these people know us and include details about our relationship?

 

It will basically be a much shorter version of yours, confirm how they know you as a couple, any key events or regular things they do with you, for example, you went to their wedding (and if you have photos there even better!). Mine ranged from two or three paragraphs to a couple of pages.

 

4. Also, do these need to be certified?

 

At the risk of being accused of being pedantic...you need to have them witnessed, not certified!

 

Certifying is where someone says that a copy is identical to an original, for example, you send a certified copy of your passport, not the original. Witnessing means they have actually witnessed the person making the declaration sign the piece of paper physically in front of them. They don't need to see them write it, just the signing. You will be sending an original of this document, so you wouldn't certify it. The list of people able to do it in the UK legally is the same as the list of occupations who can certify documents and is given in the link from Peach. If you choose to get someone else to do it, for example a Pharmacist, Post Office worker, Bank Manager, etc, then you run the risk of your CO ignoring it as evidence...if you are relying on it as you have very little other documentary evidence, then that may be a problem (and your CO may not tell you they have discarded it!) Get a solicitor to do it, many will charge, but if you have any other work for them (you're selling a house, doing a will (which can also be used as evidence for the visa application!)) then you can ask them to do it for free or discounted.

 

5. For any documents/copies that do need to be certified, who can do this in the UK?

 

See this link from Peach dima cert - Australian High Commission

 

When DIAC have provided details of exactly who can witness/certify, then for your own peace of mind, follow their written guidance. It is their rules and they are very clear, so don't take the chance and cut corners. Anything us posters say here is not professional advice. Either speak to a registered migration agent, or source info from a DIAC published resource such as the website provided.

[Guest sunseeker77]

Thank you all so much for your advise, it is all really helpful!

I have one more, quite possible silly, question...on the 888 form it says to use a pen and write in block letters...does anyone know if it is ok to type these forms rather than write, or is it best just to do as it says and use a pen?

Thanks again everyone. Em

[Peach]

If the stat dec is being written outside of Australia it doesn't need to be on Form 888 - ours were all typed in Word and printed out.

[Guest heresken]

In terms of outside Australian stat decs we just got them to be witnesses, stamped and signed by a lawyer to provide some sort of proof of them being genuine

[belaroy]

Thank you all so much for your advise, it is all really helpful!

I have one more, quite possible silly, question...on the 888 form it says to use a pen and write in block letters...does anyone know if it is ok to type these forms rather than write, or is it best just to do as it says and use a pen?

Thanks again everyone. Em

 

 

I just checked the form 888 and you can type on it but not save it so I would assume they would accept it typed. I would suggest they say write in block letters so it is legible.