I have been living in Australia on a Working Holiday Visa. Since Sean and I first planned on re-locating to Australia together we figured this was the best way to enter the country and integrate before applying for our Partner’s Visa.
We’ve been aware of the lengthy application process, but intentionally waited until nearing the end of the Working Holiday Visa before applying for the Partner’s Visa. We did this so that the Bridging Visa between applications would buy us more time but now we’re realizing the weight of this application process. Time and preparation are necessary in this partner’s visa process!
Here is a breakdown of the application process for a citizen to have a foreign partner immigrate to Australia. You’ll need to start with this Information Booklet, which details the following:
Forms
- Form 47SP Application for migration to Australia by a partner
- Form 40SP Sponsorship for a partner to migrate to Australia
- Form 888 Statutory declaration by a supporting witness (at least 2):
- Statutory declaration signatory list
- Preferably from individuals who are Australian citizens or permanent residents and who have personal knowledge of your partner relationship (such as a relative and a friend) and support your claim that the relationship is genuine and continuing.
- Statutory declaration questions:
- State how you know the applicant and the applicant’s sponsor,
and indicate how often you have been in contact with them.
- State whether you believe the relationship of the applicant and
his/her partner to be genuine and continuing, and give your reasons
for your belief.
- State any other matters you wish to add.
Fees and charges
- Payment of the visa application charge ($2575)
- Medical examination fee ($300)
Personal documents – sponsor
Evidence that your sponsor is aged 18 years or older and is an Australian citizen,
Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, such as:
• certified copy of birth certificate
• Australian passport or foreign passport containing evidence of permanent
residence
Photocopies of one of the following documents to show your sponsor’s employment
during the last two years:
• Australian income and/or overseas tax assessment notice
• a letter from their employer confirming length of employment and annual
salary
• payslips
• if your sponsor is self-employed or self-funded from other sources, business
documents or a letter from your sponsor’s accountant.
Personal documents – applicant
Documents to prove your identity – a certified copy of your birth registration showing
both parents’ names. If you do not have a birth certificate and are unable to get one,
you must provide a certified copy of the identification pages of at least one of the
following documents:
• passport
• family book showing both parents’ names
• identification document issued by the government
• document issued by a court that verifies your identity
Two recent passport-size photographs (45mm x 35mm) of yourself.
Two recent passport-size photographs of your partner.
Provide evidence that your relationship with your partner is genuine and continuing:
History
You and your partner must each provide a statement regarding the history of your
relationship, including:
• how, when and where you first met;
• how your relationship developed;
• when you decided to marry or commence a de facto partner relationship;
• your domestic arrangements – how you support each other financially, physically and
emotionally and when this level of commitment began;
• any periods of separation – when and why the separation occurred, for how long and
how you maintained your relationship during the period of separation; and
• your future plans.
Evidence
There are 4 broad categories of evidence that you need to provide:
• financial aspects;
• the nature of the household;
• social context of the relationship; and
• the nature of your commitment to each other.Partner
All relationships are different, so you should provide as much evidence as you can that
you believe will support your claims.
Financial
Provide evidence that you and your partner share financial commitments and
responsibilities, including:
• evidence of any joint ownership of real estate or other major assets (for example, cars,
appliances) and any joint liabilities (for example, loans, insurance);
• sharing of finances;
• legal commitments that you and your partner have undertaken as a couple;
• evidence that you and your partner have operated joint bank accounts for a
reasonable period of time; or
• sharing of household bills and expenses.
Nature of the household
Provide evidence that you and your partner share responsibilitieswithin your household, including:
• your living arrangements;
• a statement outlining the basis on which responsibility for housework is distributed;
• joint ownership or joint rental of the residence in which you live;
• joint utilities accounts (electricity, gas, telephone);
• joint responsibility for bills for day-to-day living expenses;
• joint responsibility for children; or
• correspondence addressed to both you and your partner at the same address.
Social context of the relationship
How your relationship with your partner is seen by your friends and family will be
considered including:
• evidence that you and your partner are generally accepted as a couple socially (for
example, joint invitations, going out together, friends and acquaintances in common);
• the assessment of your friends and acquaintances about the nature of your
relationship (see ‘Statutory declarations’ on page 27);
• evidence that you and your partner have declared your relationship to government
bodies, commercial/public institutions or authorities;
• statutory declarations made by your or your partner’s parents, family members,
relatives and other friends;
• joint membership of organisations or groups;
• evidence of joint participation in sporting, cultural or social activities; or
• joint travel.
Nature of your commitment to each other
Factors that could assist in evidencing mutual commitment between you and your
partner include:
• knowledge of each other’s personal circumstances (for example, background and
family situation, which could be established at interview);
• intention that your relationship will be long-term (for example, the extent to which
you have combined your affairs);
• the terms of your wills; or
• correspondence and itemised phone accounts to show that contact was maintained
during any period of separation
If you are applying on de-facto grounds you will need to provide one of the following:
• evidence that your de facto relationship has existed for an entire 12 months
before lodging your Partner visa application.
Health documents
Make appointment with Medihealthbank for Visa health examination, after which they will provide you with certified medical documentation. Earliest available appointments could be at least a month away and cost $303. Appointments can be booked through online form here:
http://www.medibankhealth.com.au/
Character documents
You must obtain a police check for each country in which you have resided during the last 10 years where:
• the period of residence was 12 months or longer (in total); and
• the person was aged 16 years or over at the time of residence.
In order to acquire the police check from Canada, get fingerprints done at any police station in Australia. They will take prints (fingers and hands) in ink using the following guidelines:
The RCMP will accept fingerprint forms from foreign countries that contain the following:
- rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink
- full name, date of birth and sex of the applicant
- the name and address of the police agency
- the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
Then mail the certified fingerprint documentation with the personal information (below) to the RCMP in Canada (address below).
Personal Information:
- your full name
- date of birth
- sex
- mailing address
- phone number
- and/or fax number
- and/or e-mail address
RCMP mailing address:
Director General
Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services
RCMP, NPS Bldg.
1200 Vanier Parkway
Ottawa ON K1A 0R2
_____________________
Once we pile all this together we have to call 131 881 to book an appointment to lodge the application. We then go to:
Ground Floor
Casselden Place
2 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
The department will:
• receipt and acknowledge your application;
• assign you a case officer;
• consider your application;
• arrange to interview you and/or your partner (where necessary);
• check the information that you provide and, if necessary, ask for more information;
and
• notify you in writing of the decision (and reasons if a refusal).
And then you WAIT! I am told the application could take up to 2 years to be approved!
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