De facto visa, any couples apply for one?

skipz

Iam a Australian passport holder and myself and the girlfriend are thinking of applying for the de facto visa for her when we head to Australia next month.
Has anyone here applied and was it easier than it looks?
I had a look on the Australian visa web site but got lost with the amount of pages and sub pages to read.

woolymammoth

a few people here, myself included, have. I wouldn't say it was impossibly difficult, all the information you need is out there, and australian immigration tell you that you don't actually need an immigration lawyer/agent, but it's not a cake walk either. You have to research your visa options, and understand the visa you're applying for. Understanding it is important to getting all of the right information.

I'd say first have a look through the forum here, say over the past 1-2 years, you'll find some relevant information. I have no idea what hurdles you'll face with an on-shore application though. Mine was granted last October. We applied off-shore to the London office from Ireland (the missus is an aussie), and it took about 4.5 months to be processed, we were researching and compiling the application for about 2-3 months before that! we opted not to use any agents or lawyers.

See if you can come up with more specific questions from your research, you'll be more likely to get some better answers from everyone here. I know it's not easy to read and re-read the visa documents, but it is important.

csm

agree with above poster.

I'm in the process of getting together information for a de-facto application. It will be onshore as I'm going there on a 457 next month.

I agree that the information on the website is kind of vague but it's all there if you interpret it correctly. For example, an 'ongoing and committed relationship' is vague. But when you understand that 90% of the time they mean that you are living together and have lived together for at least 12 months it becomes a little easier. They have to keep the language vague because there are so many exceptions to the rules that it's just better that way (for example, if you were kept apart by visa restrictions).

I found the forum on www.pomsinoz.com extremely helpful so try that. As said, do a bit of research and come back with more specific questions.

We're also doing it without the help of an agent, but they will often give you 15mins of their time over the phone if you have a specific question. Things to note are that it is more expensive to apply onshore and waiting times can be longer. I was quoted 8-9 months for onshore and 5-6 months offshore. However, I've heard that others have had much quicker timescales for onshore.

skipz

Sorry for the vauge question. First thing we need to know is can my girlfriend go to Australia on a WHV and then apply for a de facto in Australia?
I read there is a seperate temp visa you can get when waiting for the outcome of de facto, but is this ok to travel with WHV and then apply?

woolymammoth

skipz wrote: »

Sorry for the vauge question. First thing we need to know is can my girlfriend go to Australia on a WHV and then apply for a de facto in Australia?
I read there is a seperate temp visa you can get when waiting for the outcome of de facto, but is this ok to travel with WHV and then apply?

I don't think there's any reason why you can't, but i think you should check with Immigration to be sure. There are bridging visas alright. They are typically an automatic thing that kicks in in the event that your current visa expires while you're awaiting on the approval of another visa application, and afaik, they hold all of the conditions of your previous visa.

Skittlebrau

skipz wrote: »

Sorry for the vauge question. First thing we need to know is can my girlfriend go to Australia on a WHV and then apply for a de facto in Australia?
I read there is a seperate temp visa you can get when waiting for the outcome of de facto, but is this ok to travel with WHV and then apply?

Yes you can..or at least you could when I did it.

I came here on a WHV in 2006. On the last day of that visa, submitted my defacto application and was put on a bridging visa while that was processed.

woolymammoth

Skittlebrau wrote: »

Yes you can..or at least you could when I did it.

how long did yours take onshore?

the dee

In order to get the de facto visa you need to have been living together for at least 12 months. When I applied they needed lots of proof for this, even asking for a piece of mail addressed to both of us for each month we were living together.

universe777

skipz wrote: »

Iam a Australian passport holder and myself and the girlfriend are thinking of applying for the de facto visa for her when we head to Australia next month.
Has anyone here applied and was it easier than it looks?
I had a look on the Australian visa web site but got lost with the amount of pages and sub pages to read.

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/partners/partner/820-801/

That's the one for onshore application.
One thing your girlfriend should get now is the Police Check, notoriously difficult to extract from the local Garda station (I presume the 2 of you have been living in Ireland?).
It's not difficult to get all the documents together, you probably have it all, just takes a small amount of time to collate in an orderly fashion and send it off, then wait..
I found this website useful too:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32

woolymammoth

universe777 wrote: »

.. the Police Check, notoriously difficult to extract from the local Garda station ... It's not difficult to get all the documents together, you probably have it all, just takes a small amount of time to collate in an orderly fashion and send it off, then wait..

tbh, i thought it was easier to get the garda and police check than it was to find, collect and compile all of the necessary documentation! The Gardai were extremely helpful when i requested the cert off them. As far as i know, is can take weeks or months to get it off them but if it's for emmigration they will process it asap. As for in australia, be careful you apply to the federal police, not the state police.

the dee wrote: »

they needed lots of proof for this, even asking for a piece of mail addressed to both of us for each month we were living together.

OP, things like this are the small details that are often left out. Immigration leave some parts intentionally vague so it's up to you to fill in all you can. Obvioulsly anything with both your names is best. Failing that, any discrete documents with the same address. All i can say is start collecting and compiling everything now. Keep lots of stuff. You may decide not to include it with your application, but it better to have that option than to try looking for something later on.

universe777

woolymammoth wrote: »

tbh, i thought it was easier to get the garda and police check than it was to find, collect and compile all of the necessary documentation! The Gardai were extremely helpful when i requested the cert off them. As far as i know, is can take weeks or months to get it off them but if it's for emmigration they will process it asap.

Nah, not for me, and when they heard it was for emigration they were a lot more difficult. I had to call a chief supt. to get anywhere, I had it next day, they couldn't have been more helpful.
The front desk clowns were another story...