Spouse Visa Entry to Adelaide

[Guest taffgmg]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to this forum in the last week or so. Have learnt stacks from reading all of the previous posts and have also had some very helpful and friendly responses to the few posts that I have made. - Thankyou! The amount of collective knowledge on this forum really is extrodinary.

 

I guess I'm in the slightly lucky position of being married to an Australian citizen who was born and bred just outside Adelaide. Since we met though we have lived in the UK and have been busy buying a house having our first baby etc etc with the thought in the back of our mind that one day we would move down to Adelaide. In the background we have been trying to save enough money to make the move down under comfortable and be able to pay for the move and have a couple of months money to survive on whilst we settle in and get jobs etc.

 

There are many really motivating posts on this forum and it has galvanised us into action. Since we have come across this site we have completed our forms and started carrying out all of the other investigations with the aim of moving next year.

 

Has anyone else on the forum entered Australia via a Spouse Visa. Is it any quicker than many of the other visa types mentioned and discussed on this forum. Is it a done deal or is there a real chance of not getting a visa. Are there any particular things we need to be aware of.

 

I think fate may be managing here as as I left work today I was told that there would appear to be mass redundancies planned before Christmas which somewhat changes my outlook even further. Now might be exactly the right time to get out of the UK especially with house prices and the exchange rates going the way they are.

 

Any comments/advice welcomed .

 

Thankyou!

 

Martyn, Melanie and Harry

[Guest NeilJen]

Hi,

 

We are new to PIA too and are in the same boat. We are applying for a Spouse Visa 309 (I am british with Oz passport as grew up in Adelaide when I was a child), my fiancee is British. We have been told that as we are marrying next September '08 in the UK that we are able to still apply for Spouse 309 visa as by the time we would be entering Oz we will be 'de jure' rather than 'de facto' even if not quite when the application is sent in. Obviously have to proove it to a massive extent. Our difficulty is that we live in Auckland New Zealand currenlty and need to apply from here but I guess the process is exactly the same for both of us.

I've done a bit of 'googling' and found this webpage which has peoples stories on with dates that it took and from what I can gather they are processed quite quickly and it sounds much easier than applying through the points system (correct me if I'm wrong)

http://forums.australia-migration.com/showthread.php?t=10306 .

My cousin applied about 3 years ago for his wife (both british but he had Oz passport), he has told me that they spent 3 months preparing the application with all the proof of relationship, bank and credit card statements, photos, old emails between themselves at all periods of their relationship. After they sent in the info they recived her passport in 1 month. Not bad!

 

I am busy collating all of our info now and ts actually quite fun. Being an EA I am incredibly organised so this is more of a fun project for me rather than a laborious task which it looks at first sight. My advice is to go through all paperwork you guys have and sort into 3 piles: Martyn pile, Melanie pile, joint pile (Harry pile maybe just in case), then make 2 copies of everything and put into Lever arch file and divide in a similar way but put a detailed contents list at the front! I'm sure if immigration get an organised application its breath of fresh air. Why the 2nd copy because then if it goes missing, they call you to question you or anything you can go stright to the document they are talking about. You may have a different system planned but that's mine and going well so far!

 

Where abouts are you thinking of living? We are looking in Norwood & Burnside area as a stones throw to beach and hills (by UK commuting standards its nothing). We are also contemplating NOrth Glenelg but the glenelg beach is quite polluted now so further up or down the coast better (according to my friend who lived there until she's doing a year abroad since last year). I lived in West Beach, Wattle Park, Athlestone and Hazlewood Park whilst i was there as a child. Went to school at St Josephs Memorial in Norwood which was great fun and a fantastic school even though I wasn't Catholic. I belive it was fee paying but my parents weren't well off at all and managed to afford it so can't be that much, certainly not as much as the UK private schools thats for sure.

 

We'll have our first baby by the time we arrive (end Sept next year) so looking forward to setting up our first family home and finding friends with little children and who enjoy BBQ's , the sun, fresh air and wine as much as we do. We are totally excited and its 10 months away and visa depending. Such a great city its really tough not to get excited and our hopes up.

 

Anyway, I've rambled for long enough now!

 

Take care and hope this is in someway helpful for you all.

 

Jen

[Guest Bodie]

Hi guys,

The spouse visa, in my experience, was relatively straight forward. I am married to an OZ citizen and both of our kids (5 & 2) have dual nationality. The paper work may appear daunting but with if you are organised in is manageable. From application to visa issue, including a repeat medical, mislaid passport at high commission and several other minor hiccups took approx 6months. When issued with visa you then have to validate it within 12 months ie. enter the country, we did this when visiting the rellys on holiday.

We are now primed and ready to go. We've sold our house; our possessions are being shipped as I type; the dog is in Melbourne in Spotswood quarantine centre; have bought a lovely house in Hawthorndene (3.8kms from my in-laws); kids enrolled and due to start in Scotch College; and we arrive on Jan 11th.

As NeilJen said the key to the entire process is being prepared & organised; expect hiccups (try to stay calm!!) and remember the bigger picture.

[suzer]

Just a quick note to say that I too am entering Australia on a spousal visa, although I'm American and am now living in New Zealand with my husband. Best of luck and will write more later when I have more time.

 

Suzer

[Guest Rob and Clare]

Hi Martyn, Melanie and Harry,

 

I too entered Australia as a spouse, and whilst i don't know if it's easier than other methods, it still certainly took some effort. From a timing point we got the forms in August and receved the visa before Christmas. I'm not sure if we took the correct route but we packed everything in one application which took a long time to collate, the medical (was easy and quick), the police checks (took a month or so), getting 2 other Aussie citizens to vouch that our relationship was genuine took a bit longer and that took some time but it always felt a big ask for some friends in Melbourne to make a statement about us and get a JP to sign it, and I'd only met them once by then. With everything sorted (we even sent wedding pictures, christmas cards, bank statements etc..) the actual visa took approx 6 weeks. As we hadn't been married 5 years by then I had to do it all again 6 months after arrival to get perminant residency.

 

And like everyone elses story we had 12 months to enter Oz to validate it, you don't have to move to do that, just arriving in perth (or anywhere) for a few hours will validate the visa, then you get a further 5 years to arrive. it took us just 7 months to sell up and work my 3 month notice. So the whole process took just under a year....

 

I think if you have some proof of shared responsibilities, mortgage, banks etc... but i think having a baby is kinda a big shared responsibility, so i think it's a done deal. I did have a friend who applied as a de facto spouse but they had only just got together, and of course didn't have any proof of a relationship (they had been friends for years). and they only got a 12 month tourist visa, and then they have to reapply next year.

 

Good Luck, but I think you'll be fine.

 

Rob

[Guest taffgmg]

Hi NeilJen,

 

Thanks for responding to my thread. We would love to live in Norwood or Burnside area but its probably a bit expensive for us although it is a lovely area. My wife lived in Norwood when she was a student nurse no knows the are well and the few times we have been back to see here parents we always go to Norwood Parade either for a coffee in the day or to Parade Thai. Very envious.

 

We havent really decided where we are going to end up yet. I guess it will depend on which hospital Mel ends up working at and where I find work. From reading the posts I like the sound of Mount Barker, Hahndorf or even Mclaren Vale.

 

Last time we were out we went and looked at some show homes in Mawson Lakes to see what you can get for your money. Must say I felt like I was on the set of Footballers Wives as the houses were amazing, much bigger than anything we could ever hope to afford over here. The whole area looked great and looked as though it had been created from scratch. Must say a house by one of the lakes would have been great but not sure Mel thinks much of the area.

 

Rob, Clare,

I notice from your post that you are based in Mawson Lakes. Is it as great as it looks.

 

 

We are hoping to be out there, visa allowing by this time next year. A few forms to fill in before then though!

 

Good luck.

 

Martyn