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Prospective Marriage vs. Defacto Spouse Visa

5K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  florabuttercup 
#1 ·
Hi all

My partner and I have been in a relationship for almost two years, and we got engaged in February this year. I am Australian and he is Malawian, and we live together in Malawi. As far as I can tell we are eligible for both the prospective marriage visa and the de facto spouse visa.

Any advice as to which one we should apply for? We are tempted to go for the de facto visa because there are fewer steps to complete once we get to Australia, but they seem to require less evidence for the prospective marriage visa so perhaps that would be a safer bet.

Thanks in advance!
 
#4 ·
Same situation!

Hey all,

My fiance and I are in the same situation! There are two reasons why we are in this dilemma
1. I have a relative that works in the immigration office in aus and she did mention to me that fiance visas are quite hard to get as there is a lot of forging going on (sisters posing as future wives to their brothers in order to get in). She is on her honeymoon atm so I cant contact her to ask further questions about the defacto

2. You must marry in AUS 9 months after you enter the counrty on a fiance visa! I dont wanna marry yet...I'm from a greek family and we usually have INSANLEY huge weddings...I dont have the money for that yet and im not very fond of the idea of a civil marriage

If anyone has any further info on whether it is possible to apply for a defacto visa eventhough we are engaged and if it is more effective and faster i would appreciate it a lot. Other than that when I speak to my relative again I will update you all on what she says!
 
#5 ·
Hi alexandragr

We applied for the PMV in the end. Still not sure if it was the right decision, but we have just included as much evidence as possible and are hoping for the best!

I'm pretty sure you can still apply for the defacto visa if you are engaged, as long as you can provide enough evidence to satisfy the 12 month relationship requirement (This has been difficult for us as we are living in a village in Malawi, so we don't have an official lease for our house and rarely use access our bank accounts).

I would definitely be interested to hear what your relative in the immigration department has to say (although it's a bit late for us to change now!)

Best of luck!
 
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