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Statment of Relationship History

4K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  chrisj1982 
#1 ·
hey all,

My wife and i are looking to apply for the permanent residency visa soon and are just finalizing the paperwork now, we have come upon a bit of a hitch and need some advice..

My wife's English skills are basic, she can talk more then she can read or write at this point and we are having trouble with the Statement in regards to our relationship history. in the application it states that a letter is to be provided by both parties, I have written a 6 page letter on the topic covering everything from day dot to now.

My question is due to my wife's basic English is it acceptable for me to write the letter for her or even use the same letter i wrote with a notary on the bottom explaining the situation as long as it is signed by her??

or would it be better to have her write a letter in her own language and have it officially translated? ( to be honest i don't even know if this would make it any easier as trying to explain to her what the letter is meant to represent has been a huge issue.)
 
#2 ·
hey all,

My wife and i are looking to apply for the permanent residency visa soon and are just finalizing the paperwork now, we have come upon a bit of a hitch and need some advice..

My wife's English skills are basic, she can talk more then she can read or write at this point and we are having trouble with the Statement in regards to our relationship history. in the application it states that a letter is to be provided by both parties, I have written a 6 page letter on the topic covering everything from day dot to now.

My question is due to my wife's basic English is it acceptable for me to write the letter for her or even use the same letter i wrote with a notary on the bottom explaining the situation as long as it is signed by her??

or would it be better to have her write a letter in her own language and have it officially translated? ( to be honest i don't even know if this would make it any easier as trying to explain to her what the letter is meant to represent has been a huge issue.)
This is a tough question. I believe she needs to write it. How you go about that is your decision but I don't think you can write it for her.
 
#3 ·
There was a recent post about statutory declarations made by people who cannot read or write in any language. But I think the more appropriate way to present her stat dec in your situation would be to have an official translation made of a declaration she wrote in her native language. And perhaps you can also hire a translator to explain the details and reasons for a statutory declaration.
 
#4 ·
I absolutely agree with Whitney. She HAS to be the one to write it. Have her write it in her native language and have it translated.
 
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#5 · (Edited)
At the time my wife applied for her subclass 300 visa (offshore, obviously) she wrote her letter in Indonesian and then I had it translated here in Australia with a bunch of her other stuff (birth certificate, family card etc) and then took the originals and translations back over to her. She could have had it translated over there, but since I was getting other stuff done here and I was going to visit her so we could sign all the forms together, it made sense.

By the time she applied for the 820/801, her English was a bit better but far from perfect, so she still needed my help to write her statement. She felt more comfortable writing it in Indonesian to start with, but then she sat down and used Google Translate to convert any words she didn't know into English.

The result was a statement she had written in English, I simply helped her change a few words around so it made more sense. She then signed it and sent away and the visa was approved with no questions asked. She did make a real effort and really my only input was to help her cross a few T's and dot the I's and add a few "and, if, or, but, because" type words where they were needed. I didn't restructure all of the sentences into perfect English, I left it naturally how she had written and translated it - so to someone whose first language is English, it was full of errors - but the way I look at it, this showed that she had written it alone and tried the best she could.

So they were the two options we went with in this scenario. DIAC doesn't seem to mind as long as they can understand the core of the statement it and it was genuinely written by the applicant. If you were to write it in 100% perfect English and she signed it, they may question who wrote it.
 
#6 ·
That is such a sweet story, Bonez. :) Love it.
 
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#9 ·
Hey guys, thanks for all the advice. looks like i will end up getting her to write it in Laotian and get it translated, however i was unaware that it had to be on a stat dec form as has been advised in the above posts.

I thought the Form 888 where to be completed by others as evidence towards your relationship and application am i wrong here?
 
#10 · (Edited)
You are right, chrisj, form 888 is for completion by a supporting witness to a partner or prospective marriage visa application.

I believe a Commonwealth of Australia Statutory Declaration is what you would need to use for your historical statement, which appears on this link:
http://www.ag.gov.au/Publications/Documents/CommonwealthStatutorydeclarationform.pdf

However, while I was researching for information about your query, I stumbled on 2 Statutory Declaration forms I had never encountered before:

http://www.immi.gov.au/contacts/forms/partner/_pdf/stat_dec_applicant.pdf
http://www.immi.gov.au/contacts/forms/partner/_pdf/stat_dec_sponsor.pdf

One is for the applicant while the other is for the sponsor. It is very specific and addresses the 4 categories of evidence an applicant and the sponsor need to provide (financial, nature of the household, social context of the relationship, nature of commitment to each other).

Now I have a question -- does anyone know when these versions of Stat Dec forms for a partner visa application need to be used? I didn't even know these forms existed! :confused: Are these the stat dec forms that even chrisj should use? HELP! :confused::confused:
 
#11 ·
It's perfectly okay to write your statement about the history of your relationship on plain paper. We did get ours certified, but there's some debate here as to whether even that is necessary. We did it just to be on the safe side.
 
#13 ·
Hey all, just got the checklist for the partner migration visa sent to us from the Australian Embassy in Vientiane Laos and this is what it says about the Statement.

- A written statement signed by you and your sponsor detailing the history of your relationship.

Where a Joint statement is not possible we will accept separate statements.

is this correct? it goes against all the advice given in the post so far. should we just stick to making separate statements anyways?
 
#14 ·
That is bizarre. DIAC says specifically that you have to include separate statements and that if they suspect each person didn't write it themselves they will ask you to redo them. Maybe contact the embassy for clarification. Each embassy has their own requirements, but they're usually in addition to DIAC's, not contradicting them.
 
#15 ·
Thanks Collegirl, all the info this forum has provided as well as my own research clearly contradicts this as well, i think we will just stick to making separate statements, saves the hassle.

I think we are pretty much lodgement ready and not wanting to make a new thread what do you guys reckon of our application.
below is a table of contents of were we are at........

Partner Visa: Offshore Temporary and Permanent (Subclasses 309 and 100)
& Application for Migration to Australia by a Partner

Table of Contents


1. Application Document Checklist

2. The Applicant
Form 47SP - Application for Migration to Australia by a Partner
Certified copy of passport & I.D Card
Four recent passport photos
Certified copy of Family Book

3. The Sponsor
Form 40SP – Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia
Certified copy of Passport
Four recent passport photos
Certified copy of Birth Certificate

4. History of our Relationship
Statement prepared by applicant
Statement prepared by sponsor
Skype account record from date of meeting to current
20 (5 pages x4)Photos with written comments and dates
Certified copy of the Marriage Registration Certificate
Certified copy of the Letter of Marriage Certificate

5. Financial Aspects of Relationship
Statement prepared by the sponsor
Letter of nomination of beneficiary of Superannuation
Western Union Account history & copy of receipts
Copy of TDS contract for marriage license
Copy of Tourist Visa approval letter
Copies of Flight Ticket receipt and Stubs

6. Supporting Witness Declarations
4 x Form 888 - Statutory Declarations by family and friends

7. Other Evidence Provided
C.V Profile – the applicant
C.V Profile – the sponsor

Statement provided by the sponsor
 
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