WillyWonka

lawyer also advised us to use the term PARTNER in our declarations. and decs must address all the financial, social aspects of the relationship. must mention how you supported each other, timelines must match etc... and also future aspirations on the relationship. like marriage, children, house.

if i remember any other useful advice from my lawyer, i will let you know.
i truly apologize for not getting back to you earlier before you submit your app.

i kept forgetting as i seldom log into my profile unless i am replying to a post that i am interested in.

hope you can still rectify some of the docs you uploaded in your online app.

one more thing i forgot to mention earlier, i did my app through a migration lawyer whom my partner knew for quite a long time.
we submitted ALL FORMS, including Form 80 and and 5 stats decs from his friends. His parents and my aunt also submitted stat decs as advised by our lawyer even though they are not Aust PR. he said this is important to indicate both our elders supported our relationship.

he also advised us to remind our friends to mention the word PARTNER/WIFE/HUBBY and do not use GF/BF in their stat decs! if i remember correctly, one of the registered mig agent on this forum did mention about this as well.our lawyer said DIBP emphasized this a lot and they do not like the GF/BF term. to them, this means Temporary relationship and not permanent.

luckily, our lawyer knew about this beforehand and advised us accordingly. so, if you have not submitted these stat decs yet, maybe you can still change it.

but, you may get lucky and granted earlier.
online apps are now all routed to the WA processing centre and i heard they are highly efficient. up to Apr 2014 apps now i think...
since you applied somewhere in Nov 2014, maybe you will get your 820 around Nov 2015 ?

anyway, good luck! hopefully, you do not have to wait > 12 mths like me.

mine is onshore 820 application. submitted on 29th OCT 2013. defacto relationship > 2yrs (with time evidence of up to 2yrs 10mths) at the time of app. partner is a former Malaysian who recently got his Aust citizenship. He has been Aust PR for >8 yrs.
i came from 574 student visa. meds and police checks were all uploaded at time of application.

i have waited 14 months until now with no email or news from DIBP.

as there is not many malaysian in this forum, i cannot comment on the waiting time of other malaysians, but i do notice that applicants from US, UK, Canada, Ireland and China do get their apps approved earlier than other SE Asian countries like malaysia, philippines, thailand, indonesia etc

hi Sasha,

sorry for not replying sooner.

i saw that you have already submitted your application, and i do think you made a good decision of making an online application. based on my own experience so far, online app is definitely faster (if you read one of my post in the 820 waiting room about my thoughts on paper vs online app, you will get what i mean)