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Like many others, my partner and I are under the pressure of the new changes that will soon be impacting the current Partner Visa framework. I am becoming crazy paranoid about the strength of our application, so I'm getting advice from a variety of sources.
I wanted to see what the general perception is of a case like mine. I feel like we are not alone in our situation, but perhaps this might guide others on what to expect, alongside getting some feedback on our situation.
Brief overview of relationship: Met USA partner in Greece, Aug 2016. I'm the Aussie. We hit it off. I was travelling Europe, and he was wrapping up his holiday. I went to visit him for six weeks in Boston in Oct 2016; he came to visit me in London where I was living in Jan / Feb 2017. We decided to become "exclusive" and to figure out a way to live together in June 2017. Between June 2017 and July 2018, we visited each other another five times. From July 2018, we have been together - I met up with him in the USA where we spent 5 weeks with his family before moving to Australia. He is currently on the WHV and we are getting our evidence, with the hopes of submitting very soon.
Evidence we have:
- All certified identity documents +Form 80
- Joint bank details (7 months), bank statements, receipts of significant purchases (like furniture and rent).
- Joint home insurance policy
- Joint utility bills
- Beneficiary documents for both of us
- Lease agreement (7 months)
- Registration of Relationship certificate
- Some evidence of financial interdependence during the long-distance component of our relationship (e.g. a few bank transfers, shared ubers, split accommodation charges).
- Joint travel documents + travel documents to see each other
- All stat decs (including certified copies of ours, x3 Form 888 and a notarised statement from his mother)
- Photos (incl. plenty with others), conversation histories, event tickets, social media evidence, letters and cards to one another, letters and cards from other people addressed to both of us, mail received at our shared address.
We are also planning on lodging a joint tax return, and will be looking to finance a car jointly by the end of the year - documents we will add to our application, of course.
We have spent several hours today combing through all our evidence, with a particular focus on cross-referencing dates. We are saying we have been in a "defacto" relationship since September 2017, as this is when we took out our joint lease, but we have been in a committed relationship for a lot longer than that - we just don't feel we have the documents to prove that without fail (mostly financial, because living in separate countries, you can open joint bank accounts). I am hoping the C.O. will acknowledge our conservative approach and judge our application holistically.
We are also planning on getting our documents professionally reviewed this week before we submit, but like I said, I'm keen to get a variety of opinions on how strong people believe our application will be. My biggest concern is, of course, the fact we have not lived together the full 12 months, but we have done everything in our power for now to get all the essentials right.
Any suggestions to strengthen our case are, of course, very welcome! Thank you for reading my essay.
Sarah
I wanted to see what the general perception is of a case like mine. I feel like we are not alone in our situation, but perhaps this might guide others on what to expect, alongside getting some feedback on our situation.
Brief overview of relationship: Met USA partner in Greece, Aug 2016. I'm the Aussie. We hit it off. I was travelling Europe, and he was wrapping up his holiday. I went to visit him for six weeks in Boston in Oct 2016; he came to visit me in London where I was living in Jan / Feb 2017. We decided to become "exclusive" and to figure out a way to live together in June 2017. Between June 2017 and July 2018, we visited each other another five times. From July 2018, we have been together - I met up with him in the USA where we spent 5 weeks with his family before moving to Australia. He is currently on the WHV and we are getting our evidence, with the hopes of submitting very soon.
Evidence we have:
- All certified identity documents +Form 80
- Joint bank details (7 months), bank statements, receipts of significant purchases (like furniture and rent).
- Joint home insurance policy
- Joint utility bills
- Beneficiary documents for both of us
- Lease agreement (7 months)
- Registration of Relationship certificate
- Some evidence of financial interdependence during the long-distance component of our relationship (e.g. a few bank transfers, shared ubers, split accommodation charges).
- Joint travel documents + travel documents to see each other
- All stat decs (including certified copies of ours, x3 Form 888 and a notarised statement from his mother)
- Photos (incl. plenty with others), conversation histories, event tickets, social media evidence, letters and cards to one another, letters and cards from other people addressed to both of us, mail received at our shared address.
We are also planning on lodging a joint tax return, and will be looking to finance a car jointly by the end of the year - documents we will add to our application, of course.
We have spent several hours today combing through all our evidence, with a particular focus on cross-referencing dates. We are saying we have been in a "defacto" relationship since September 2017, as this is when we took out our joint lease, but we have been in a committed relationship for a lot longer than that - we just don't feel we have the documents to prove that without fail (mostly financial, because living in separate countries, you can open joint bank accounts). I am hoping the C.O. will acknowledge our conservative approach and judge our application holistically.
We are also planning on getting our documents professionally reviewed this week before we submit, but like I said, I'm keen to get a variety of opinions on how strong people believe our application will be. My biggest concern is, of course, the fact we have not lived together the full 12 months, but we have done everything in our power for now to get all the essentials right.
Any suggestions to strengthen our case are, of course, very welcome! Thank you for reading my essay.
Sarah
