[MelbourneTexasCouple]

Hi everyone!

I found this forum only yesterday, so I'm very new here. I can't seem to see many recent PMV threads.

I am Australian & my fiance is Texan, we've been together since 2018 and became engaged in 2020. Our last trip together was late 2019, we had travel plans booked last year but were cancelled due to Covid. We are going through a migration agent (review service only) and will be lodging in the next week or two. I feel pretty confident with our application, but will know more when the migration agent reviews our docs! We've met each others friends & family, but lieu of photos with many of them we are providing Form 888 stat dec's (around 15-20 of them). We have PayPal transfers, gift receipts, travel booking receipts (for Texas, New Orleans and around Melbourne), Victorian relationship certificate, letter from my landlord agreeing to put my fiance on my lease, and plenty of photos. We've appointed a celebrant and I've signed my part of the Notice of Intent to Marry (our celebrant and venue are flexible with dates thankfully!). Due to these border closures we've been apart for over a year and our initial wedding plans fell apart (all documented in our application). I have photos of the family heirloom ring my fiance will give to me when he is in Australia and my mother in law has included info on the ring in her Form 888. So we have a lot of evidence but it is still an incredibly nerve-racking process.

The DHA website says processing time is 19 months for 75% and 24 months for 90%. We are totally committed to one another, but it is still so much time apart (which I'm sure many people in this forum can empathise with!!). I was wondering if anyone has any recent experience with the PMV? Has anyone had any positive experiences with quick processing times?

Thanks in advance

 

[wrussell]

A fiancé is NOT a family member and could expect a problem applying for a travel exemption. From what you have posted, it looks as if you could satisfy the schedule 1 and the schedule 2 criteria to apply for a partner visa in the first instance. By applying for a subclass 300 visa, you might be shooting yourself in the foot; both feet. If you consulted a registered? migration agent for advice about applying for a subclass 300 visa, and that is what you get, best of luck.

 

[MelbourneTexasCouple]

A fiancé is NOT a family member and could expect a problem applying for a travel exemption. From what you have posted, it looks as if you could satisfy the schedule 1 and the schedule 2 criteria to apply for a partner visa in the first instance. By applying for a subclass 300 visa, you might be shooting yourself in the foot; both feet. If you consulted a registered? migration agent for advice about applying for a subclass 300 visa, and that is what you get, best of luck.

Hi wrussell, thanks for your response. We do know we need to apply for a travel exemption, and that our 300 PMV application should satisfy the Department's travel exemption criteria. However your points are important and when we chat to the migration agent next week we'll see if they suggest we go straight for the partner visa instead of fiance.

 

[Kofi]

Hi everyone!

I found this forum only yesterday, so I'm very new here. I can't seem to see many recent PMV threads.

I am Australian & my fiance is Texan, we've been together since 2018 and became engaged in 2020. Our last trip together was late 2019, we had travel plans booked last year but were cancelled due to Covid. We are going through a migration agent (review service only) and will be lodging in the next week or two. I feel pretty confident with our application, but will know more when the migration agent reviews our docs! We've met each others friends & family, but lieu of photos with many of them we are providing Form 888 stat dec's (around 15-20 of them). We have PayPal transfers, gift receipts, travel booking receipts (for Texas, New Orleans and around Melbourne), Victorian relationship certificate, letter from my landlord agreeing to put my fiance on my lease, and plenty of photos. We've appointed a celebrant and I've signed my part of the Notice of Intent to Marry (our celebrant and venue are flexible with dates thankfully!). Due to these border closures we've been apart for over a year and our initial wedding plans fell apart (all documented in our application). I have photos of the family heirloom ring my fiance will give to me when he is in Australia and my mother in law has included info on the ring in her Form 888. So we have a lot of evidence but it is still an incredibly nerve-racking process.

The DHA website says processing time is 19 months for 75% and 24 months for 90%. We are totally committed to one another, but it is still so much time apart (which I'm sure many people in this forum can empathise with!!). I was wondering if anyone has any recent experience with the PMV? Has anyone had any positive experiences with quick processing times?

Thanks in advance

Subclass 300 is pretty silent lately.
My fiance and I lodged our application in Aug 2020 and haven't heard anything from DHA till date. We uploaded most docs upfront, Ive done biometrics as well.
We keep supplying evidences from time to time.
Our migration agent asked us not to do the medicals and wait till DHA asks (not sure if its a good idea or not)
Still waiting......

 

[paulhand]

Hi wrussell, thanks for your response. We do know we need to apply for a travel exemption, and that our 300 PMV application should satisfy the Department's travel exemption criteria. However your points are important and when we chat to the migration agent next week we'll see if they suggest we go straight for the partner visa instead of fiance.

Even holding a 300 visa does not satisfy the travel exemption requirements:

" If you hold a Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa, please be aware that you need to request an exemption from Australia's travel restrictions and this will be considered on a case-by-case basis. An intention to marry is not sufficient evidence to demonstrate that you are an immediate family member of an Australian citizen or permanent resident. You can provide proof of your relationship, or evidence that you meet any other individual exemption category, by applying online at the bottom of this page."

As Westley said, If you are confident that your situation meets the travel exemption criteria, then why would it not meet the partner visa criteria?

 

[eli27abeth]

I'm in a similar situation. My partner is located in Melbourne and I live here in DC - we lodged in March 2020 and have not received any updates. From everything I've read and heard from others in the PMV300 boat, very very few are being processed. My partner and I have been looking into converting to a 309. I would say the FB groups for Partner visas have been very helpful in tracking grants. We did not apply for the 309 originally since we have never lived together and were worried about fulfilling that qualification.

Best of luck!

 

[MelbourneTexasCouple]

Subclass 300 is pretty silent lately.
My fiance and I lodged our application in Aug 2020 and haven't heard anything from DHA till date. We uploaded most docs upfront, Ive done biometrics as well.
We keep supplying evidences from time to time.
Our migration agent asked us not to do the medicals and wait till DHA asks (not sure if its a good idea or not)
Still waiting......

Thanks for the timeline update ... best of luck with hearing from DHA soon!

 

[MelbourneTexasCouple]

Even holding a 300 visa does not satisfy the travel exemption requirements:

" If you hold a Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa, please be aware that you need to request an exemption from Australia's travel restrictions and this will be considered on a case-by-case basis. An intention to marry is not sufficient evidence to demonstrate that you are an immediate family member of an Australian citizen or permanent resident. You can provide proof of your relationship, or evidence that you meet any other individual exemption category, by applying online at the bottom of this page."

As Westley said, If you are confident that your situation meets the travel exemption criteria, then why would it not meet the partner visa criteria?

Hi Paul. As I mentioned, we are due to speak to our migration agent next week after they have gone through our documentation.

 

[MelbourneTexasCouple]

I'm in a similar situation. My partner is located in Melbourne and I live here in DC - we lodged in March 2020 and have not received any updates. From everything I've read and heard from others in the PMV300 boat, very very few are being processed. My partner and I have been looking into converting to a 309. I would say the FB groups for Partner visas have been very helpful in tracking grants. We did not apply for the 309 originally since we have never lived together and were worried about fulfilling that qualification.

Best of luck!

Hi there - that sounds very similar to us, with regards to the 309 & not living together. We had planned to live together in 2020 but of course covid changed all of that. We have written about that in our statements, so will see what the agent recommends when we see her next week. Thanks for the FB group tip and best of luck to you too!

 

[wrussell]

PMV300 boat,

AKA the Titanic.

 

[Kofi]

Just to ask, our migration agent advised us to wait for DHA to ask for medical check before we do it.
But whats the ideal way to go about it,
Wait as they suggest or provide upfront
Visa is subclass 300 lodged in Aug 2020
Most docs uploaded upfront except the medicals

 

[Hope28]

Just to ask, our migration agent advised us to wait for DHA to ask for medical check before we do it.
But whats the ideal way to go about it,
Wait as they suggest or provide upfront
Visa is subclass 300 lodged in Aug 2020
Most docs uploaded upfront except the medicals

due to covid they are not processing quickly, I would suggest to wait

 

[wrussell]

We did not apply for the 309 originally since we have never lived together

To qualify, you do not have to live together.

 

[kamehameha]

I'm in a similar situation. My partner is located in Melbourne and I live here in DC - we lodged in March 2020 and have not received any updates. From everything I've read and heard from others in the PMV300 boat, very very few are being processed. My partner and I have been looking into converting to a 309. I would say the FB groups for Partner visas have been very helpful in tracking grants. We did not apply for the 309 originally since we have never lived together and were worried about fulfilling that qualification.

Best of luck!

Hi eli27abeth, my partner and I are in similar situation, we lodged in June 2019 and there're no updates at all. The reason we didn't go for the 309 was also because we've been living in different countries, don't have mortgage together etc. Now it's just endless waiting..
But how do you convert a 300 to a 309 visa? Is it possible?

 

[JandE]

But how do you convert a 300 to a 309 visa? Is it possible?

You get married, then you can switch to a 309.

 

[BECKZ]

Just to ask, our migration agent advised us to wait for DHA to ask for medical check before we do it.
But whats the ideal way to go about it,
Wait as they suggest or provide upfront
Visa is subclass 300 lodged in Aug 2020
Most docs uploaded upfront except the medicals

Hi Kofi,

It's your choice, but my partner and I opted to do the health checks beforehand and uploaded everything at the same time (police checks too).

The reason that we decided to do that was because, throughout last year, we found that some people were finding it hard to book in their medicals due to the Covid situation in their country (due to whatever restrictions they had in place at the time). This was after their Case Officer had requested medicals and they would've been given 21 or 28 days to complete it. We didn't want to be in the same situation, so we front-loaded everything. (I don't think this is an issue anymore though.)

I think the main reason that people tell you to wait is because they only last 12 months, and so if you have to do them again, it will be double the cost. For us, we didn't mind paying if it meant we had all of our documents front-loaded. So the choice is yours on whether the benefits outweigh the cons!

 

[Kofi]

Hi Kofi,

It's your choice, but my partner and I opted to do the health checks beforehand and uploaded everything at the same time (police checks too).

The reason that we decided to do that was because, throughout last year, we found that some people were finding it hard to book in their medicals due to the Covid situation in their country (due to whatever restrictions they had in place at the time). This was after their Case Officer had requested medicals and they would've been given 21 or 28 days to complete it. We didn't want to be in the same situation, so we front-loaded everything. (I don't think this is an issue anymore though.)

I think the main reason that people tell you to wait is because they only last 12 months, and so if you have to do them again, it will be double the cost. For us, we didn't mind paying if it meant we had all of our documents front-loaded. So the choice is yours on whether the benefits outweigh the cons!

Hi Beckz,

Thanks for your insight.
Since we did not do it upfront when lodging, i think we would wait until requested.

 

[JandE]

Some fast grants for subclass 300, PMV, recently.

• 300 Granted: 30 Mar 2021 – Applied 19 Jul 2020. UK. Processed in 8.4 months.
• 300 Granted: 27 Mar 2021 – Applied 13 Sep 2020. Jordan. Processed in 6.4 months.
• 300 Granted: 22 Mar 2021 – Applied 25 Feb 2021. Israel. Processed in 1 months.

It would not surprise me if these did not wait to be asked for the medical.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Some fast grants

• 300 Granted: 22 Mar 2021 – Applied 25 Feb 2021. Israel. Processed in 1 months.

That's me! and yeah, I had everything ready and uploaded as soon as possible.

 

[JandE]

That's me! and yeah, I had everything ready and uploaded as soon as possible.

Have you got the travel ban exemption to get to Australia?