[Shelly16]

Hi,
My boyfriend James (applicant) and I (partner sponsor) are finalising our de facto partner visa application, appying online here in London. We're doing this ourselves (without the help of an agent) in order to save some cash, but does mean we have a few points we'd like to clarify before we submit!
For anyone else applying for 309 via the UK:
1) What documents if any did you get certified - and who by? We've read what seems to be conflicting instructions (perhaps to do with how paper applications differ to online applications) but don't know what we need to get certified, or by who (keen to avoid anything that isn't necessary). We have three or four statements from my friends - all Australian citizens - that they have signed and dated, but were these signatures meant to be witnessed by a notary?
2) We've taken the risk of getting both the medical and police check completed up front - has anyone else done this, and had to re-do them at a later date?
3) For my personal statement (as sponsor) I've drafted 1500 words broken into sections like history of our relationship, financial aspects, the nature of our household and social context etc (hopefully ticking all the boxes), referencing various evidence we're submitting. James' statement will be very similar indeed, as he'll be addressing the same aspects and referencing the same documents - is this how you did it? It's not too much duplication?
4) As a sponsor, how much information do you need to give about future plans - do I need to demonstrate I have the funds to support him for several months if he were to fail to find work, for example?

Any thoughts on the above and your own experiences would be hugely appreciated! Thanks very much and best of luck to everyone else in the process

Shelly

 

[Becky26]

Hi,
My boyfriend James (applicant) and I (partner sponsor) are finalising our de facto partner visa application, appying online here in London. We're doing this ourselves (without the help of an agent) in order to save some cash, but does mean we have a few points we'd like to clarify before we submit!
For anyone else applying for 309 via the UK:
1) What documents if any did you get certified - and who by? We've read what seems to be conflicting instructions (perhaps to do with how paper applications differ to online applications) but don't know what we need to get certified, or by who (keen to avoid anything that isn't necessary). We have three or four statements from my friends - all Australian citizens - that they have signed and dated, but were these signatures meant to be witnessed by a notary?

-> The documents are required to be certified if you're submitting a paper application. All government issued documents like copies of your and your partner's passport, birth certificates, photo ids etc need to be certified.

In case you're applying online, certification of the above mentioned documents isn't needed. You need up upload scans of the original documents to your immi account.

2) We've taken the risk of getting both the medical and police check completed up front - has anyone else done this, and had to re-do them at a later date?

-> Both the police checks and medicals are valid for 12 months from the date of issue. With the ever increasing processing time frames for the partner visa applications, it is advised to wait till the case officer is assigned and requests for them to be submitted. They usually give you 28 days from the day the request is sent to you. If in case it may take longer than that, you can just email him/her stating that the process might take a bit longer than 28 days to keep them updated and they are fine with that.

My application took 16 months, although I am from a HR country and had a rejected partner visa on my history. So the first set of police checks and medicals were expired. I was only asked to supply the new police checks before my 309 was approved.

3) For my personal statement (as sponsor) I've drafted 1500 words broken into sections like history of our relationship, financial aspects, the nature of our household and social context etc (hopefully ticking all the boxes), referencing various evidence we're submitting. James' statement will be very similar indeed, as he'll be addressing the same aspects and referencing the same documents - is this how you did it? It's not too much duplication?

-> I would say, create your own statements. You can use a format detailing the four categories you mentioned above.
As long as 2 people are doing statements, it is difficult to end up with a duplicate cause of the way it may be written.

Also make sure to provide evidence like bank statements, receipts, photos, etc supporting the statements you will be supplying.

4) As a sponsor, how much information do you need to give about future plans - do I need to demonstrate I have the funds to support him for several months if he were to fail to find work, for example?

-> Not quite sure about this. It varies from couple to couple. We had provided a rough plan for the coming 5 years in the statement and what we plan to do if approved.

Funds aren't required to be shown however, it is good to provide evidence of joint savings that you might have accumulated with your partner. We had a joint bank account for our day to day use and also for our savings as well.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Kind Regards,
Becky