[fromamerica]

Hi everyone,

I am still getting the hang of this forum and I apologize if my questions have already been answered.

Currently I am applying for exemption with the de-facto partnership from America. And here are my questions:

1. Can I screenshot lease agreements, bank statements, etc or do I need to include the full lease in the application (I have at least 3 leases..)?

2. Do you suggest submitting as MS word doc or PDF?

3. How do you format the photos/screenshots in a document so it is easier to read for the agent?

4. If anyone has experience applying for the COVID exemption/visitor visa during this, I would love to hear to to the extent of what evidence you included!

Thanks so much!

 

[wrussell]

These are issues to discuss with your agent.

 

[fromamerica]

Hi Westly, do you happen to have any insight?

I believe my questions are fairly simple, yes or no?

 

[DMS2019]

Hi everyone,

I am still getting the hang of this forum and I apologize if my questions have already been answered.

Currently I am applying for exemption with the de-facto partnership from America. And here are my questions:

1. Can I screenshot lease agreements, bank statements, etc or do I need to include the full lease in the application (I have at least 3 leases..)?

2. Do you suggest submitting as MS word doc or PDF?

3. How do you format the photos/screenshots in a document so it is easier to read for the agent?

4. If anyone has experience applying for the COVID exemption/visitor visa during this, I would love to hear to to the extent of what evidence you included!

Thanks so much!

I'm married to my partner so I didn't have the same burden of proof for the relationship when I applied for the exemption - but when you are applying for the exemption, there is a place to upload any and all supporting documents. Is your relationship registered in Australia? If so, you'd def want to upload that. Shared financials, lease agreements, etc are all good starts. I recommend PDF. You are limited with your upload amount (I think 5MB) and I found screenshots, unless condensed, take up more MB. You will also have a place to explain your situation/why you need to travel to Australia.
Because I'm married, I only uploaded my marriage certificate and my passport, I explained why I needed to travel to see my husband and I was approved within 1 hour. I don't think it's the same type of "agent" as when applying for the partner visa, but could be wrong.
If all goes well and you get your exemption into Australia, though I'm sure you're aware, as of now you will still need to isolate in a hotel for 14 days upon arrival. Word is places like Queensland are going to begin charging for these stays starting July 1st. My understanding is NSW will not be charging for this. Just helpful info to know.
I'm currently isolating in hotel now 🙂

 

[wrussell]

If you have retained the services of a registered migration agent, it would be a breach of part 4 the code of conduct for me to sdvise you,

 

[fromamerica]

I'm married to my partner so I didn't have the same burden of proof for the relationship when I applied for the exemption - but when you are applying for the exemption, there is a place to upload any and all supporting documents. Is your relationship registered in Australia? If so, you'd def want to upload that. Shared financials, lease agreements, etc are all good starts. I recommend PDF. You are limited with your upload amount (I think 5MB) and I found screenshots, unless condensed, take up more MB. You will also have a place to explain your situation/why you need to travel to Australia.
Because I'm married, I only uploaded my marriage certificate and my passport, I explained why I needed to travel to see my husband and I was approved within 1 hour. I don't think it's the same type of "agent" as when applying for the partner visa, but could be wrong.
If all goes well and you get your exemption into Australia, though I'm sure you're aware, as of now you will still need to isolate in a hotel for 14 days upon arrival. Word is places like Queensland are going to begin charging for these stays starting July 1st. My understanding is NSW will not be charging for this. Just helpful info to know.
I'm currently isolating in hotel now 🙂

Ah yes thanks so much and glad you got approved! We aren't married or registered (looks like it will take 3-4 weeks to approve a defacto relationship in Victoria) but we have 3 years worth of de-facto relationship! Maybe we will register anyways..

I am still waiting on my visitor visa 600 to be approved! Did you apply the visitor visa route or were you able to apply for an ETA?

 

[DMS2019]

Ah yes thanks so much and glad you got approved! We aren't married or registered (looks like it will take 3-4 weeks to approve a defacto relationship in Victoria) but we have 3 years worth of de-facto relationship! Maybe we will register anyways..

I am still waiting on my visitor visa 600 to be approved! Did you apply the visitor visa route or were you able to apply for an ETA?

Doesn't hurt, but not sure on the criteria if you're still living in the US. I know they consider a registered de facto similar to marriage (or common law in the States) in terms of taxes and when the relationship ends.
I have friends in a long-term relationship (5+ years) but they reside in different countries on a normal basis, and he was denied the exemption in, so I know it's not easy with the burden of proof. Just make sure you can prove that you normally reside together on a regular basis and/or depend on each other financially when you're looking for things to upload, along with the regular relationship facets. Use and consider this as practice for your partner visa lol.
I had my ETA from when I came in January thankfully. I'm not sure how long the 600 takes to get. But hopefully you're able to get both the visa and the exemption!
Good luck to you!! And if you're able to get the exemption, bring your mask - Melbourne is a hot bed right now 😬 mostly from hotel quarantiners.

 

[fromamerica]

Doesn't hurt, but not sure on the criteria if you're still living in the US. I know they consider a registered de facto similar to marriage (or common law in the States) in terms of taxes and when the relationship ends.
I have friends in a long-term relationship (5+ years) but they reside in different countries on a normal basis, and he was denied the exemption in, so I know it's not easy with the burden of proof. Just make sure you can prove that you normally reside together on a regular basis and/or depend on each other financially when you're looking for things to upload, along with the regular relationship facets. Use and consider this as practice for your partner visa lol.
I had my ETA from when I came in January thankfully. I'm not sure how long the 600 takes to get. But hopefully you're able to get both the visa and the exemption!
Good luck to you!! And if you're able to get the exemption, bring your mask - Melbourne is a hot bed right now 😬 mostly from hotel quarantiners.

Thank you for the info! That is good to know actually.. perhaps we will apply for de-facto officially too. You print up a good point about proving the same residency and financial situation.

Yeah the ETA would have come in handy. Glad you made it over there!

Are you planning to extend the visitor visa or move on to another visa?

 

[allergiac]

Every visa application I ever did, we used PDF documents. With Ms Word or openOffice (the one I use) it is easy to save docs as a PDF format. Also, check out the website ILovePDF, it has plenty of easy to use tools to merge ,break apart, or downsize PDF documents.
Take screenshots of what you want to show and post them in a MS Word page, reduce the margins to make them bigger, and make that a PDF. We always did it and it always worked out well.