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Spouse Visa after marrying in the US

4K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  kttykat 
#1 ·
My girlfriend is coming to the US later in the year and we plan on getting married while she is here visiting. I am wondering how hard it will be to get a Spouse Visa once we are married and what the typical wait time is for it to be approved. We are both in our lower 40s and I have a Military Pension (retired military), not sure if any of that really matters but thought I would include it in case it does have a factor.

She will be returning to Australia once we are married because she has a good job there and isn't looking to migrate to the US. I will be staying here in the US for a little while to get my paperwork started for my Spouse Visa and to wrap up things here in the US while waiting for approval.

Also, what are my options while I am waiting for my spouse Visa to get approved? Will I be able to apply for a Visitors Visa to visit her while I am waiting for the Spouse Visa to be approved?

Thanks for any guidance in this.
 
#5 ·
We have known each other for almost 2 years, but no we have not lived together since I had to finish out my military career and her career is there in Australia so as far as I can tell we can't get that Visa because we don't have the required 12 months of living together. This is why we want to get married next time she visits the U.S. to hopefully get the 12 month requirement waived since we will already be married.
 
#3 · (Edited)
what the typical wait time is for it to be approved. Minimum is around 5 months, maximum is over a year We are both in our lower 40s and I have a Military Pension (retired military), not sure if any of that really matters but thought I would include it in case it does have a factor. Being ex military is something that immigration wants to know about

She will be returning to Australia once we are married because she has a good job there and isn't looking to migrate to the US. I will be staying here in the US for a little while to get my paperwork started for my Spouse Visa and to wrap up things here in the US while waiting for approval. If you have the time then perhaps you should look at getting a PMV 300 rather than getting married and applying for the 309

Also, what are my options while I am waiting for my spouse Visa to get approved? Will I be able to apply for a Visitors Visa to visit her while I am waiting for the Spouse Visa to be approved? I came to Australia on an ETA whilst awaiting approval for our 309, I must leave the country when they are ready to apply, I am planning a trip to NZ

Thanks for any guidance in this.
Since you are not yet married I think you should look into the prospective marriage visa. You must apply for it offshore and when it is granted then you could if you wanted to marry in the USA, travel to Australia to activate the visa and then return to the US to marry. After marriage you can travel back to Australia and apply for the 820 onshore partner visa.

The PMV 300 requires less evidence than the 309. Just being married is not enough to guarantee it will be granted.

Kttykat
 
#7 ·
How does the 12 month living together play into all of that? Because we have not lived together and have seen very little of each other because of my finishing up my military career and her career being over there. Don't we still need the 12 month living together time to apply for the prospective marriage visa? Or am I reading that wrong? We are just thinking that it would be easier to marry here and then apply for the spouse visa, but I could be completely wrong.
 
#4 ·
To apply for a de facto visa you must e living together for at least 12 months, but this period can be waived once you guys get a marriage certificate. My suggestion would be you come to Australia in "whatever" visa you can. Once you here , both of you go to DIAC and apply for a de facto visa. You have to pay a fee and you guaranted a bridging visa while you wait for your permanent visa. Easy as.
 
#13 ·
just go to DIAC website and see which form and documents are required for your case. When u get Oz, fill up the forms, take the documents, pay the fees and done. Don't even bother paying those immigration lawyers for simples de facto visa applications. It's good on your statements you put some photos of you guys together. PS: a photo say more than thousand words. Good Luck!
 
#14 · (Edited)
What you're saying simply isn't true. Things were a lot easier 4 years ago, it was easy for you, but simply it isn't like this anymore.

If you read the Partner migration booklet (which is a MUST if you want to apply for a partner visa), you'll see that on the page 35 it says:

De facto partners (not married but in a de facto relationship)
To apply for a Partner visa as a de facto partner, you and your partner must show that you have been in a de facto relationship for the entire 12 months immediately prior to lodging your application. For details on the 12-month requirement, see page 18.
To be eligible for a Partner visa as a de facto partner, you must:
• be sponsored by an eligible person (usually by your partner) (see 'Sponsorship eligibility' on page 14);
• not be related by family;
• together with your de facto partner, be aged at least 18 years at the time your application is made;
• show that you and your partner have a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of all others;
• show that you have a genuine and continuing relationship with your partner (see page 39);
• show that you and your partner have been in a de facto relationship for the entire 12 months immediately prior to lodging your application;
• show that you and your partner are living together or, if not, that any separation is only temporary; and

• meet health and character requirements (see pages 19-21).
In assessing a claimed de facto relationship, the department looks at evidence of things such as living together full-time, sharing important financial and social commitments, and setting up a household separately from other people (for acceptable types of evidence, see page 39).

You need to have all the evidence prior to applying for a de facto visa, the evidence you provide later doesn't count.

Have a look at this case, it's a great example how important the evidence is for a de facto visa.

1007797 [2012] MRTA 1702 (18 June 2012)

If you come over on an ETA visa, get married first and then apply for a partner visa based on marriage, you still have to provide evidence (it's all in the booklet). You could get married straight away (when you come to Australia), then create good evidence in the following three months and apply shortly before your ETA expires (towards the end of your three months). In this case it'd be good to provide the evidence you already have (skype logs, emails, phone stats, etc.) to prove you didn't just started your relationship.

Bridging visa is rarely given straight away. That used to happen when people applied in person and they only had a few days left on their original visa. If you check this forum, you'll see you can't apply in person anymore; the applications need to be sent by post. Those applicants who insisted on applying in person and post on this forum wrote how disappointed they were, thinking somebody was going to check their application or talk to them when they applied; this doesn't happen anymore.

Bridging visa kicks in automatically when your original visa expires, in your case in three months, in case of longer tourist visas in six months or even a year (depends on the visa). Since November 24 2012, bridging visa A for partner applicants comes without any work or study restrictions. But your original visa needs to expire first, in your case that would happen after three months.

Regarding PMV, if you check the booklet you'll see you hardly need evidence for that type of visa.

I'm not a registered migration agent, but just somebody who went through this partner visa process myself. I suggest you check this forum thoroughly, there are many posts on the same subject weekly, do the research and then decide. You're lucky cause you have many choices, you can decide to apply for a PMV or an onshore partner visa (based on marriage). In case of applying for a partner visa, you can't apply without getting married first, as you don't have enough evidence for a de facto visa (check the upper MRT case).

That's what I did when I got here 4 years ago. You both go to immigration, pay the fees and done. You get a bridging visa straight away. During the 2 years process you might be asked to take some more documents to your case, or coming for a interview at the DIAC. But, if this relationship between you and the Aussie girl is true , there us nothing to be afraid. No dramas mate and easy as.
Applying for a partner visa is a 2-stage process and approximately 2 years after you first made your partner visa application, you will be assessed for the grant of the permanent partner visa (subclasses 100 or 801). Yes, you will be invited to present more evidence about your relationship when time comes for the second step. But, this has nothing to do with your original application; as I said, if you apply for a de facto, you'll be assessed based on the evidence you attached; if you apply for a partner visa based on marriage, you'll be assessed based on the evidence you provided and they might want to ask you for some more evidence before granting your temporary partner visa.



This is a photo of our onshore partner visa application, and we were married and had evidence in all four categories.

Good luck.
 
#16 ·
Just throwing this out there, as I don't have much experience with the Australian immigration process (but I do with the US one). Would there be issues with the USC flying to Australia on an ETA (which by virtue requires that the person DOES NOT have immigrant intent) and then applies to migrate?? I know that this is illegal and can cause big issues when it is done in reverse (ie Aussie flying to US on ETA/tourist visa and then applying to stay). I'm not saying it's a definite issue in this case - just hoping that someone with more experience may be able to clarify that. Moving countries and going through any kind of immigration process can be tricky, and I just wouldn't want the OP to possibly get caught up in something that may be technically illegal and/or may cause issues when they apply.

One other little thing too, if your Australian girlfriend intends to change her name after marriage and you get married in the US (or anywhere else outside Australia), the overseas marriage certificate will not be good enough to change her name on her passport. I found this out the hard way after I got married in the US and tried to change my name - I had to formally change my name at Births Deaths and Marriages in order to change my name in on my passport.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help to you, but good luck whichever way you decide to go.
 
#17 ·
I tend to agree, if you come on an ETA and marry straight away, then apply for an 820 then you are just asking for a refusal. If you have been here at least 2 months on the ETA and then apply it improves your chances. Applying in the first month demonstrates that your intent was always to bypass the proper system. In fact we spoke to immigration about this exact matter as I was here last year on an ETA before I returned to the states and married my now husband and then applied for a 309. I was honest about our situation, asked what would happen if we did get married in Australia and applied for an 820 and we were told it would be possibly considered immigration fraud to get married in Australia while on an ETA.


Kttykat


At that stage I didn't realize that I could have applied for a PMV and still marry in the US, which is what we wanted to do as my family are all there and my husband doesn't have a large family. To marry in the US after the PMV is granted you must travel to Australia and then can leave again, get married anywhere and then return to Australia within the 9 months of the PMV grant date. Then build up your evidence and later apply for the 820 once your 9 months is coming to an end. On the SC 300 there are work and travel rights so there is no problem.

Getting married in the US and applying for a 309 the way we did I now cannot work and must travel to New Zealand to renew my ETA next week and again when they are ready to grant my visa. If I had know then what I know now I wouldn't have done it the way we did.

Kttykat
 
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