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| SPOUSE VISA GRANTED!!!; SPOUSE VISA GRANTED!!! | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 14 2008, 07:55:21 PM (1,160 Views) | |
| Janda | Mar 14 2008, 07:55:21 PM Post #1 |
True Blue Mate
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Just a quick note because we are so happy, and just to encourage others here on this forum.. I'm an australian citizen by birth.. My wife is American. She came down to tasmania/australia with her younger son on a tourist 6 month visa at the end of October 2007. We applied to get married in November 2007. We got married in December 2007. We did our Medicals and FBI check and all associated spouse visa documents in January 2008. We called immigration and made an appointment with the local immigration office in Hobart city/Tasmania, we got our interview at the end of February 2008. (The website says it can take up to 6 months to grant the visa. The immigration officer said to us during our appointment it would take about 2 months to process our application) Two weeks later.. Today is now the 14th of March 2008, we had a message on our message bank at home, and our case officer called us and said our spouse visa's for my wife and son were granted. We are currently waiting for paperwork to arrive in the mail. Anyhow, we are all REALLY excited, happy and most of all relieved. We will post more soon! :redpepper: :)) :eggplant: |
 "I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| shylady | Mar 14 2008, 08:06:33 PM Post #2 |
oldYank
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CONGRATS! That was quick! :goodonya: Come back soon :yaay: Lisa in Perth |
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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| mily1383 | Mar 14 2008, 08:14:50 PM Post #3 |
True Blue Mate
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CONGRATULATIONS!!! |
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-Emily/Yank/PERMANENT RESIDENT!. -Melyssa/Aussie/Partner/Fiance/Gay lover type person. From San Diego to the Gong. Gay Specific Visa Questions? Email me! I'd love to share! LipstickLesbianSeeksPerfectColor@Hotmail.com  | |
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| Pamm | Mar 14 2008, 08:36:40 PM Post #4 |
True Blue Mate
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Goodness. There was no problem at all that you married on a tourist visa rather than a prospective spouse? Congrats, it *is* wonderful that it went so well!  |
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| Janda | Mar 14 2008, 08:56:15 PM Post #5 |
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True Blue Mate
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There was no problem at all. They never even questioned the fact we got married so early or got married on a tourist visa. The fact is, if immigration did not want people to get married on a tourist visa, they would of not made it possible and put some kind of restriction on the visa. We called the department of immigration a dozen times questioning how we should do things. And on more than one occasion, we were told by immigration that we can get married on a tourist visa and just apply for a spouse visa onshore providing that the tourist visa did not have the condition "no further stay". So we checked our tourist visa for my wife and son and both visa's did not have this condition. So we went ahead, got married, and this is where we are today. Still in shock and trying to realise the fact that we have only just been aproved only 5 hours ago. |
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"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| Pamm | Mar 14 2008, 09:10:28 PM Post #6 |
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True Blue Mate
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That is so amazing! I truly am very happy for you!!
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| TerritorianTori | Mar 15 2008, 12:23:21 AM Post #7 |
It couldn't happen here
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Well dang... I posted a huge reply and for some reason it's totally disappeared into the ether! :headscratch: Very strange. Anyway, Janda, I see this is your first post here so :welcome: and a big :congrats: on surviving the visa process!! I know you must be so relieved that it's finally over! Wanted to make a quick comment on the following:
Well... yes and no. The key factor is intent. It's one thing if you come to Australia as a genuine tourist, then somewhere along the line you get married to an Aussie citizen and decide to stay. Immigration understands that these things happen, and that's why you are allowed to apply for an onshore spouse visa while holding "any substantive visa". However, it's a totally different kettle of fish when you travel to Australia on a tourist visa intending to stay and get married. That is ILLEGAL. You are essentially lying to Immigration about your purpose for entering the country, and I have seen people get into serious trouble for being caught doing this. Sadly, you don't see them on websites like this one, happily talking about how everything worked out in the end...  Of course a lot of people have no trouble at all, because it's very difficult to prove that intent to break the law existed in the first place. And I know many people who were actually told by the Australian Embassy that it was OK to do it this way.... but getting migration advice from the DIAC is like getting tax advice from the IRS (a few of us have been down THAT road too :eek: ). Please, please, don't think I am trying to put you (or anyone else) down...I don't want to give that impression at all. I only want to point out for the benefit of others who read this thread and think, "Hey, maybe I could do it that way.", that there's a huge difference (legally) between deciding after-the-fact to get married and stay, which it sounds like you did...and coming over intending to get married and stay, which is illegal and not recommended and could get you BANNED from entering Australia for several years. That is all. *stepping off soapbox now* All the best to you and yours on your new life together! :)) :)) |
 South Texas to the Northern Territory - since 2004 I'm a huge fan of... Angry Video Game Nerd | The Big Bang Theory | Doctor Who | Pet Shop Boys | Yanks Down Under ~ Americans living in Australia Avatar by Sketch Shop Boys I don't do Facebook, sorry. | |
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| canaussie | Mar 15 2008, 02:16:53 AM Post #8 |
True Blue Mate
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Congrats to your family. :goodonya: P.S. I went over on a tourist visa, stayed one month, came home and applied for the prospective spouse visa, then moved to Australia. So I'm quite surprised and shocked by how this was done. I wouldn't think that this would be allowed. |
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Paula (dual Canadian/Australian) married to an Aussie since 1999 and mummy to an Aussie since 2000 | |
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| Janda | Mar 15 2008, 03:41:59 AM Post #9 |
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True Blue Mate
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Hi guys, this is the wife
 I just wanted to explain a bit more how we actually did this. I met my husband online and after we knew each other for a few months his family suggested that my son and I come over for a visit. I mean you can meet someone online and feel you are totally in love but when you actually meet in person it could all be wrong and not what you thought it would be. So we applied for a 6 month tourist Visa. Between my son and I we only came with one suitcase each.. LOL. Once I got here to Oz it was almost instant that I realized that he was exactly what I knew him to be online. After spending about 2 weeks together we both couldn't imagine me and my son having to go back not knowing when we would see each other again. We decided to quickly apply to get married, waited the 31 days, got married this past December and spent the rest of the time gathering information to show proof of our relationship. I applied for the FBI check here from oz and it only took about 2 weeks for me to get it. We front loaded Everything. Did medicals, and everything in advance. The time line for this entire process was very quick and yes, I'm quite shocked myself. I almost fell over when we got the message on our machine from our case worker telling us the Visa was granted. We did everything by the book and made sure all our i's were dotted and t's were crossed before we lodged the app. If I wasn't sure about something, I called Immigration to ask. After we had all of our proof of relationship together and the application completed, I called Immigration and made an appointment to lodge the Visa App. The appointment only lasted about 30 minutes. She started it out by pulling out a check list. Each time she would name something that we needed, I pulled it out. She got to medicals and said we would need to go do that. Once again I shocked her with, "here ya go". She told us she was quite impressed that we were so organized and she thanked us for that. She told us it would be about 2 months but maybe less. She put us on the bridging visa's that would kick in after the tourist visa was up in April. She asked us no questions about our relationship or anything. Though we did hand her a giant photo album of pics we simply printed out on printer paper and organized in the album with captions written under each as saying what we were doing. We had so much proof of evidence of the relationship. I didn't even think of over kill because it never hurts to have too much, I figured. We did a joint spouse letter (story of us). I actually wrote it in story form telling exactly how our relationship started from day one. At the end of the story we put a section with my thoughts and then a section with my husbands thoughts where we added our individual feelings about each other. We included bills that we had together, tons of emails but only ones that were between us after I got here. My husband and I email all day back and forth while he is at work so I had pages and pages to show her. We made wills and included those. We also showed guardianship papers (living wills) that were on file too. They only asked for 2 statutory declarations which were done my my mum and dad in law but I also included 2 extra ones from my mom in the U.S. and a friend from the U.S. As far as local police checks. I didn't need any local police checks at all. I only needed the FBI check. Since I had been here in Oz for less than a year a local Oz police check was not required. Overall, all I can say is yes, everything happened very, very fast for us and Thank God it all went smoothly. I trusted Immigration to help me along the way by asking any and all questions that popped into my mind. I front loaded everything and so there was nothing she had to ask us for except my mum-in-laws birth certificate since she did the statutory declaration and her name was different than it was on her citizenship papers and they also wanted me to write a letter saying that I had never served in the military. I think one of my old addressed confused them because it was on a military base and they just needed to know if I actually served or not. But ya anyway, here we are today and it all was as easy as cake. I'm not saying that it goes that smoothly for everyone. I believe God had a hand in this...I mean like I stated before, I'm in Shock! I hope this sheds a bit more light on how this all happened for us. |
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"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| Pamm | Mar 15 2008, 03:58:42 AM Post #10 |
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True Blue Mate
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That is such wonderful detail! Best of luck to your new family and may it be that way for the rest of your lives ...and you have *so* encouraged me
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| canaussie | Mar 15 2008, 08:23:51 AM Post #11 |
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True Blue Mate
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Thanks for the story Janda's wife :-) I met my husband online as well and went to Australia to meet him after 6 months of talking online/phone etc. In that time I don't remember discussing marriage too much. We thought that IF things worked out between us that I would move to Australia on a different visa. Anyway, once we realised where the relationship was heading, I came home and applied for the prospective spouse visa. For me....there were things at home that I needed to tie up before I could even think about moving to Australia. Just a curious question....seeing that you have a child from another relationship, did you have to provide proof to the Australian government that you could take him from the US? |
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Paula (dual Canadian/Australian) married to an Aussie since 1999 and mummy to an Aussie since 2000 | |
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| Janda | Mar 15 2008, 02:58:55 PM Post #12 |
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True Blue Mate
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Yes, I did have to show them proof that I could legally remove my son from the country. When we were at the appointment she asked for something from a judge saying we could legally keep him here with us. I then told her what I had and just pulled out the papers and she said she would have to look over them to see if it was enough. LOL, I was hoping it was, my sons dad can be difficult. Turns out what I gave her was more than enough. All I needed was my divorce decree and and a page from my marital settlement agreement showing that my son can reside with me. I had also mailed a statutory declaration out to his dad that I had pre-written saying that he gives me full premission for my son to reside with me permanantly in Australia and had him notorize it. Just to be safe I showed them a notorized copy of his dads birth certificate and a notorized copy of his dads driver license. I had these from when I originally applied for the tourists visas. Those were helpful I think because they backed up the statutory declaration proving that he was the one who really filled that out. I think the part where you have your child's father fill out the stautory declaration would be very, very important. I would recommend that to everyone who brings a child over just incase. |
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"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| TerritorianTori | Mar 15 2008, 03:02:40 PM Post #13 |
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It couldn't happen here
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Hello Janda's wife :wave: I'm really glad things worked out for you! You are more than welcome to join the forums yourself and chat with us about anything... would love to hear how you are finding life in Oz! :cheers: |
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South Texas to the Northern Territory - since 2004 I'm a huge fan of... Angry Video Game Nerd | The Big Bang Theory | Doctor Who | Pet Shop Boys | Yanks Down Under ~ Americans living in Australia Avatar by Sketch Shop Boys I don't do Facebook, sorry. | |
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| Janda | Mar 15 2008, 03:03:26 PM Post #14 |
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True Blue Mate
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Oh just a quick note to Pam..I noticed Wow in one of your posts......My husband and I met playing WoW.. haha... He was my GM. Too funny huh? Goes to show Video Games can be productive..haha |
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"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| Pamm | Mar 15 2008, 03:13:08 PM Post #15 |
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True Blue Mate
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*points up to general chat* Hop into the WoW topic that Tori so kindly gave us! Let's us addicts talk and maybe addict more people
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| Janda | Mar 15 2008, 10:02:03 PM Post #16 |
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True Blue Mate
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We don't play wow anymore. We used to play it together for hours upon hours every single day. It was so addicting, made myself really find out what a waste of life you spend on it. http://www.wowdetox.com/ is an interesting site where people post about their "WoW addiction".. Mind you, in saying that, WoW is really what bought me wife and myself together. -Hubby |
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"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| Pamm | Mar 15 2008, 10:08:36 PM Post #17 |
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True Blue Mate
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*nods* Understand that. Right now it's something we do together because we're not physically together yet. I suspect our use may dwindle over time once that happens
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| Janda | Mar 15 2008, 10:13:00 PM Post #18 |
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True Blue Mate
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Thx for the Welcome Tori. This is actually my Screen name..LOL..My hubby hijacked it. I've been lurking on the forums for a while keeping up with all you guys. Just thought I would watch a while until my ordeal was over..I didn't want to jinx myself..LOL. By the way, Janda stands for myself and my husbands first names. J and A . I'm trying to convince him into making his own screen name..heehee so that you guys don't get too confused as to who your talking to. |
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"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| JenbeTas | Mar 16 2008, 09:35:07 PM Post #19 |
Hippie Wannabe sailing the deep blue sea
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Hey there Mr. and Mrs. Janda! :mrgreen: Welcome to YDU and congrats! I am Jenn, one of the few Tasmanian residents on YDU. Do you live in Hobart? I live up in Devonport and work on the Spirit of Tasmania and am married to a born and bred Tasmanian. Hope to hear more from you! Cheers! |
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| CheekyOne | Mar 17 2008, 04:01:59 PM Post #20 |
True Blue Mate
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Congrats! That was super quick!! Maybe they arn't as backed up in Tasmania
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