We know that preparing for your Partner Visa can be a stressful time. You are essentially mapping out every aspect of your relationship to a government official for assessment. It’s a bit strange and a lot of work.
The way that we do Partner Visas at Passage Migration Consulting is tell your love story.
Here’s our hot tips for telling your story.
First, know how the Department of Home Affairs defines a relationship. There are at least three versions of a relationship. That is, that you are married, in a de-facto relationship for at least 12 months or have registered your relationship as a civil partnership. Where you have the piece of paper to prove the relationship (ie. a civil partnership certificate or a marriage certificate, evidence is still important!) and where you are in a de-facto relationship, it is not required that you have an ongoing residence together.
Second, work together. Teamwork makes the dream work! Like all relationships, it takes two to tango… so, it’s best that both parts of the relationship are contributing to gathering evidence and telling the story of your relationship. And, if you have an immigration lawyer that is working with you, they are part of the team! Telling them your love story is just as important as telling the Department of Home Affairs, because they will be the ones to prepare that story for you.
Third, get your documents in order. This is a hot tip for every type of visa, ever. But this is particularly important for a Partner Visa. The reason for this is that if you are super dooper in love but you don’t have any documents or photographs to prove it, then it will be hard to tell that story to a third party (ie. the person that says yes or no to the visa application). So, when you are considering a Partner Visa, you will need to think about any third-party document that shows you are in relationship. Then, when preparing these documents, they should be submitted in an organised and chronological fashion. That’s where your immigration lawyers organisational and analytical skills will be very important!
Fourth, make it your own. Relationships come in all shapes and sizes. The way that you evidence your relationship compared to the next couple, while perhaps similar is never going to be the same. While there is no set way of presenting documents and information for the partner visa, you will need to meet the key criteria of sharing financial, household, and social aspects of your lives as well having committed to an exclusive ongoing relationship. It’s your story though, celebrate your relationship’s uniqueness!
And fifth – be patient. Yes, maybe that couple on Facebook got a decision in three days. And, sure, the last Partner Visa we did in the office was granted in less than 3 months… But is that a standard occurrence? Absolutely not. The Department of Home Affairs quotes processing times of 1 to 3 years at any given time to process a Partner Visa – so, prepare yourself that it is more likely you will be waiting at a year, compared to months. The way to make sure things go as quickly as possible is to prepare and lodge an application that is easy to say yes too. Don’t leave documents out and upload them later. You want the application to be ready just as soon as your case officer picks it up. Whatever happens, practice patience. It’s a virtue.
If you would like help with your Partner Visa application, we’d love to help you to tell your love story! Reach out to us at hello@passagemigration.consulting.
Rachael is our Legal Practice Director, Youtube Host and Creator of Passage Migration Consulting.
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