Let me preface this by saying that, like the process of getting the Australian partner visa (specifically 820/801), is a long post. If you’ve found yourself in a similar position to me (either as the Australian sponsor or the overseas partner trying to get the Australian partner visa) I hope that it provides you some reassurance, information and hope. Feel free to make a cuppa, sit down, and have a read.
A Quick Intro
Last week Dean got an email saying his 820 Temporary Australian Partner Visa, a.k.a. the first hurdle in the 820/801 visa process, was approved.
YAY!
But to be honest as we were sitting there reading the words we’d been waiting to read for more than a year (14 months actually), there’s a sense of anticlimax. Yes the first part is over, but there’s still quite a lot to get through. Anyway, onto the story.
Applying for a visa as invasive as the Australian partner visa takes a lot out of a person. For one it can make you pretty paranoid. So paranoid in fact that I have put off and put off and put off writing this post. I wanted to help others, but I worried that the Australian Government would read my blog post and somehow think I wasn’t suitable to sponsor Dean. It’s crazy right? Well that’s where my brain was then. So I waited until Dean’s visa was approved, and now here we are.
Want another confession? We never even looked at the Australian partner visa process for Dean emigrating until more than a year of being together. We just kinda assumed that it would be straightforward. After all, we were in love. As it turns out, the Australian government isn’t in the business of love stories. They’re in the business of paperwork, as is the case with all governments.
I don’t want to make this seem harder than it is but I have to be honest here. Applying for the Australian partner visa was among the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do.
Our Australian Partner Visa Story
Falling in love with Dean was like a roller coaster I never wanted to end. It sounds corny, but there it is.
Realising what we had to do to keep our love alive in Australia was like hitting a wall that should definitely not be on that roller coaster track. Sudden, jarring, and very painful.
Dean and I met in February of 2013. After just one night we knew we were supposed to be together, I can’t explain why. We just fit. Two weeks later we were living together in a share house in Sydney, with Dean working to save money so he could join me on my first South East Asia trip. I’d planned to leave in April, but I realised pretty quickly that I wasn’t going to let Dean go, so I put my trip off and waited.
We left in July and spent the next five months travelling all around South East Asia. We explored Indonesia (where we climbed a volcano and Dean nursed me through dengue fever), Thailand (where I got a bamboo tattoo), Cambodia, and Vietnam (where we ran down enormous sand dunes and explored a magical mountain). It was the most incredible trip, but it was over way too fast. In November we parted ways in Singapore, with me heading back to Australia to organise my UK visa and Dean going back to England to work and wait for me.
The next 2.5 months were hard. Like really hard. After spending 24 hours a day together, 7 days a week it felt like part of me had literally been ripped away. I went on a road trip with my family, spent more than $200 on mobile internet calling Dean, and counted down the days. Dean worked, skyped me at ridiculous hours, and tried to survive. We met up in Heathrow and jetted off to Paris for three amazing days of winter love. Then is was back to our new home in the UK, for a year of working, saving and preparing.
We stayed in England for 11 months. It was in itself a wonderful adventure, with lots of walking, exploring, wandering and seeing new things. We covered some serious miles, visited London, saw Brighton Beach, went out in all weather with Dean’s dog Hecter, and generally had an amazing time. But before we knew it the year was over, and we were off again. On our way back to Australia we covered Thailand (where we saw lots of temples), the Philippines (where we chilled out), Malaysia (where we fell in love with George Town), and Singapore (where I didn’t write a post because we spent the entire time geocaching and eating).
It was in the Philippines, holed up in a hotel room with decent wifi and a steady stream of half-decent tea, that I started to put the Australian partner visa application together. This was about the same time that I discovered the cost of the visa had recently DOUBLED. Yep, that one slipped right past me, but suddenly we had gone from paying just under $3,500 to almost $7,000, and that’s not including other costs such as the medical, police checks and more. I’m not going to lie, I cried. For several days in fact. Then I got back to the paperwork.
UPDATE: As of July 2018, the visa fee has increased marginally again to $7,160.
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Looks like the price has increase again and is now “From AUD$7,715 for most applicants”
The Australian Partner Visa Application
On the surface the 820/801 Australian Partner Visa application seems simple enough. You can submit it online with the applicant (that’s Dean) filling out the Application for migration to Australia by a partner form (47SP) and the sponsor (that’s me) filling out the Sponsorship for a partner to migrate to Australia form (40SP). Now if you’ve opened these forms, you’ll see that they’re just the find the government likes: long and intrusive.
One of the things we had to do was list all of our brothers and sisters, including half and step. Well if you include everyone there are 10 children in my family, and I had to include ALL the details, including when my older brothers got married. Dean has step-siblings he’s never even met, but they all went on there as well.
The other challenging thing was filling out every country we’d been to in the last 10 years. Luckily Dean hadn’t travelled that much in the last decade, except with me. But I had to dig through my old passports and include the time that I spent living as a kid in Indonesia. Complex as hell.
And that was just the beginning.
The biggest thing that Dean and I faced with our 820/801 Australian partner visa application was proving our relationship. We are not married, and didn’t want to get married just to make the visa process easier. So, we applied for our Australian partner visa visa as De Facto partners, meaning we had to fit a number of requirements and prove these on paper.
Remember, I am NOT a Migration Agent, so this information is provided only in the form of unprofessional advice based on my own experience!
Documents Supplied For Our Partner Visa
To make this easier for everyone, I thought that I would just provide a list of all the documentation that we supplied with our 820/801 Australian partner visa application. We didn’t use a migration agent because the cost was too high, so I’m not really sure if some of these documents aren’t 100% necessary. I also included a cover letter that summarised all of the evidence and documents we’d attached. I used a numerical system (i.e. Financial 1.1, Social 2.1) to organise the evidence, and to make for easier referencing in various statutory declarations.
Now, this is just part 1 of the process. We still haven’t applied for the 801 part of the visa, as you can’t apply for it until two years after you lodge your initial visa application. So, Dean and I lodged in March of 2015, so we’ll be applying for the next stage (i.e. proving more information to prove we are still a couple) in March of 2017 (Check Our Part 2 Of Our Journey!).
For Dean Specifically
- Birth Certificate
- Certified Passport Copy
- New Passport Sized Photographs
- Police Check From United Kingdom
- Police Check From Australia (didn’t think we’d need this but it took so long to process the visa they asked for this too)
- A Character Stat Dec, signed by Dean and witnessed by a Commissioner of Oaths (at police station)
- Statutory Declaration outlining the nature of our relationship from Dean’s eyes and referencing evidence as below. Including references (my parents), and witnessed by the Commissioner of Oaths.
- Medical Check (Completed just before 820 was granted)
- Form 80 (we didn’t fill this out initially because we were told we might not need it, but they asked for it in the end)
For Me Specifically
- Birth Certificate
- Certified Passport Copy
- New Passport Sized Photographs
- Statutory Declaration outlining the nature of our relationship from my eyes and referencing evidence as below. Including references (my parents), and witnessed by the Commissioner of Oaths.
Proof Of Genuine And Continuing Committed Relationship
- Form 888 Statutory Declarations from four people (three friends and my mum) saying they could confirm the relationship was genuine and ongoing
- Wills showing each other as the sole beneficiary
- Photographs of me sick with dengue fever, to show that Dean supported me in times of illness
- Police report from a theft that happened in Malaysia, to show we support each other in times of financial hardship
- Cards and Letters from the length of our relationship, to show how gooey and romantic we are
- Skype logs for the 2.5 months we spent apart between Nov 2013 and Jan 2014
Financial Commitment
- U.K. bank statements, to show we had a joint bank account that we used regularly
- Australian bank statements, to show we had opened a joint account upon return to Australia and moved our funds to it
- Letter written by me outlining the financial support that I was able to provide as Dean’s sponsor (although there’s not technically a financial component) including my tax returns for the past 2 years
- Receipt of registration for the car we bought when we arrived in Darwin, registered in both our names
- Electricity bills for our current place in Australia, with both our names (added some months after the original application)
Household Evidence
- Lease for the U.K. where we were both signed tenants
- Lease for Australia where we are both signed tenants (added some months after original application)
- Photographs and statements showing that we jointly cared for Dean’s dog in the U.K. (might have been grasping at straws here)
- Letters from U.K. bank showing we lived at the same address
- Statement from Dean’s mother (not a Stat Dec) as evidence to our relationship during the time we lived with her in the UK
- Statement from my father (an actual Form 888 Stat Dec) as evidence that we lived in his house during the early months of our relationship, before we shared a bank account or were on a lease.
Social Commitment
- Flights that we took together during our travel (even though they weren’t paid for in a joint account… Remember to book seats next to each other!!)
- Accommodation receipts for the time that we travelled together
- Evidence of our shared hobby of Geocaching, including joint purchases we made to pursue it (we bought a GPS) and a record of all the geocaches we found
- Various photographs taken throughout the length of our relationship, captioned with dates and including family members from both sides
- Blogs that I wrote on Barefoot Beach Blonde about my relationship with Dean, dated and with links to the original
- Certificates and photographs from a cooking class we took in Thailand together
p.s. the social stuff doesn’t seem that much, but it was indicated to us that this was the important ‘little things’ that the Department of Immigration often looked at in determining the legitimacy of a relationship.
Resources
Australia Forum – Amazing place and great community for your questions and queries!
Australian Government Partner Migration Booklet
p.s. If you’re a government official reading this I’m not really angry at the government, paperwork just drives me crazy. You guys do a great job, please let my partner stay in this wonderful country 🙂
Check Our Part 2 Of Our Journey!
This post originally appeared on BarefootBeachBlonde.com, the pre-evolved version of Maps And Mandalas. I’ve republished it here with its original date because I love it that much.
![The treeline [Dandenongs Autumn]](https://mapsandmandalas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/arboretum-autumn-12-520x400.jpg)
100 Comments
Kamila ALene
August 17, 2020 at 10:26 pmHi Ocean, It’s a great thing to read a successful stories like yours congratulation!
My husband & I, met online, chatted on Skype daily for 6 weeks finally he decided to visit me and we got married. It’s such a crazy story but it happened. We first got married on September 17/2017 at my parents house, a simple & beautiful wedding. It was a religious marriage so we didn’t know that we have to register our marriage legally at the administration office so my husband left to Australia in a few days. When we talked to d/fnt peoples we were advised that we should apply for a tourist visa as friends so when I am granted the visa then we can register the marriage legally in Australia and apply for the spouse visa without being separated & wait 12 or more months for the visa unfortunately the tourist visa got rejected. My husband had an ankle surgery which stopped him to come here so we can register our marriage legally but finally he recovered and came here on May 22/2019 and we spent 6 weeks together and he went back to Australia and we finally lodged the partner visa on December/2020 and we are now waiting. By the way we applied for a tourist visa so I can travel to Australia so we can spend some time together because it’s been over one year since we’ve been together physically and also so I can meet all his lovely family.. My husband has meet all my family but I haven’t meet any of his side but I have talked to all of them over video calls & voice calls and they have all been supportive. Unfortunately my tourist visa isn’t being processed until I submit biometric collection which I can’t because VFS centers are closed because of COVID19.
can’t tell you enough the agony that we’re going through, I have been dealing with a great depression. I can’t imagine how my husband is coping up with this since he lives with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury).
I was just looking for some blogs that will give me hope.
thank you 🙂
Oceana Setaysha
August 20, 2020 at 12:36 pmI’m so sorry to hear your difficult story Kamila. I hope you and your partner can see each other soon and that your visa is processed quickly and without any issues. All the best in your visa journey! <3
Anne
June 19, 2020 at 1:19 pmhi Oceana, I just now realized that my family doesn’t even know that my boyfriend exist, because we are not in speaking term. Which is gonna be complicated. Thank you for sharing this, really helpful!!
Oceana Setaysha
June 21, 2020 at 1:24 pmHi Anne,
I don’t think you need to be in contact with your family to get through the visa process. Utilise your friends, employers etc who know you both and your relationship and have them fill out statutory declarations (Form 888 I think it is) to verify your relationship.
Good luck!
O.
Anne
December 18, 2020 at 11:34 amThanks for your reply, Oceana! I have submitted my application 2 months ago and now just need to attach documents. Thanks a lot!
ANIN
May 29, 2020 at 6:58 pmHey Oceania,
Hope all is well despite of the pandemic. I came back here to thank you because you and your blogs helped me survived lodging my Partner Visa. Recently i finally got my permanent residency. After 2 years of lodging. It is such a relief that despite I only lodge it my self i was able to get my PR so quick.
Again, thank you so much and wishing you all the best in life 🙂
Oceana Setaysha
May 30, 2020 at 8:59 pmThat is wonderful news Anin I am so happy for you! I remember your first comment years ago and how fantastic that you’ve finally got your PR. YAY! All the best to you too! 😄
ANIN
May 31, 2020 at 1:57 amYessss… I got it faster than i am expecting. And I was thinking that people like you and things same as you blogs made it easier for me to lodge it with all the information and insights you’ve shared from your own experience. Thank you so much.
Oceana Setaysha
June 2, 2020 at 2:29 pmThat’s great news! I’m so glad the information helped 🙂
Chiza
May 25, 2020 at 1:10 amI know it’s 2020 and your post was few years old, but here I am reading it lol. I am about to lodge my stage 1- 820… I did a little research on Google just to make sure I’m on the right track and found your page first on the search. Thanks for your amazing post! x
Oceana Setaysha
May 30, 2020 at 8:57 pmYou’re so welcome! I’m so glad that the post was able to help you and good luck with your application! ❤️
Karina
May 2, 2019 at 1:01 amHello! Fantastic blog. My partner and I submitted our application 2 years and three months ago and haven’t heard anything back till yesterday. They are requesting another health check and police check because apparently they expire at 12 months. I cannot find any info about that online. I did those two initially of course before submitting our application. It seems a bit ridiculous considering most people’s applications seem to go past 12 months at this point, so I’m wondering if you’ve heard of heaps of people having to do this? So frustrating having to fork out a few more hundred dollars plus the hassle of the examinations just because they aren’t approving it. I’m not from a high risk country. The USA. Arghhh so frustrating!! Wish I found your blog when I was going through the application process from the start. xx
Oceana Setaysha
May 4, 2019 at 8:19 pmOh that’s so annoying! I ended up not submitting either the medical or the police check with the application as I found out about the 12-month expiry so they aren’t lying or anything. We had heard from some people online that if you don’t include it when you make your initial application, they’ll just request it when they actually get around to looking at it. It is definitely so frustrating, particularly as the processing times are so long now they really should be publicising that people can submit the application without it and have them request it later.
Good luck with the rest of your application!
Australian Country Gypsy
May 13, 2019 at 10:57 pmAs someone who just was granted this visa from the USA I know it can be frustrating to get the FBI check. It is true though about the 12 month requirement, it is hard to keep track of all the fine details with such an extensive application process. I found this out and waited 8 months after applying to do my health check so that way it gave me wiggle room if it wasn’t granted within a year of applying, and I waited for them to tell me to get FBI check. I nearly still hit the 12 month expiry doing that. So it is a gamble folks decide to take on doing those checks early, it could speed process up if they are already done when they get to looking at your application, but if it past the 12 month expiry they make you do them again. It’s a pain in the arse.
Christopher
March 19, 2019 at 4:51 pmHeya, Wondering if you can answer a question for me, Im about to apply for my visa soon. Do you have to pay all 7k upfront or can you pay it in installments?
Oceana Setaysha
March 23, 2019 at 1:23 pmHey! Look I’ve never heard of anyone paying in instalments, and in fact I’m not sure it’s possible to do that. It’s a lot of money, but as far as I’m aware you need to pay it all at once!
O.
Ciara tansey
March 7, 2019 at 4:17 pmHi Oceana, amazing blog! Really helpful to have this much information in one place, thank you! Me and my partner our just at the start of our visa journey and it’s all looking scary ha. I’m from the UK and he is Australian, we met living and working in Canada and spent a year there together. We had a few months long distance after, we both went home for a few months, I needed to save! I’m now living Perth on a holiday visa and have started to gather all our documents together. We have the money to submit the application now, if we did submit it now, would we have time to gather and upload all our eveidence and documents. Worried I’ll be declined straight away for not having everything uploaded at once. I’ve gathered all my siblings and family’s DOB and marriages, which took a while ha. I’m booked in for my fingerprints for my Canadian police check and have applied for NZ one, just need to do UK and Australian police checks.
Any advice would be great! Your blog will be my bible over the next few years.
Ciara
Oceana Setaysha
March 12, 2019 at 6:40 pmHey Ciara!
Thanks for your lovely compliment about the article. When we applied for our partner visa it was so difficult not to have a great source of information to come back to so I knew I wanted to create one. As for the evidence, I suppose it is up to you and I can’t say for sure as I applied and had all the information ready. Remember you have the three months of your tourist visa to make your application, so my advice (and this is not professional advice by any means) would be to upload as much of the evidence as you can and perhaps include a letter with your application for anything that you’re still waiting on (such as police checks and so on) just in case anyone happens to review your application before you upload all the evidence (which based on the wait times I feel is fairly unlikely but you never know).
Good luck!
O.
Tamsin Bowers
January 31, 2019 at 10:19 amHi Oceana,
I applied for my visa back in July 2016 and I still haven’t heard a thing! Nothing 🙁 Do you have any advice on what I could do? My boyfriend and I have been together for nearly 7 years and felt confident when we applied nearly 3 years ago but we haven’t even progressed passed stage 1! I am completely lost on what to do :(.
Thanks for any help and advice you can give 🙂
Oceana Setaysha
February 3, 2019 at 3:13 pmHey Tasmin. Wow that is a long time! I’m really surprised that you have been waiting so long, particularly as you have already an existing relationship. The only time I’ve heard of applications taking this long is when the partner comes from what is considered a ‘high risk’ country or has travelled or lived overseas in high risk countries, or in situations where there isn’t a lot of evidence to show that the couple lived together etc. Have you had a look on your immi account to check the application status and double check they haven’t asked for specific information? Otherwise it might be worth talking to the folks on the Australia Forum where you’ll sometimes find migration agents willing to give advice as well. If not, I would be looking at either getting in touch with the immigration department to find out why the application is taking so long to process outside of their own guidelines, or touching base with a migration agent about what you can do. Sorry I can’t be more helpful!
Anin
January 15, 2019 at 7:38 pmHi Oceania,
I would like to say thank you for making this blog. It helped a lot during the time I was looking for references for my self lodged partner visa.
Yesterday, my visa got approved. 🙂
Love,
Anin
Oceana Setaysha
January 17, 2019 at 6:32 pmAnin I am so happy for you! I remember when you first commented back in 2017, you have come so far and what a relief it must be to know that your visa is now approved. Congratulations! So, so, so glad that my articles were able to help you! All the best for the future ❤️☺️
Dan
November 1, 2018 at 10:17 pmHi Oceania,
Thank you so much for writing up this post.
Just wondering, how many pages did you write, as the sponsor, for the nature of the relationship statutory declaration?
Oceana Setaysha
November 2, 2018 at 12:54 pmNo worries Dan, I’m glad that it’s helpful! Ok so we used this template for our partner statutory declarations. There isn’t heaps of space to write in those boxes, so I also included additional to that about 4 pages, but it would depend on how big you write or whether you type etc.
Hope that helps!
Ian
May 13, 2018 at 3:41 pmGreta stuff. We were not so lucky. Took me 8 months to complete the application as we have both traveled and lived in numerous countries. The level of detail required was astounding. From birth to current in the minutest details. We also engaged a Migration Agent with 13 years experience as I wanted to make sure that everything went smoothly. He vetted the application and support documents and claimed the quality of the submission was one of the best he had seen. A year after the application was lodged we had a call to say documents were missing and to resubmit. To cut a long story short it turned out our application had been outsourced to Cairo Egypt and there was a communication breakdown between Canberra and Cairo. Jumped that hurdle and not long afterwards another call to say that immigration had received a tip off that I, the sponsor, had been paid a substantial sum of money to get the visa for my wife. Under the privacy act I was not privy to the source as I wanted to sue them. Two years later we received a refusal notification with a 27 page document on why the visa was refused. Now we have to sit before the judge at an AAT conference and be grilled for up to 6 hours. Another 12 months waiting for the hearing date and days of refuting the claims by immigration. Additional cost and no guarantees. With all costs included up to $20,000 out of pocket. If we fail at the AAT we have to start all over again. The cost of taking it to the high court is exorbitant. If we engage a barrister up to $6,000 a day.
Oceana Setaysha
May 28, 2018 at 2:11 pmOh my goodness that sounds like a nightmare! 🙁
Anin
April 9, 2018 at 7:56 pmHi Oceana,
I came across your blog again, and i would like to say thank you coz somehow it gave me an idea on what to attach on my application. Last February we lodged our Partner Visa 820 and right now we are in the waiting game. I hope everything will work and that i attach the proper and enough documents.
Thank you so much and God Bless
ANIN
Oceana Setaysha
April 15, 2018 at 1:46 pmHey Anin,
I’m so glad that the information helped you, and good luck with the wait. It can be a long one, but the best thing you can do is keep living your life in the meantime.
O.
Ian
May 13, 2018 at 3:43 pmGood luck.
Lucy
August 6, 2018 at 3:06 amHi Oceana and everyone,
Just want to say hi and thanks because this blog is amazing. My husband and I have applied for the 309/100 visa on June 2018 and just found out that the fee is now increased by over 100 AUD! On July we had an email from the officer to provide a medical check and police clearance. About 3 days ago I did my medical and completed the police clearance, and in the afternoon they said that they have received the medical result, so basically I’m in the waiting game too. Hope everything went well, I feel happy that a lot of people are on the same page with us! good luck everyone!
Oceana Setaysha
August 25, 2018 at 9:21 pmUnbelievable! I can’t imagine how yet another increase to the fee was necessary. Thanks for letting me know I will update this article with the new information.
Amy Elisabeth
March 13, 2018 at 7:40 pmHey! This has been a fantastic read this evening. I’ve literally spent the entire day organising files/folders, digging through old emails and correspondence and filling out Form 80 (yikes, what a nightmare that was!). I decided to jump onto Google for some real-life situations and yours is the first blog I’ve come to. I must say, it’s a strange comfort to know others having gone through this process successfully! Having been in a long-distance dating and married relationship with my Aussie, I fear we’re in for a roller coaster with the Visa! Yikes. Thanks for sharing your experience! I’ll be writing about mine someday too, once it’s all approved and I’m here safely, that is. 😉 Best of luck with your permanent visa!
Oceana Setaysha
March 14, 2018 at 8:38 amHey Amy!
Oh god Form 80, I still have nightmares about that one. In fact, we didn’t want to fill it in so much (and heard that for low risk countries it wasn’t a must) that we didn’t submit it with our original application. Alas, they requested it several months down the line. Between the two of us, my partner and I have something like 14 siblings, and have moved almost every year in the last decade. It was an actual nightmare, I was tearing my hear out!
I think long-distance relationships are becoming more and more accepted these days, and this visa is all about proving commitment to your partner. If you’ve got the proof, you’ve got a good chance.
We were actually JUST approved for the permanent visa (https://mapsandmandalas.com/travel/approved-820-801-australian-partner-visa/) so we are finally through. Wishing you all the best with yours!
O.
Andy
November 27, 2018 at 10:37 pmI have just spent two full days filling in the dreaded Form 80 for me and my wife. I have had over 130 trips internationally for work in the requested 10 year period and had to list each one including the exact dates. Luckily I keep a log on al my travel. It was a three page document attached to the actual form. I can say filling in those forms was one of the most painful experiences I have been through….
Oceana Setaysha
November 28, 2018 at 2:46 pmWow! I am impressed that you managed to get Form 80 done in just two days with so much international travel. We found it hard enough to complete the form for our travel, which was nowhere near 130 trips! I can honestly say I loathed that form, it was such an enormous effort to complete and I sometimes wonder how much time is even devoted to looking through it. Along with the travel it was a nightmare to fill out all of our previous addresses (both of us being renters we had moved fairly regularly) and all the details of our combined 15 siblings (step, full, half) and six parents (step etc)!
Here’s to never having to do Form 80 again!
O.
Kristin
February 24, 2019 at 4:19 pmHey Andy & Oceana!
Just came across your experience here as I too am looking at the task of having to list out over 100 trips that I’ve made over the past 10 years for both work and leisure! I wanted to ask whether you listed each trip in both the application on online as well as the Form 80? Or did you just do “countries visited” in the application and then the attachment document to the Form 80 listing out each individual trip.
Any advice on how exhaustive the travel must be and how they match up on individual forms would be greatly appreciated!
Oceana Setaysha
March 7, 2019 at 3:25 pmHey Kristin,
This probably isn’t what you want to hear, but I do distinctly remember inputting the information on international travel twice, once on Form 80 (which we originally didn’t submit and which they requested) and then once on the online visa application portal. However, for that number of trips, I would probably think you’d be better off uploading a document that outlines each trip as it will be more than you can fit on Form 80.
Hope that helps!
O.
Eli
March 6, 2018 at 6:53 pmCan the 820 visa application be submitted while on a 3 month ETA tourist visa? Does anyone know? Thank you
Oceana Setaysha
March 6, 2018 at 7:38 pmHi Eli,
Technically there’s nothing wrong with doing this, and we did it this way. However, we did hear that some airports don’t like people doing this, so we made a point not to make it clear that’s what we were doing in Australia, and we didn’t carry any of our visa paperwork with us. Instead we digitised it. In the end, they didn’t ask any specific questions about it, but we went through a smaller airport (Darwin) and I can’t comment on what it would be like at other airports.
O.
Rizel
March 12, 2018 at 3:30 pmhello, anyone here who recently applied partner visa online? We did my partner visa only a few days ago and when I submitted my application I was surprised to see the rest of my family members names as applicants too. Isn’t it supposed to be just my name and may partner’s name. I am freaking out, I am 100% though that my visa is under Family -> Stage 1 – Partner or Prospective Marriage Visa (300,309/100,820/801) and even compared my application to one friend who did the same but only her name and her hubb’s name are on there, but hers was applied 3 years ago and she’s saying there might have been an upgrade or changes in immiaccount, just want to know if anyone here has had the same experience? Thanks
Oceana Setaysha
March 12, 2018 at 4:03 pmHi Rizel, sorry I can’t help with this one, my application is not really recent (3 years ago). Hopefully someone will be able to help you here, if not I suggest the Australia Forum (link in post).
oktavia
March 22, 2018 at 10:40 pmhello Rizel, i currently fill out the form under stage 1 – Partner kr Prspective Marriage Visa. So, have you found out the problem ? Is “family members” that you said is included ur parents and sibling ? Is that correct ? or It just supposed to be you and your partner ?
I am still on my way to finish all of the 27 pages. So before i finish it, I would like to ask you.
Thanks
Claudia
February 27, 2018 at 2:17 pmHi there!
I loved your blog! I wish I could have read your blog a while go. I am freaking out! I applied the first part of the partner visa yesterday. I was so desperate that I submitted my application and uploaded all documents straight away – it means that I have uploaded everything in the “other documents” space, not in the links designed to do that! OMG! What a mess! Now I am freaking out to talk to the immi to make sure it is not a problem! Anyways.
Let me ask you a question. I have to do medical examination plus some exams, also, get a police check – should I do that now or wait at least 6 months to send those to them? I know those documents expire in 1 year.
Thank you a lot.
Oceana Setaysha
March 2, 2018 at 8:52 amHi Claudia!
I know exactly what you’re talking about, there’s so much paperwork. In order to fit into the 60 document upload limit I did have to compile some evidences together, so some of my stuff ended up going into the ‘other documents’ section as well. I think as long as it is well labelled and they know what they’re looking at, it shouldn’t be a problem. If you think it isn’t well labelled, a table of contents or a list of evidences provided, giving the file name of everything in the other documents section and a short description of what it is, might be useful for whoever reviews your case.
We didn’t do the police check or the medical up front. We had just come from the UK and had a police check from there, but once we had been in Australia for six months or so they also requested a police check for Australia. As the medical is expensive and only valid for 12 months, we also waited to submit that until they requested it specifically, which was not long before we were granted the 820.
Anin
December 2, 2017 at 8:17 pmHello, I had fun reading your blog as it is very helpful to me. Currently, I am in Australia using a tourist visa and we are planning on getting the Partner Visa 820/801 early next year. But the problem here is that my partner is still looking for a job but we have the amount needed for the visa. I’m worried that it might be denied coz my partner doesn’t have a job here in Australia yet but he was working overseas to be able to stay in my country. so basically we are together for 3 years and those 2 years he was in my country, he was working but he went home in Aus for a couple of months last year to be with his mum and after that he went to New Zealand thinking that it is easier to land a job there but apparently it’s not. Now, we are just worried that maybe the moment we lodge our application and he will still be unemployed it can be a factor that the visa will be denied.
Oceana Setaysha
December 4, 2017 at 5:53 amHi Anin,
This is a really specific query, and remember I am not a migration agent so I can only offer you my own personal experience on the matter. I had also had a period of unemployment due to coming back to Australia from overseas when we lodged our partner application. We were informed then, but it may not be true now that there was no longer a financial component to the sponsorship of an individual by their partner. It used to be that the partner had to make a certain amount of money in employment, but that was not the case when we applied, so please check now and see if that’s true. However, while I did not have a job when we applied, we did have a large amount of savings, accounting for both the visa cost and the financial requirements of supporting two people while we got established and for the first three months when Dean (the applicant) was unable to work. With our application we supplied our bank statements showing this lump sum, as well as letters from my family in Australia indicating they could provide financial support, as well as a statement written by us outlining how we planned to survive and indicating that I was looking for a job etc.
If you want a more specific answer than that, and to check whether the rules on financial requirements for partners have changed, I’d recommend checking out The Australia Forum. The link is in the post.
Good luck!
O.
Anin
December 16, 2017 at 6:23 pmDear Oceana,
Thank you so much for your reply,I was really looking for some sources because we will start doing the application next month. Your reply is really helpful. may i ask if where did you get the transaction reference number that needs to be filled on the 2nd page of the application?
Thank you so much and God bless.
Anin.
Oceana Setaysha
December 18, 2017 at 9:36 amHi Anin,
The transaction reference number is what you get when you pay for the visa, but I’m not sure exactly what ‘2nd page’ you are referring to. Please see this link: https://www.border.gov.au/visas/supporting/Pages/155/transaction-reference-number.aspx
O.
Anin
December 18, 2017 at 12:10 pmHi O,
I just tick the wrong one, i click the one that is for sponsorship and right now i am filling the form 47sp. I think ill be getting the TRN after filing the form so that it’s the sponsor’s time to fill his. Thank you so much. Right now, we are still gathering evidence to prove the relationship is genuine and continuing. Thank you so much xx. And I’ll be reading the 2nd part of this blog as well 😀 :D.
You’re such a great help 🙂
Oceana Setaysha
December 28, 2017 at 11:04 amI’m so glad that it was useful. Good luck! 😀
Anin
December 31, 2017 at 6:19 pmHi O,
Sorry to keep on bothering but may i ask if my friend will write a statement for us it it okay to use the normal blank paper and not the statutory one? because they are not an AU citizen they will just help us supply evidence.
Oceana Setaysha
January 4, 2018 at 6:51 amHi Anin,
You can’t use the 888 form if the person is not an Australian citizen, and for your application I believe there are a minimum number of 888 forms that need to be provided. However, to ‘beef’ up our application we added statements from my partner’s family + friends that were not Australian citizens. We just had them print and sign their name in full and included a copy of their ID (passports generally).
O.
Ian
May 13, 2018 at 3:46 pmMy advice is find a good migration agent. Going it alone can be a nightmare I believe.
Lotta
November 13, 2017 at 12:25 pmI have been married to an Australian man for more than 20 years and we have two children with Australian passports together. After 25 years overseas we are planning on retiring to Australia next year. I thought the partner visa would be a mere formality. I was so wrong, I’ve had to provide a crazy amount of “proof” of our relationship, and no help or guidance from anybody at the Australian consulate where we live. It’s a total nightmare.
Oceana Setaysha
November 13, 2017 at 12:49 pmHey Lotta. Thanks for commenting, I hope that this article gives you somewhere to start on the process. I know what you’re saying, it’s such a stupid system, and so very expensive, particularly when long-term relationships such as yours are evaluated in exactly the same way as one that has only been going on for 12 months. If you aren’t short on the money, I’d really recommend hiring a migration agent. They really do take the stress and pressure off you in terms of the paperwork and that insider knowledge. I know if I could do it again, and if my partner ever return to his home country in the U.K., I’ll be letting a migration agent handle everything for me! Good luck, I wish you the best.
Alex
November 11, 2017 at 7:25 amHi! i am marrying my Australian Fiance in a years time, and we are moving to Australia afterwards and i will commence the visa application. I am from the UK. Thanks for the insight and info you’ve put up, it really is helpful! Whilst doing many hours of research, one question i have for you is this:
Did you get your documents such as birth certificates etc. certified by an English person, in the UK, or do they have to be Australian? Its going to be a lot easier for me if i can start preparing now and getting stuff certified, and without the hassle of taking original documents to Australia with me, but if needs must i’l have too!
Sorry if you’ve answered this question before,
thanks once again for the very helpful blog!
Alex
Oceana Setaysha
November 13, 2017 at 11:30 amHi Alex! I’m glad you found the info helpful, it’s a big thing to put together, but doing the research is a key first step! Now, we got official copies of documentation (really just Dean’s birth certificate) when we were in the U.K. You can just order a copy from the Government (https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate) as people don’t generally have access to their ‘original’ birth certificate. I’m not sure what other documentation you might have, so I can’t really answer this question.
I have heard recently, although not property verified at this stage, that online applications no longer require documents to be certified if they’re copies of the original files. See Blake’s comment just above.
Good luck!
Hamid
September 22, 2017 at 9:36 pmHi…. I really enjoyed reading this. This post is wonderful and very informative, Oceana. And It is also a beautiful love story. May you live happily ever after. Thanks n stay Blessed:)
Adil Shehzad
September 8, 2017 at 2:54 pmHi Oceana, thanks for uploading such an informative blog. I recently married an Australian and ready to submit the case online for a partner visa (820/801). Can you please guide us in uploading documents and the forms. We have filled out form 47 is that it or we need to fill out the form 40 as well, can i upload the scans of originals or certified photocopies of the originals of all documentations? is there any specific order of uploading documents? and is there any specific time frame to upload all the documents o we can upload it later whenever we can? Please guide us fully (if possible) regarding online application submission.
Thank you so much!
Oceana Setaysha
September 8, 2017 at 7:05 pmHi Adil,
Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately I can’t guide you in uploading the visa, this is a big job and everybody does it in a different way. If you aren’t confident in submitting it yourself, an agent is probably your best option. I can tell you that we filled out form 40 as well as form 47. Any documentation should be certified copies, scanned. There is an upload limit of 5MB per item (last time I checked) so consider that. When you come to upload, there are various categories provided online that you can upload documents into i.e. lease, bank statement, social evidence. I would probably recommend getting the bulk of it done in one go, for your main application, and then regularly uploading additional pieces to show an ongoing relationship. Of course, that’s just how I would do it and as I said in my post I am not a migration agent, so all of my advice is non-professional and I can’t be liable for failures/rejections.
Good luck!
Blake Chandler
November 11, 2017 at 12:40 pmHi there. If you go on the Immigration website, you will see that it tells you that if you are applying online you do not need to get documents certified. So if you are scanning original documents, there is no need to get them certified as you are providing an original scan. Therefore passport scans, scans of relationship certificates, bill, bank statements etc don’t need to be certified if they are a scan of the original.
Oceana Setaysha
November 13, 2017 at 11:32 amHi Blake,
Can you provide a link for this information? I’d like to provide it in the blog.
Cheers!
O.
Wesal
July 18, 2017 at 1:59 amHi.. Thanks for the post.
I would like to ask about my situation..
I had a partner Australian man &we had a daughter 2years old. I am living in Indonesia. But we intended to married this month then applay ..
How long it will take hence we had a daughter.?
& can we apply &finish the process while my partner in Indonesia.. Without needing to go back Australia?
Thanks
Oceana Setaysha
July 18, 2017 at 9:35 amHi Wesal,
To be honest I’m not sure about your application because you’re doing it differently to me. If you apply from outside of Australia your application is considered to be ‘offshore’ while mine (applying from inside Australia) is ‘onshore’. I have heard of instances where a longer existing relationship, particularly where children are a product of the relationship, may result in shorter waiting times, but this is only from people I have met online, not anyone I know in person. I would suggest going to the Australian Visa Forum (http://www.australiaforum.com/visas-immigration/) and asking there. They have actual migration agents there offering some advice, but as I am not a migration agent I can only share my own experience.
Good luck!
Aram
June 6, 2017 at 11:32 pmHi there! 🙂
I really enjoyed reading your post and it was very helpful as I am applying for the partner visa now. I haven’t even properly started yet but I’m already so stressed out haha I’m just worried if it will take too long. Anyway! i better stop winging and get things..
I have some questions; I am going to have at least three Form 888 statutory declarations from my partners parents and some mutual friends as well as some written statements from my parents and some friends who arent Australian but have met my partner and travelled together. So I was wondering statements written by those who arent Australian need to be signed from certified person as well? or i just get them to signed at the bottom of the statement and provide their identification such as a copy of passports?
Thank you so much for reading my questions and your post is wonderful! good luck with part two permanent presidency😀
Oceana Setaysha
June 7, 2017 at 9:33 amHi Aram,
Ok so you’re on the right track in that Form 888 can only be filled out by Australian citizens. For statements from non-AU citizens, we included the statement, signed by the individual + witnessed by one other, and then a copy of the passport, also signed by the individual giving the statement.
I think I did read that some people got their statements from non-AU citizens officially signed on the Australia Forum (link in blog), but we didn’t do this in the end.
Thanks for your well wishes, make sure you check out the second part of the visa process when you get there!
Emily
May 17, 2017 at 9:20 amHi!
I have come across this blog post while looking for further info to help with my application and your blog post and list of documentation is SO helpful. Thank you for writing this!
I have a query: when it came to the things like your Wills, Cards & invitations, Police Report, Bank statements, etc etc. Did you get them “Certified”? I know it specifically asks for copies of Birth Certs, Passports, Marriage Certs, to be certified. But when it comes to the other evidence of the relationship it is less specific. Many of those types of evidence are not “official documents” anyway and for me many of them can be downloaded off the internet & I don’t receive paper versions (e.g. bank statements, insurance statements) so there is no “original” to certify.
Did you get some of them certified where there was an original? e.g. the police report for the theft you suffered? Or did you ONLY get the birth certs & passports certified?
Also, did you get a health check done with your original application, or did you wait til they requested it further along the process? Did they end up requiring it for both of you or just for the person seeking permanent res? I am finding the instructions for that part to be conflicting!
Thanks so much for your help,
Emily
Oceana Setaysha
May 17, 2017 at 10:12 amHey Emily!
I’m happy you’ve found the post helpful, you’re not alone in being confused about the process. Now, while my advice is not expert (because I am not a migration agent) I can tell you that I did not certify personal items like cards or invites. The wills we scanned the originals to upload, the same with the police report from the theft. The bank statements I had them printed in the branch and date stamped + signed by a branch manager. For things like insurance, where there is no branch, I feel the original would probably be ok, depending on what you’re trying to prove. Both our birth certificates + passports were certified by a JP at the local police station 🙂
Now, as for the health check. We were advised that it was expensive (which is was, a few hundred dollars) and that with the current waiting times (which have only increased) you should wait for them to request it before undertaking it. Even though it was scary not to include that information in the application, we ultimately decided not to include it because we didn’t want to do it again. They requested the extra info about 11 months later, and we completed the health check (just Dean did it, I didn’t have to as I’m a citizen of Australia) and then immediately uploaded the receipt from the testing to the immi website while we waiting for the paperwork to come through. In fact, I think it gets sent direct to DIBP because I don’t remember getting it.
Hope that helps!
O.
Emily
May 17, 2017 at 1:20 pmThat’s really helpful thanks!!!
Oceana Setaysha
May 17, 2017 at 5:45 pmGood to hear Emily 😀
Nikki
April 19, 2017 at 8:34 pmHey congratulations and thanks for sharing! I’m thinking about getting my partner here on the same visa (well, either partner or independent skilled, I was told partner might be easier but now I’m having second thoughts…) Anyway! My question is: after you submit the initial application do you get a bridging visa straight away? Does the bridging visa allow you access to medicare and full working rights? Thanks!
Oceana Setaysha
April 19, 2017 at 10:02 pmHey Nikki,
If you apply for the partner visa onshore from another visa, the bridging visa will kick in as soon as your other visa expires. So if your partner arrived in Australia on a tourist visa, the bridging visa would start the moment the tourist visa ends. You are definitely able to work on the bridging visa, and you do get access to Medicare as well, via interim Medicare cards with shorter expiry dates than normal ones.
In terms of what visa to apply for, I think it really comes down to your preference. Waiting times for all visas have increased, including the partner visa. If you’re planning on using an agent, they’ll be able to provide more expert information, but with our government currently making changes to immigration, I think the partner visa is a pretty safe bet. That being said, it’s a challenge and can be very invasive. Privacy means something different once you’ve gone through the process!
Whatever you do, good luck!
Joseph
April 2, 2017 at 8:30 amHi there! I really enjoyed reading this so Tks for that. Can you pls let us know how the second part go!I’ll be applying for my second part in July, could really use some advice and see the process of it all trough you! . Good luck
Oceana Setaysha
April 2, 2017 at 9:06 amHi Joseph! Yeah we just submitted for the second part, but it will be quite a while (going off the official waiting times) until we hear anything. Keep an eye out for the next post on the evidence for second stage, which I’ll post in a few weeks!
Chris
March 26, 2017 at 9:34 amWe have been on the 801 for 18 months.. the whole process is so long. My wife is from the Philippines and we started by applying for a marriage visa back in May 2013. They say on the IMMI site that the 801 is a 2 year wait before getting the 802, so just another 6 months and hopefully we can start looking at the citizen ceremony. We are hoping for Australia Day 2018, with Fingers Crossed 🙂 That will be near 5 years from the first paper work. Long Process but we are happily Married and the finish line is near… The Wait and Ridiculous costs are all worth it in the end when your Other Half happens to come from outside Australia. Good Luck to Everyone going thru this painfully long Process…
Oceana Setaysha
March 26, 2017 at 6:25 pmHey Chris thanks for your comments and sharing your story. It is such a long wait, and I think as you can probably see from the other commenters it’s something we’re all suffering with. May 2013 is one hell of a journey, we started ours in March 2015 and I still think I’ve been waiting too long. Now, particularly with the recently updated waiting times for 820 temp to 801 PR, well, it’s enough to take the wind out of anyone’s sails!
All the best for the future, and I hope that on Australia Day 2018 your wife is celebrating her new citizenship!
O.
Felicity
March 21, 2017 at 1:25 pmHello!
Congratulations on the first half of the visa and good luck with the second half!
It’s hard work! We’ve submitted our 820 visa and trying to add all the evidence but it feels never ending!
Can I just ask, once you submitted the question parts of the visa how long after did it take you to submit all the evidence? We submitted the visa 24th Jan ’17 but still uploading the documents. Keep panicking we are taking to long but I’ve been told there is no specific time frame to finish it.
Any advice really appreciated!
Thank you! 🙂
Oceana Setaysha
March 21, 2017 at 3:38 pmHey Felicity!
Yes it definitely is hard work! Congratulations on getting to the point of submission. I don’t know how other people do it, but we submitted all the evidence in one day. We had been working to put together the evidence in a series of pdf files that we then had to compress so they would fit with the immi website’s regulations. As I said in the article I used a numerical system to cover each point in the stat dec (i.e. Financial 1.1, Financial 1.2 etc) with a piece of evidence that we referred to when we wrote our stat decs. It was a massive process, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything, and also to ensure I had enough evidence for each section.
Now that I’m working on part 2, I haven’t put quite as much work in. My understanding is that you just have to show your relationship is ongoing, so I’m probably including more images and statements from friends than other stuff.
Good luck with your application!
Zen
March 12, 2017 at 8:12 amTrying to get the 801 permanent is a nightmare worse than the 820 .
I am Australia and my partner from the UK
Lived together now for 4 years . I love my partner beyond words . The waiting and waiting and hearing nothing is exhausting .
Don’t know why I thought it would be easy and quick . Silly me
Oceana Setaysha
March 12, 2017 at 8:48 pmYep I’m with you Zen. It’s a really hard thing to get through, particularly when it takes so long and there isn’t much (if any) communication from the Government about progress etc. We’re just about to apply for the 801 now and we’ve recently discovered that waiting times are much higher than we had anticipated. Sucks 🙁 I too thought it would be quick and easy. Looks like we both believe in love over bureaucracy!
Zen
March 16, 2017 at 9:52 amThe wait time is apparently between 12-18 months for the 801 partner viser .
And they actually put you under the microscope even more …
it shouldn’t be this hard to prove you love someone . We are 5 months into waiting for the second part .
It’s funny how beurocrats with the tick of a box can potentially decide our relationship Fate .
All the best with your 801 , keep in mind this is a hard one . Last and biggest hurdle .
I really enjoyed reading your blog and love the photos by the way 🙂
Oceana Setaysha
March 16, 2017 at 9:21 pmThanks, I’m glad you enjoyed reading. Keep an eye out for the second instalment, and then (eventually) the successful visa grant!
Yes the 12-18 months is certainly much higher than we heard first. When we applied in 2014 the times were listed at around 6-8 months, so it’s obviously gone up quite a lot, like many aspects of the visa.
I understand your frustration with the process. I’m definitely feeling that as we apply for the second stage. I never, ever, ever thought it would be this difficult to prove to a faceless government official that my relationship was legitimate. On the plus side, this has been such a massive hurdle in our relationship, that many of the other challenges we encounter day-to-day don’t seem as bad. We often joke: “Hey, at least it’s not another visa.”
Basically, we can survive anything now!
Kelita
March 8, 2017 at 1:53 pmHi Oceana,
Thank you for writing this important and touching blog post. I know that you’re not an immigration lawyer, but would love to hear your advice because you are an expert in your own right. I am feeling very stressed and disheartened by this whole process.
I met my Australian boyfriend while travelling and we want to start a life together in Australia. To be considered ‘de facto’ we need to have lived together for 12 months (which we haven’t because we’ve been doing long distance & are only doing trips together for 1-2 months at a time). It’d also be impossible for him to come live with me because he’s finishing school in vic.
This is my plan:
– live with him in Australia for a year on a 12-month Working Holiday Visa
– accumulate evidence of shared financial, social commitment etc
– lodge the Partner visa at the end of the 12-months & then stay and work on a Bridging Visa
–> I’m not sure about this part because we have to have lived together for 12 months before submitting the visa application, but I also need to submit the application before the Working Holiday visa expires.
On another note, I’ve also read somewhere that registering in a domestic relationship in the state will help strengthen the Partner Visa application – do you think it’s worth the $300 and hassle of obtaining the certificate?
Thanks very much!
Oceana Setaysha
March 9, 2017 at 8:23 pmHey Kelita,
You’re right, I’m not an immigration lawyer, but I have navigated the system. I understand how you feel about the process. It is very difficult to imagine having to analyse and justify your relationship, so I’m with you on that.
Now, in terms of your plan I think you’re on the right track. You can time your application for the 820/801 visa to be close to the end of your WHV and you should be fine. When you apply you put the details of the current visa that you’re on, and as soon as it expires you’re granted a bridging visa while your application is processed. Also I’m not 100% sure but I think that the ’12-month’ timing is cumulative. So if you can prove you have lived together at other points this also counts. This is what happened with my partner and I.
With the domestic relationship, I always think the more paperwork you provide the better. That wasn’t an issue in the Territory that we live in, so we didn’t do it, but I know of others who lived in states where this was an option who felt it was a smart idea.
If you haven’t already, I highly recommend having a look at the Australia Forum, particularly the immigration section. This is a fantastic community of people who are also going through the Aus visa process, both partner and otherwise. They are a great resource and always quick to answer questions I’ve found.
Good luck, I really wish you and your partner all the best. It seems like a big thing to tackle now, but you will get there in the end.
Lindsay
September 5, 2017 at 2:17 pmHi there,
I’m in the same situation as you are. I would say when you get to Australia on your Work/Holiday Visa, get a joint bank account, joint utility bills, etc., and then apply to register your relationship straight after that. That way, by the time your Holiday visa is almost up, you’ll have a good amount of time accumulated on the registration of your relationship. I’ve been reading elsewhere that some people have been denied if it looks like they are registering their relationship or getting a joint bank account just before applying for the Partner Visa. It’s smarter to spread out the timing so it doesn’t look suspicious. I’ve been back in America, away from my fiancé in Australia for 6 months now, I’m going back to AUS in November to apply for the Partner Visa. It’s terrifying, but I’m actually so glad that we’ve had to split apart physically for a while since it’s given us more time to have our joint accounts and relationship registration, also more proof that we are committed. It’s hard, but sometimes waiting, especially with something so huge, is more beneficial.
I hope this helps.
Oceana Setaysha
September 6, 2017 at 10:22 amLindsay! Thank you so much for your comment! I love this little visa community we’ve got going on here 😉 Registering the relationship is definitely a good idea. I often forget that step because the state where Dean and I lived when we first got to Australia (actually, it’s a territory, N.T.) doesn’t allow relationships to be registered. In all other parts of Australia but the N.T. and S.A. you can register a de facto relationship, which is worth remembering.
The waiting is definitely hard, but I wish you all the best with your application and hope that the process goes as smoothly for you as possible. Good luck!
O.
Agness of eTramping
February 17, 2017 at 8:23 pmThis post is wonderful and informative, Oceana. It is also a beautiful love story. May you live happily ever after.
Oceana Setaysha
February 21, 2017 at 8:11 amThanks Agness! 😀
Simona
February 17, 2017 at 2:52 pmHey,
I really enjoyed reading all this, and I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit jealous of all your travelling!! But, I will have time to travel, I just know I will 🙂
That said, my partner and I have just applied for the 820. Bloody hell!! This is going to sound like a very stupid question and I apologise, but I’m drained and have looked everywhere, but I can’t seem to find a concrete answer. We too wrote a cover letter, but have no clue what to upload it under. Like, a subcategory or something. I’m going crazy, hahaha!!
Thank you so much for writing this, it will help so many people – I know it helped me – and good luck with your 801!!
Simona
Oceana Setaysha
February 21, 2017 at 8:14 amHey Simona! Your question isn’t silly at all. There is SO MUCH paperwork, it’s hard to keep track of everything. As we submitted so much information, I put all our evidence into a kind of ‘table of contents’ and then submitted this with a READ FIRST label. The cover letter was at the start of this document. And yes, the time will come when you can travel again, but until then enjoy some of the incredible places right here in Oz, there are LOTS!
Sally Ann
January 19, 2017 at 6:39 amGood luck guys!
I applied for my 801 and I’m still waiting after 17 months!!!! 🙁 I have no idea why it’s taking so long!? It’s really stressing me out.
Oceana Setaysha
January 26, 2017 at 9:34 amOh my goodness that is a long time! We’re about to apply for the 801 in March, I really hope we aren’t waiting that long! Good luck and I’d love to know what your ultimate waiting time was.
would rather not say
February 15, 2017 at 1:10 pmI was waiting for 25 months, heard nothing yet.
Oceana Setaysha
February 21, 2017 at 8:15 amI’m really sorry to hear that! I really hate to hear stories of people waiting for so long, it can be very hard on everyone involved. I sincerely hope that you hear something soon.
Liz
February 23, 2018 at 7:56 pmHi Would Rather Not Say
Did you get your visa yet? Its 2018 now . Im just curious coz im waiting lil bit less than you and i had enough. I can imagine how it feels 25 month is over 2 years. Its frustrating
Liz
February 23, 2018 at 7:58 pmHi Sally Ann
Did you get yours at the end ?
Shar
January 13, 2017 at 12:44 pmHi! Thanks for posting this. I’m currently waiting for it to get approved… we applied a year ago and so far we have heard nothing. We have been adding things slowly over the year…. like a house we bought together only a couple of months ago. We also uploaded our travel evidence only a couple of months ago as we took time to collate it all into one big document per year (we have been travelling quite a bit since 2012). We’ve lived together for over 4 years now so I’m hoping we get the 801 straight away (it said you can go straight to permanent if you have lived together for over 3 years at the time of applying…). Fingers crossed. I can’t wait to hear something, I’m so impatient and getting a bit paranoid! Good luck with the 801 application!
Oceana Setaysha
January 26, 2017 at 9:35 amHey Shar! Yes it is A LOT of evidence to put together. Your case sounds like you have a really good foundation. Dean and I had only lived together for a year when we applied, but we had been together for two years. I really hope you hear something soon! Good luck 🙂
Amy
January 4, 2017 at 11:08 pmCongratulations!! My husband and I are working on this visa now. I got bridging visa in July and currently working on evidences online. I am really stressed with all paper works too 🙁
Regards!
Oceana Setaysha
January 5, 2017 at 4:16 amThere is a lot of paperwork Amy, but you’ll get there in the end 🙂 We’re about to start the second stage, to apply for the permanent residency and then onward maybe to citizenship! Good luck!