Australian Partner Visa Guide 2nd Edition 2017

The Second Edition Of “The Australian Partner Visa Guide”

At the beginning of the year I signalled that I wanted to write additional supplements to the book. I published the second stage visa processing book at the end of January and then I set to work on the second edition of The Australian Partner Visa Guide.

Unfortunately the process to write the second edition was not as fast because I was inundated with application review requests. But that’s good news for the second edition.

Because I was doing more and more application reviews I was able to see where everyone was repeating the same mistakes over and over again. I thought I had addressed these in my book but after asking a few of the readers I realised that it wasn’t as clear as I had hoped.

That’s why I took all their questions and wrote about them.

I also took more examples of the good, the bad and the ugly statutory declarations and supporting evidence and I added it to the second edition.

Here’s what you’re going to get in the second edition:

  • 199 pages of The Australian Partner Visa Guide – an additional 60 pages of content
  • 2 guides on obtaining your health examination – health declaration and eMedical systems
  • 2 Additional samples of GOOD sponsor and applicant statutory declarations – 3 in total
  • 2 Additional samples of BAD sponsor and applicant statutory declarations – 2 in total
  • 1 sample of a BAD form 888 of a supporting witness with explanations
  • 1 sample of a GOOD form 888 of a supporting witness with explanations
  • How to prepare documents sample PDF with instructions
  • Additional tutorial on practical points of the online application system
  • Sample application review report
  • Sample images of documents you have to submit

Before I go through what’s in the book….

Thank you again to everyone who has contributed to the book. Without your contributions the book would not be possible. Also without your contributions, feedback and suggestions, I would not get the validation and motivation to continue.

Knowing that what I do here with the book provides a fair go to international couples warms the deepest cockles of my heart.

I don’t want to see more people lose all their money to charlatan migration agents who give you nothing more than a generic checklist from the Department’s website. I am still frustrated that more migration agents pop up everyday who do this.

I’ve been through this myself and even though I know the law, it was a difficult and long process. I hope with this book you’re given a fighting chance.

Now I’m proud to announce the new updates of the second edition of The Australian Partner Visa Guide.

199 pages of The Australian Partner Visa Guide

I tried very hard to make this an even number but writing for the sake of book length is ultimately a silly idea. I write in plain English so that you don’t have to read the legislation yourself and try to figure out what the hell they want.

Compared to the first edition, the extra 60 pages of content clarifies the finer points. I also spend additional time explaining what I have seen as a pattern emerge in statutory declarations.

I also address the common questions and hurdles that you might face when you apply online.  And finally, I’ve incorporated the changes that have happened over the year in regards to applying for an Australian partner visa.

Guides to health examinations

Two additional guides are included so that you can manage obtaining a health examination yourself. This includes how to operate each system and what you need to attach to your application (if pre-loading) to demonstrate satisfying this criteria.

Examples of good sponsor and applicant statutory declarations

I’ve included additional examples of sponsor and applicant statutory declarations. I’ve also added explanations as to why they’re good and if they need improving, a few suggestions to help them along their way.

The applicant statutory declaration is the bulk of your evidence of the partner visa application so I give you more examples of what is a good one.

Often neglected is the sponsor’s statutory declaration. The sponsor is the Australian partner and although the applicant is the one under scrutiny, the Australian partner also needs to do their part to ensure that the application is successful. This turns on their statutory declaration and the way that they retell the development of their relationship. I’ve included an example of a sponsor’s statutory declaration to show this.

Examples of bad sponsor and applicant statutory declarations

Naturally, you cannot have the good without the bad. Included with the second edition are 2 additional examples of bad statutory declarations, one from the sponsor, one from the applicant. I cannot stress enough how important statutory declarations are and I’ve included 2 terrible ones to highlight what you shouldn’t do.

Examples of GOOD and BAD form 888 of a supporting witness with explanations

As I’ve reviewed a lot of statutory declarations I’ve realised that more needs to be written on this topic, including what goes into supporting witness Form 888s.

In the book there is a section on how friends and family can write supporting statements for your partner visa application. I include prompts and helpful questions.

Accompanying the second edition will now be 2 examples: one good and one bad. You’ll be able to see what’s considered a good and bad one as I provide explanations – including who you should get to write them.

How to prepare documents sample PDF with instructions

In partner visa applications, you’re submitting a lot of documents to prove your relationship. I have made every effort to help you with that by suggesting a format. Now I provide additional explanations and examples of how you can present your documents. Of particular note is how you present communication logs.

In some application reviews, I’ve had to go through almost 50 pages of communication and chat logs because a large part of the relationship was long distance or one partner travelled a lot. Unfortunately that document wasn’t formatted properly to tell the story and it just looked like a very long phone book. This is not ideal.

So I’ve created an additional guide on how to prepare your documents for a partner visa application.

Additional tutorial on practical points of the online application system

In the second edition, I go through the practical points of the online application system. That is, the common errors or weird quirks of the online application system that is not instantly apparent.

The system that the Department uses to processes visa applications is a clunky one that’s built on top of legacy systems. As the years progress and as the laws change, the system has been updated to accommodate these legal changes – but it hasn’t been efficient.

In this additional tutorial I’ve included screenshots from the application system to make it clearer on what you need to do. This is to be read in conjunction with the relevant section in the second edition.

Sample application review report

Over the last year I’ve been refining the process of reviewing applications and I’ve included a sample report. This is what you will get after you submit your application to me for a review. If you want to read more about the service you can find it here and in the book.

Sample statutory declaration review report

I’ve also included the more common statutory declaration review report. This is where I only review statutory declarations and provide suggestions as to how to improve. The service can be purchased with the book here or separately at a later stage (the purchase link is in the book or simply email us).

Sample images of documents you have to submit

There seems to be some confusion as to which documents to get and how they should look like. I’ve also read some reports of service providers selling these documents to unsuspecting visa applicants. I’ve included a few documents to help you know which ones are the ones that are needed for migration purposes and which ones aren’t.

Where can I get all these goodies?

The second edition of the Australian Partner Visa Guide and all the aforementioned goodies are available from TODAY.

For those who have already purchased, you’ll be receiving update emails for your download link. That’s right, book purchasers are entitled to all future updates and editions!