Launching the Third Edition of the Australian Partner Visa Guide with even more content, insights and examples of statutory declarations to give you the tools to do your own partner visa applications

Australian partner visas have had some changes since the last edition of the book launched November 2017. As I updated the blog with the changes I was working simultaneously on the third edition of the Australian Partner Visa Guide. I am now very proud to announce that once again I’ve expanded on the Australian Partner Visa Guide and in this third edition; there are more insights, more tips and more information on how you can put together the most successful partner visa application.

Looking back, this book started as a small little 5 pager that I put together for my best friend who was going through the partner visa process. She had just married the man of her dreams in a beautiful but expensive wedding and now they were going to come home to Australia. By then the visa application charges went through the roof and were a far cry from the good old days of less than a thousand. My heart was bleeding for her. Although we do these applications every day, as an immigration lawyer, you don’t really realise the amount of stress and anxiety that goes into these applications unless you’ve been through it yourself. And we had just done the process ourselves.

Fast forward to 2019, Australian immigration law has predictably changed and I would like to say for the better but unfortunately it’s just resulted in longer processing times and higher fees. The Australian government continues to hold visa applicants hostage for outrageous sums of money. And it’s even more shameful that other people are trying to charge you thousands of dollars on top of that in order to submit the application for you, only to fail.  

I continue to update and revise the Australian Partner Visa Guide to try and level the playing field. I also wrote a shorter, similarly practical Kindle book and a follow up called the Permanent Partner Visa Process. Given the long processing times, the permanent partner visa process is ever more relevant because once your temporary visa has been granted, the second stage permanent partner processing is right around the corner.

So without further ado here is what you’ll find in the third edition of the Australian Partner Visa Guide:

• 238 pages of The Australian Partner Visa Guide – an additional 39 pages of content
• 2 guides on obtaining your health examination – health declaration and eMedical systems
• 6 examples of GOOD sponsor and applicant statutory declarations
• 7 examples of BAD applicant statutory declaration
• 2 examples of a BAD form 888 of a supporting witness with explanations
• 2 example of a GOOD form 888 of a supporting witness with explanations
• Cover letter template
• Relationship timeline template
• Document collection worksheet
• Applicant and sponsor application checklists for all the documents you need to provide
• How to prepare documents sample PDF with instructions
• Tutorial on practical points of the online application system ImmiAccount
• Sample application review report
• Sample statutory declaration review report
• Sample images of documents you have to submit

238 pages of The Australian Partner Visa Guide

All major changes since the second edition have been added to this edition. I believe the ones of most interest will be the new sponsorship undertakings or requirements that were introduced in December 2018. They have been in force since April 2019 but I should remind you that the changes apply to the family stream of the migration program, of which partner visas are but one type of visa under this stream. The changes do not specifically change the partner visa process and you can read more about it in this post here. I then go into further detail in this edition on how this affects your application and how you should approach it.

I’ve included more scenarios that have come up and use case studies to illustrate points. Some case studies are real live examples and others are hypothetical situations that you might find yourself in.

There’s also plenty of updated material on statutory declarations including sample statutory declarations and examples of personal written statements that commonly go with your partner visa applications.

Health examination process and police check process

Although these days it’s not advised to pre-load your health and police checks, I’ve included guides to both Australian systems on how to obtain a health check and how to get an Australian Federal Police Check. I’ve also provided instructions on how to get health checks if you are overseas and how to get police checks from the countries other than Australia. These should come in handy when the time comes or when your case officer requests them from you.

Templates, worksheets and checklists for your partner visa

I’ve included at least 3 checklists for the evidence that you’ll need for your partner visa application. Other worksheets include how to structure your application, how to gather your evidence in a manageable and orderly way and how to label everything so that you present a complete partner visa application. The last thing you want to do is submit an incomplete application and these checklists will help you make sure that you don’t fall into that trap.

Some templates included are for you to use as guides, they’re not designed to be the ‘standard templates for visa application’ purposes. It’s just the ones that I have used in my business that has achieved results.

Additional reports and instruction documents for ImmiAccount

As part of the application reviews, readers are allowed to submit additional questions that they may have about the application process. What’s clear is that there are a lot of questions regarding the online application system called ImmiAccount. This is the system that the Australian government uses to manage and process visa applications. Unfortunately, it’s quite an old clunky system that has been poorly put together. it’s also an old system that’s running under a lot of strain as the amount of visa applications increase. So naturally, there are a lot of questions regarding how to answer questions in the partner visa application.

I’ve compiled the most common ones and answer them with detailed screenshots walking through the ImmiAccount system so you know exactly what you need to do in which section of the partner visa application.

I’ve also included a sample application review report so you can see what happens when you get a professional to review your application in line with the guide. Although it has been redacted to protect the privacy of the client, I go through each piece of evidence and give an opinion on how helpful or useful it is to the success of the partner visa application. I then provide some suggestions on how the whole application could be improved, and point to certain sections of the book that you might want to revise again.  This is a service that you can purchase later on when you’re ready. More information can be found here about it.

The statutory declaration review report shows how I analyse the applicant and sponsor’s statutory declarations or personal written statements to find inconsistencies and areas for improvement.  Most readers buy the book with the statutory declaration review service as it represents the best value for money but this service is available for purchase afterwards too if you feel that you might need more help than you originally thought. Details on how to access this service are in the book.

Examples of statutory declarations and sample personal written statements

In the original first edition I provided 2 statutory declarations that I tore apart and went into sentence by sentence analysis of why it is a good or bad statutory declaration.

In the second edition, I added more examples of good and bad statutory declarations and one personal written statement.

In this new third edition I’ve now included a grand total of 17 examples of statutory declarations of sponsors, applicants and supporting witnesses.

What’s new this time around is the addition of more examples of sponsor statutory declarations. With the renewed focus on sponsors and their eligibility to sponsor a partner, the case officers will be looking more closely at what the sponsor writes, amongst other things.

I continue to go through them line by line analysing why it makes a good example of meeting the 4 aspects of the relationship or where I think it could improve in order to be a more successful one.

Examples and samples of Form 888 of a supporting witness

For the first time I add some poorly written Form 888 and explanations on why certain people are not suitable for writing supporting witness statements.

I have always stressed that the applicant’s statutory declaration or personal written statement is the centrepiece of the partner visa application but the supporting witness statements also add considerable weight. Although the relationship should be told in your own words, it requires other people to believe that you are a couple in order for the case officer to accept that you are indeed a couple. That’s why it is also important to choose the right supporting witness to write Form 888’s for you. Every piece of evidence you submit with your partner visa application should add to your story, not take away from it or introduce suspicion in the mind of the case officer.

Where can I get these?

The third edition of the Australian Partner Visa Guide, templates, worksheets, checklists and the all-important examples of statutory declarations 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!