COVID-19 and Partner Visas – How to go to Australia and apply for exemption
How can I apply for an exemption to travel to Australia for my partner?
As many of you are aware, as a country, we’re locked down. No one is allowed in or out unless they have exemptions to travel.
Responding to increasing pressure from Australian citizens being separated from their family and loved ones, the government has decided to a) allow entry for partners of Australian citizens and b) fast-track them aka give their visa applications priority processing.
Proving financial support during partner visa processing period
Last updated: 11 December 2023
Do I need financial support or assurances of support for partner visa applications?
Dear Readers,
Today we’re talking about financial support and proving financial resources as a sponsor of a partner visa application.
Lately I’ve been receiving questions around financial support and whether the Australian sponsor needs to have an amount of money in their bank account, how do Australian sponsors prove that they can provide financially for the applicant and similar types of questions.
There’s also a lot of misinformation going around, usually by people and companies that make money off lending sponsors money to ‘show’ that they have enough in their bank accounts.
Yes, this is a common practice for partner visas around the world, including the US and UK where a sponsoring partner must be employed and earn a salary over a certain amount of money before they are allowed to sponsor their partner. However, Australia is not a country that requires sponsors to earn over a certain threshold before they can sponsor. Thankfully!
What’s happening with partner visa applications in 2020?
Dear Readers,
It’s been a while but it doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy working with some of you behind the scenes.
It was actually really busy in the 2 months leading up to Christmas with many statutory declaration reviews and a few last minute application reviews .
The benefit of doing a lot of these reviews is that I’m able to see where the most common pitfalls are. A lot of couples have similar questions and many still struggle with writing something adequate in their statutory declarations or personal written statements to address the 4 aspects of the relationship.
Give Details Of The Financial Aspects Of The Relationship
Last updated: 11 December 2023
Table of Contents
The Financial Aspects Of The Relationship
The Australian partner visa application requires that the applicant and sponsor provide evidence of the relationship against 4 criteria. That is, the case officer will take your partner visa application and look at all the evidence and what you have written and weigh it up against 4 things:
- Financial aspects of the relationship
- Social aspects of the relationship
- Nature of the commitment to each other
- Nature of the household
Thursday Answers – Sponsorship ban and special circumstances
Last updated: 17 December 2023
Thursday Answers are a response to questions submitted by readers on our regular Ask Mondays posts.
Every Monday I ask people to send in their questions and concerns and I select one to answer. In doing this, I hope you will see that a) you’re not alone in this, b) there are no stupid questions and c) we’re all here to help!
Social Responsibility and Financial Aid Programmes – Get Help With Fees
In my previous post, I wrote about how some couples are working 3 jobs just to pay for the partner visa application fees. I received an overwhelming response from readers about how this has impacted them, particularly with the recent fee increase again (this time it’s a whopping $7,715, even more than we predicted).
All these stories made me think long and hard about how I can give more back to the community; to the people whose only crime was to fall in love with an Australian and want to be able to live in this beautiful country that we call home.
I had a discussion with the team and we are all of the same opinion that we could do more.
This is why I’m donating more of my time and services to partner visa applications.
Today I’m very proud to announce that we are launching 2 give back programmes called the Social Responsibility Programme and the Financial Aid Programme.
What do migration agents do for their fees? – Migration agents and your headaches
Last updated: 11 December 2023
“We take care of the headaches” is a very popular line from migration agents but what do they really mean when they say that?
Because at the end of the day, they still give you a checklist for you to gather the documents, write your statements and then apply for the police checks, health checks etc. Migration agents don’t even help you translate your documents and if they do you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s not part of the $5,000 fee that they quote. They’ll know trusted translators that they’ve worked with before and they’ll recommend them to you because guess what? Migration agents get a commission for that and their trusted translators make money off you too. (Note: always use a NAATI certified translator if you can).
So let’s go through what these potential headaches could be and how migration agents take care of them for you.
Thursday Answers – Overstaying a visa and what that means for you
Last updated: 11 December 2023
Overstaying an expired visa and how that affects your application
Thursday Answers are a response to questions submitted by readers on our regular Ask Mondays posts.
Every Monday I ask people to send in their questions and concerns and I select one to answer. In doing this, I hope you will see that a) you’re not alone in this, b) there are no stupid questions and c) we’re all here to help!