Australian Spouse Visas - 12 Costly Misconceptions to Avoid If You Want to Be Successful
ACCOUNT OR LEASE - not true as many couples do not have these
important documents but still succeed. We can show you how to
compensate with other even better evidentiary documents from
yourselves, friends and family. Evidence covers many categories above
and beyond just your finances and includes the history of your
relationship, the opinions of others about your relationship, proof of
your travels together, your own personal statements about the depth
and commitment of your relationship and many other relevant fields.2.
SPOUSE VISA APPLICATIONS ARE EASY -"MY FRIEND DID IT HIM/HERSELF" -
that may be true for your friend but, if your friend was jumping off a
high cliff and over rocks into the ocean, would you jump too? None of
us do everything our friends do - we need to make our own choices,
especially in matters as important as love and migration where the
risks are so high.3. I AM AUSTRALIAN AND I HAVE A RIGHT TO HAVE MY
SPOUSE LIVE IN AUSTRALIA SO THEY WILL JUST GIVE THEM THE VISA - No!
Spouse visas are only granted when you can also prove the relationship
is genuine; being an Australian guarantees nothing on a spouse visa
application. If it were otherwise anyone could just move in with or
marry an Australian and obtain a visa.4. SPOUSE VISAS ARE QUICKER IF
YOU APPLY ON YOUR OWN - Also not true; doing it on your own can take 4
-6 months or more, sometimes even over a year until approval. One
client was waiting six months to just to get a government case officer
before we intervened. We have had some of our client's spouse
applications approved in 1 day and aim for a quick approval of 2 -4
weeks in all cases. We get faster approvals because we prepare the
whole case better.5. I CAN GET A SPOUSE VISA EVEN IF MY LAST VISA
APPLICATION WAS REFUSED - Previous visa refusals almost always make
subsequent applications harder as more evidence is required and you
must prove good character for migration purposes and therefore
sometimes apply overseas. Hence, it is better to make your first
application succeed.
6. YOU DON'T NEED MUCH EVIDENCE TO GET A SPOUSE VISA - This is probably
the biggest misconception of them all! No spouse case will ever be
approved without substantial, credible and properly documented and
organised evidence, preferably scrutinised by a lawyer (like the writer of
this article) skilled in the art of vetting evidence for errors and or
dangerous information which might otherwise prejudice your application7.
WE ARE MARRIED BUT WE NEED TO LIVE TOGETHER FOR A YEAR AS WELL BEFORE WE
CAN APPLY FOR AN AUSTRALIAN SPOUSE VISA - not correct. Australian law
states that you must either be legally married OR live in genuine de-facto
relationship (monogamous/to the exclusion of all others) for 12 months
before applying for a spouse visa. You do not have to do both.
Furthermore, even if you are not married, you can start preparation for
your spouse visa application before your 12 months of de-facto time is
finished and then lodge the application as soon as it is.8. SPOUSE VISAS
ARE ALWAYS APPROVED IF YOUR RELATIONSHIP IS GENUINE AND NOT FAKE - this is
a popular misconception, as everyone would like to believe that the
Immigration officers are all honest, competent and skilful at discerning
which relationships are real and which are not. However, like you, they
are human beings and can be prejudiced against certain types of
relationships, racist and even just overworked and incapable of giving
proper attention to your application. You need the protection of a lawyer
to deal with your case as they know how to deal with these issues upfront
before and or as the problem occurs.9. MY SPOUSE AND I HAVE ENOUGH COMMON
SENSE, WHY DO WE NEED A LAWYER? Good question - you might also ask why you
need a doctor when you are sick or a mechanic to fix your broken down car.
There are many things that most of us can do on our own but some that are
best left to the experts. Essentially, in this type of case, you need not
just any lawyer but an experienced migration lawyer who has also had lots
of spouse cases approved - since 2000 we have had nearly 100 consecutive
spouse cases approved without one visa refusal.10. THE IMMIGRATION
DEPARTMENT WILL UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN WE STARTED OUR RELATIONSHIP WE DID
NOT KEEP ANY DOCUMENTS AS WE WEREN'T THINKING ABOUT THAT AT THE TIME - yes
to a certain degree that is true - who does start a romantic liaison by
organising documents anyway? Answer; probably the fake relationships
contrived for visas alone. However, that does not take away from the fact
that you need to document the entire relationship in one way or another no
matter how things got started. Once again, our skill and experience is to
help you in that area.11. WE DON'T WANT TO GET MARRIED JUST FOR A VISA
AND, EVEN IF WE DID, THE IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT WILL THINK IT WAS FAKE, SO
WHY SHOULD WE? - We agree, neither should you marry just for a visa.
Almost everyone wants to get married at the right time and for the right
reasons. We would never encourage anyone to do otherwise. However, the act
of migration sometimes forces people to bring forward important life
decisions they could otherwise have put off and this is certainly the case
here. We will advise you on this important matter personally at one of our
interviews and in light of all your circumstances. In all cases, we always
advise you to tell the truth.12. I CAN JUST USE ANY MIGRATION AGENT TO DO
MY SPOUSE CASE WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE EXPERIENCED - Definitely not! Until
late 2007, all migration agents who were not lawyers (and that is most of
them), could get their license by doing a short course over 2 weekends.
They literally could have been driving a taxi or cleaning houses one week
and a few weeks later be dispensing migration advice to all and sundry
after doing this ridiculously short course. Fortunately, that law has now
changed and at least non-migration agents must have a university degree
now to be admitted to a migration agent course. However, like anything
else, just doing a course does not qualify you for being excellent in the
harsh realities of the market-place.
Here are some of the tough but necessary questions you should ask any
migration agent or lawyer before you hand them the enormous responsibility
of ensuring your Australian spouse visa case will succeed (we can give you
more questions): I. Are you a practising lawyer as well as a registered
migration agent or just a migration agent? If you are not a lawyer, why
not? How will you deal with legal issues on our case? II. How long have
you been practicing in the area of migration law? III. How many spouse
cases have you had approved? If less than 50, then why? IV. Have you ever
had a spouse case refused and, if so, why? V. Can you give me any
authentic written testimonials (with contact details so I can verify they
are true) of any of your spouse case clients that you have had approved?
If not, why not? VI. What percentage of your spouse cases is approved? If
less than 100%, then why? VII. Have you ever done a spouse case the same
as ours? What happened? VIII. Will you take a percentage of your fee only
when my case is approved? If not, why not?
Mr. Justin Rickard B.A LL.B M.A (SYD.) M.M.I.A, has been an Australian
Attorney, Solicitor and Barrister since 1986, practicing in the
Supreme Court of NSW, Federal and High Courts of Australia. He is the
Principal Lawyer of Justin Rickard Associates based in Sydney. Mr.
Rickard has also been an Australian government registered migration
agent since 1994, and can be contacted on (+612) 4448.6084 or
(+61416.212.021) or @ web: australianimmigrationlawyers .com
visas@australianimmigrationlawyers .com.
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