We’ve had lots of discussion here on the Down Under Visa BLOG page about the importance of relationship evidence, ie. evidence of a genuine relationship in Australian visa applications. This applies particularly to partner visas, and also to tourist visa applications based on relationships between Australian sponsors and Filipina applicants. This will be one of the reasons why they will grant the application, and it therefore matters a lot!

Our existing partner visa clients will have noticed (I hope!) that we’ve modified the advice given on the Migration Hub for relationship evidence requirements. (NOTE. This is what we did in 2016) We’ve “upped” what we used to say before, because the Department are getting tougher and are asking for more evidence than they used to. Please click on the link and study this carefully, because it matters a lot. It matters even more so if you are together in Australia, where you really have little excuse for not producing evidence that proves that you are living as a committed couple.

Does the Embassy or DIBP investigate your application information?

Yes, my oath they do! They will scrutinize all visa applications, and will pay special attention to those where the evidence or the facts of the case are not quite what they should be. Even more reason why you should follow our guidance from the start. And they will pick out random applications and will go through they with the proverbial fine-toothed comb and look for errors.

What will kill your visa application stone-dead is false information. False statements and bogus documents and omissions of important facts, especially those which may influence the decision of the Case Officer whether to grant the visa or refuse the visa, these are the factors that will lead to a visa refusal and a three year ban. Regulation 4020 is the law that will come into effect.

Examples:

I heard recently that Departmental officers are increasingly calling up those friends and relatives who have completed Form 888’s supplied in support of partner visas applications, and sometimes they hear some strange things:

“I hardly know them- I just signed as a favour to my brother”

“Met them at a pub and agreed to sign”

“I didn’t read it-the migration agent prepared it and I just signed”

These are false statements! These Form 888’s will be considered bogus. They are also statutory declarations, and those who sign them are open to prosecution too.

And I read a recent high court decision with a refugee case, where the applicant from Bangladesh had claimed he was subject to persecution because he had become a Christian in an otherwise Muslim country.

Guess what the judge referred to? His Facebook page! Stated he was a muslim, and had no references to his new-found faith!

What do you think the Case Officer will think if they happen to look up YOUR Facebook page and see photos of you with somebody else in romantic poses? How about if your Facebook page refers to yourself as “single” when you are supposedly engaged? Don’t think they won’t do it!

Relationship Evidence – Proof of a genuine relationship

And the other issue as I touched on is the onus is on you to prove via the visa application absolutely that you do have a genuine relationship, and a solid commitment to each other to live a shared-life. They expect this especially when you are there in Australia living as a couple. I explained this indepth in a recently BLOG ARTICLE, which you should read again if this affects you. If you act like an uncommitted couple, they will see you as one.

If you are living together as a genuine couple, they will expect to see you have well and truly set-up-house together and are doing all the normal couple-things. I won’t go into specifics here, as this is a BLOG article and not a How-To guide. Down Under Visa clients are always free to ask us if they’re not sure of something, and should have read up already on the extensive information we’ve supplied you. If you act like you are more committed to the family back in the Philippines or to your adult children and how they will feel about you marrying again, or if you act like you are still worried if she’s a gold-digger and don’t trust her with money, then they will refuse the visa application. Partner visas are for couples who are already committed and have made a firm decision. If you are not at that stage? Get a tourist visa for now, and we can get on with a partner visa application when you are both actually ready.

So please always keep your application squeaky clean. No lies. No dodgy paperwork. No shortcuts. Honestly, we don’t pick on you because we have nothing better to do. We could find plenty of things to do in our spare time if we had a bit more of it. If you are in a genuine relationship, then the onus on you is to provide enough factual information to back it up. Do the legwork and do the couple-things, and gather up the paperwork that will prove what you already know. The Embassy or the DIBP office in Australia don’t know you, therefore you need to show them. The reward will be a visa grant, which is worth any effort. Don’t you agree?

NOTE: This is a re-posted update of an article from 2016