Worried about the next step.

[TJ-LJ]

My partner and I closed the distance over a year ago now, and have gone through all the correct processes of making it happen. My partner has completed his working holiday visas and it is now time to apply for our defacto relationship visa. However, we are both growing concerned about everything it entails to apply. We are worried we do not have enough "evidence" for the government to allow our relationship visa.

So far we have collected and kept track of things that have been possible for us, but there is still so many things that we haven't been able to obtain or achieve. Such as renting/owning our own home, sharing mutual friends, having bills in both our names, etc. All my partners friends are back in England where he is from, and I do not have any friends where I live. So, it makes it hard to have mutual friends. We also cannot afford our own renting place let alone a home; we live with my Mum and we pay board, but it's not enough. We have a joint bank account but only use it for going out for dinner, or if we go for a holiday. We don't have any shared bills.

I just feel like this set list of things that the government requires us to have and do isn't suited for all types of relationships/people; not every couple is going to have their own home, not every couple is going to have mutual friends. This defacto relationship visa is costing between $8,000-$11,000 and we do not want to waste that money only to be declined this visa due to lack of "evidence."

Is anyone able to provide help/advice on defacto visas, or this topic in general? My partner and I just want to be able to move on to the next step of our relationship and our future; to be able to buy our own home, for my partner to be able to have a permanent job or study a trade he needs to be an Australian citizen and this defacto visa is our only chance of this. At the moment it just seems so impossible and it's very unsettling.

Thank you.

[Littlewhiteflower]

I'm not sure how it works in australia. My fiancé is australian and we are going through this process as well but in Canada. I know we did not meet the requirement for defacto spouse since we had nothing together (no joint account, no bills, no tax return that prove we are defacto). So we just decided to get married. It was the easiest solution.

I think it can be quite hard to prove you are really together if there is little proofs of a relationship (especially if you don't own anything together or don't pay bills together). It might work though. You could maybe call an immigration officer ?

[TJ-LJ]

My partner and I don't want to get married just for the sake of being considered a couple under the eye of the government. We want to marry when/if we feel it is right to, and not because it's the easiest option. This defacto visa is definitely hard to go through, and we hope to receive some advice from an immigration officer it's just that it's so expensive. Thanks for the advice!

[Littlewhiteflower]

I didn't mean to sound like we are getting married for immigration. We were engaged long before we decided to do it, it just accelerated a bit the process..

If you think you qualify for a defacto visa. Then great! Just do it