Statement about relationship – Stage 2 Partner Visa

DD/MM/YEAR

Name Surname

Statement about relationship

With great enthusiasm, I write this statement about my relationship with my husband, Name Surname. It’s been 2 years already since we got married on the DD/MM/YEAR and we have just renewed our vows in front of our friends on the 1st of June on Stradbroke Island. We decided that it would be a great way to celebrate this date and prepared a small party for 40 people in the Point Lookout Surf Club (please find the evidence of the club booking and our preparations for this day are included in the attachment).

Since I’ve got my 820 visa confirmed we have done a couple of remarkable travels together to see Great Barrier Reef on my 30th birthdays, to visit the family of Name’s brother in Sydney, to Fraser Island and to Whitsundays on our newly renovated boat (please find the evidence and photos from these trips in the section Social Context of the Relationship). We’re building a good network of mutual friends and have great memories of time spending all together – sport activities and many evenings spent in the cinema and going out together (please find the evidence and photos from in the section Social Context of the Relationship).

We’ve settled in our everyday life – both are sharing household obligations and such joint responsibilities as saving money for a house deposit. Name also helped me to buy a car, as I couldn’t take a loan on my name because of visa status. We made a loan on our both names and I transfer money on Name’s bank account every fortnight to pay off the car as well as transfer my part for house rent and all the household bills (please find evidence in the Financial Evidence section).

We keep being also best friends to each other, that’ why we share all our spare time together – we both are members of Sports Super Centre in Place; both had membership in Paramount Adventure Centre in Place; just bought winter passes for wake park in Gold Coast (please find the evidence and photos from in the section Social Context of the Relationship).

For the moment our plans for future are:
– Insert your future plans..

We are looking forward for a decision.
Thank you,
Name

Useful Links for those who struggle during covid-19 – rent, jobs, support

‘The world is changing’ – this phrase is literally hanging in the air whenever you go. I mean whenever you stay inside, trying to isolate yourself.

We are quite lucky here in Australia, the global pandemic didn’t hit as much as we can see in other parts of the world and, most importantly, where we cannot see (all the third world countries that do not generate the statistics for obvious reasons). By ‘quite lucky’ I mean we still are going to face a recession, people are still getting sick, and vulnerable cohort of international students and people on different types of visa are suffering from unemployment, stress and uncertainty of their visa status.

I wanted to share with you some useful links for those who stuck in Australia.

If you are an international student and you lost your income due to COVID-19 and cannot pay your rent. If you returned to your home country and want to break a fixed term agreement – click here.

Emergency relief from the Red Cross

The Red Cross with assistance from the Australian Government is able to offer one off emergency relief payments to people on temporary visas who are seeking assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Payments are available to people who:

– are not Australian citizens or permanent residents, and

– have no access to services like Jobseeker or Centrelink (or Special Benefit, SRSS, HSP), and

– have no income, savings or means of supporting themselves, and

– have urgent essential needs like food, medicine and shelter.

These one off emergency relief payments are not income support. They are one-off limited payments.

For those who are eligible for an emergency relief payment, applications/referrals can be made online at www.redcross.org.au/emergencyrelief.

Connect with jobs from over 200 recruitment agencies – Queensland region

Queenslanders whose employment has been impacted by COVID-19 and are now looking for work, can

register their details, location and skills to be matched with suitable job opportunities by professional recruitment agencies.

Click here to find out more.

Taking care of your mental health during COVID-19

Looking after yourself during the Coronavirus

General Support & resumes

Tenancy Support

Gold Coast Legal Service

Support for victims of Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence prevention Centre

Domestic violence support for women from CALD background

Kids Helpline

National Debt Helpline – 1800 007 007

Stay safe everyone!

Driving License in Australia

You may hear from your friends in Australia – ‘don’t bother changing your international license to Australian’ (insert your state of living, mine is QLD). Some of cheeky friends will explain to you that on international license you are not restricted with ‘points’ system (it can vary from state to state, so please google ‘points systems driving license’ in your state) and won’t lose your license in case you run out of points so better stick to your international ones as much as possible. Well, I would recommend checking the official timelines – when you have to change your international license to the local ones. You definitely need to change them when you get your Permanent Residency (PR). They give you 3 months since the date you got your PR to change your international license.

And now let’s check how lucky you are:)

49715029_2049272868472224_2370628721108320256_o

Here I am, proudly sitting on my first car….proudly paying off it’s loan too:) If you see someone on a good car, 99% it’s a debt or a loan..no miracles, so don’t feel preassured to buy a good car.

I thought it’s just a question of changing my Russian international license to Queensland license, just a piece of paper that should be changed with another piece of paper. I was naive… Apparently, there is a list of recognized countries, who can easily transfer their driving license to an Australian one and a list of countries like Russia, when you have to pass a writing exam and a practical test all over again to get your Australian license. Great, isn’t it?

Ok, are you nervous? Let’s check your country… that’s the list of Recognised countries and jurisdictions:

If you are applying for a Queensland learner licence, you won’t have to pass a written road rules test if you hold or have held within the last 5 years a learner licence that corresponds to a class C, RE or R licence granted from these countries and jurisdictions.

Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Canada
Croatia
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Guernsey
Ireland
Isle of Man (for licences issued on or after 1 April 1991)
Italy
Japan
Jersey
Luxembourg
Malta (for licences issued on or after 2 January 2004)
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States of America

Don’t get upset if you didn’t find your country just yet…

This is the list of Experienced driver recognition countries and jurisdictions:

If you are applying for a Queensland learner licence, you won’t have to pass a written road rules test if you are 25 years or older and you hold, or have held within the last 5 years, a learner licence that corresponds to a class C, RE or R licence granted from these countries and jurisdictions.

Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China)*
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
South Korea
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa (Republic of)
Taiwan

Ok, now you can be upset…

If your driver licence has been issued in a country or jurisdictions not listed, you will need to pass a written road rules test and practical driving test to get a Queensland driver licence.

From 1 January 2014 if you hold a foreign licence and you fail a practical driving test, your authority to drive on your foreign licence will be withdrawn.

You will be able to use your foreign licence for the next practical driving test you take. If you need to practise before taking your next test you will have to get a Queensland learner licence.

Upset, but no panic, OK? I had to pass the test and exam, so it’s doable. After you swear enough about bureaucratic procedures in this world, open and read this webpage first. Then start practicing your writing exam using an online test here. Your writing test will consist of 2 papers and about 30 questions in total. You can make 1 mistake in first tests and 2 in the second test. All the questions you can train in the online test above. Plus read rules about learner driving license; have a look at the general signs in Australia; familiarise yourself with parking rules (finally!), and don’t forget to check how to share the road with bicycle riders (you must stay 1m away from them in a 60km/h or less speed zone or 1.5m where the speed limit is over 60km/h). Check this list of useful PDFs. But really, I just made an online test 5 times before the exam.

When you feel you are ~~over with reading and tests~~ prepared, gather further documents in one folder, you will need to show them in your local Department of Transport and Main Roads.

two credit cards with your name on them;
Medicare;
Lease agreement (to show where you live; with a date, your name and signature on it);
Your international driving license;
Your passport;
Marriage certificate (in case your surname on your passport and other documents are not the same. I don’t want to fly to Russia and be stuck there for a month changing my passport..);
Be ready to pay about 30$ (please check online how much it is in your state).

Basically, a customer service officer on the counter in the Department of Transport and Main Roads takes all your documents, signs you in the system, gives you a card with your future driving license number (you will need it for the practical exam), gives you two papers and leaves you alone for an indefinite time until you finish the test. Then you are giving the papers to the same officer back and see how the officer is checking your results just in front of you. Everything is easy and friendly, don’t worry:)

Then the officer gives you a ~~high five~~ number to call and book your practical exam. You can pay for a practical exam on the same day if you want. It’s about 55$. They warn you that the waiting period for a practical exam can be up to 2 weeks, so better call the same day. I had to wait for one week. Oh and take all the documents that you had with you for writing test on practical exam plus the other two forms that you will get after you booked your practical exam (they will send them to you by email). If you use your friends/partner’s car, one of the documents should be signed by them (you will see which one). Plus you will need to place on your car two “L” platters. I just printed them out and place them accordingly using a blu tack 🙂

How I prepared for a practical exam? Not enough… I just read this document half an hour before the exam and was ready to fail it. It was uncomfortable to find out that there could be specific language patterns that my brain would absorb too slow and I would do mistakes. For example, imagine you are sitting in the car, all that nervous and your driving examination asks you to:

‘Now reverse the vehicle around the corner as if you were reversing into a loading bay, ensuring that the vehicle is within two meters and parallel with the left kerb at the completion of the exercise. Please do this manoeuvre predominantly using your mirrors. You’re allowed to use two reverse movements and one forward movement to the edge of the road during the course of this manoeuvre.’

Nice..nice… also, keep in mind this:

Pre-drive check wording:
– “Please show me the mirrors that you will be using when driving. Now explain to me how you would adjust them.”
– “Please explain how you would demist the front windscreen.”
– “Please ensure that the ignition is turned off and then explain how you would turn on the windscreen wipers.”
– “Please show me where the engine brake system is and explain to me how you would operate it.”
– (IF APPLICABLE) “Please explain to me where the trailer brake is and how you would use it.”

Well, I had a great instructor, to begin with. Friendly, relaxed guy. When I couldn’t explain to him what I should turn on the car in the mist, he giggled, but let me drive. That was embarrassing… In the first 8 minutes, an instructor will ask you questions about your car, how you would operate it. Some basic knowledge. Then he jumps in the car and tells you where to go. Just listen to the instructions, ask if you don’t understand something and drive slowly, like a grandmum. Make 5km/h less than the official limit. Check the road with your head first before looking in the mirror and leave the gaps between cars when waiting on the traffic lights. make a full stop on a STOP sign. The driving part takes usually 25-30 minutes. Then you come back to the office and if everything was successful they give you a paper which replacing your international driving license, you pay for the printed driving license that will be sent to you by post (from 90$-200$, depends on you, if you like them to last 5 years without renewal, just pay maximum. By renewal I don’t mean you need to pass tests again).

And that’s it… the hardest part is to find time off work to make it all as the Department of Transport and Main Roads works from 9am -6pm.

Oh wait..forgot to add – you will get Open license when you pass exam:)

Good luck!

I got Permanent Residency

I got my residency just before my Christmas holidays, yay! Didn’t expect it so soon (it kicked in 7 months after I applied for Stage 2). According to official processing time, it should be up to 24 months (it’s changing constantly, I think now it’s from 12 months till 19 months). Anyway, I was prepared for a long waiting game. I look at my case and my friends, I think it can be faster. One girl got her PR in 3 days after she applied for Stage 2. So good luck everyone:)

And yes, I was over the moon the day I got it. But the human’s psyche is a funny thing, as soon as you get it, you are looking for another goal. Please write in the comments if you get your visa. Or how tired you are of waiting for the visa:)

Rights and responsibilities of an immigrant. My opinion

‘You have a right to enjoy a sunbath on the beach. Anything you eat and drink will be used against your summer body shape. You have the right to remain silent…and happy…’

fixedw_large_4x

I know how it may feel… You may think that you’re already doing a lot of sacrifices living in another country, far away from your family and friends, starting all over again, unable to express yourself on 100% because of different language and mentality (I couldn’t even argue properly with my husband in the beginning because it took me a bit more time to make my defense/attack sentences in English, annoying as hell!). It could be hard as it is, plus you have to prove that you are a valuable member of society. Yes, I strongly believe that you have to.

Being a guest (and we all are guests in the beginning) in another country, you have responsibility to behave in accordance with this country’s democratic beliefs, respect the rights and liberties of this country, follow and obey the law, contribute to the economy and be willing to be part of a community.

Do you want to be accepted by the society? Sure you do… otherwise it’s a miserable life full of resentment. Do you want to be treated equally? Do you want to succeed? Do you want to push your kids for better future? Respect the rules, work and develop yourself. When I lived in Germany, just in the beginning of immigration wave, I went to local courses of German language. Suddenly a group of young immigrants appear in our classroom. They didn’t speak German, they were quite loud, they constantly interrupt a teacher, had a knife with them and obviously didn’t want to participate in the class. No one in the classroom felt comfortable. When teacher asked them to be quitter, one of them answered in a broken English – ‘We don’t want to learn your language. Why should we? Soon you will speak in our language and respect our culture’. Sure, sunshine… this particular group was deported as far as I know. With that approach you won’t go far – it’s a way of nihilism. Rejection of existing rules, disobedience, bitterness. I am not a fan of nihilism. I think you can change the system for the better from inside by juggling the existing rules. Play fair, be strong and you will achieve what you want. Don’t like that people can react harshly on your accent? Well, if you are an educated, balanced, stable personality, your accent won’t be a problem between same normal and balanced people. You can encounter an aggressive people who has a very tiny emotional intelligence everywhere. In your own country too.

When my lovely parents who I adore, mention my lack of patriotism because I left Russia, I usually answer them – ‘ I try to be a good reliable person that would represent my country better than any prejudice that a foreigner can read about Russia’. Consider yourself an advocate of all the best that you would like to share about your country. That’s also a mission by the way.

When I came to Australia and was waiting for my working rights, I started to dig in deeper into history of this country, it’s economy, it’s values and it’s culture. At the end it will shape a wider picture of the place you live and what kind of mentality you are surrounded by. Knowledge is power indeed.

I would recommend to start with reading more about Traditional Owners of the lands – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ history and culture. I will definitely make a separate post about it, but you can start with this website.

Also, any YouTube videos or books about Australian history and…my personal favorite Australian song Down Under🙂 Don’t forget the movies too!

So what are they, democratic beliefs, rights and liberties of Australia? You can find more information here.

Parliamentary democracy

The people you elect as representatives are answerable to the public for their decisions.

Rule of law

All Australians are equal in the eyes of the law. No person or group gets preferential treatment.

Living peacefully

We prefer discussion, peaceful persuasion and democracy. We do not use violence to bring about change.

Respect for all individuals

We treat all Australians with dignity and respect. No matter their beliefs, traditions and background.

Compassion

We always show a spirit of ‘mateship’. We come together to help and support each other during times of need.

Great values, aren’t they?:)

Example of Nature of Commitment Statement

Date

Name Surname

Statement about relationship

With great enthusiasm I write this statement about my relationship with my husband, Name Surname. It’s been one year now since we’ve married and live together in Australia, building our family and future together. On the Date we’ve been married in Location. Since that time Name was a supportive and loving husband who helped me emotionally and financially till I got my working rights and started to work as a Position in Place. We worked out through this difficult period of time as a team – I was taking care about the home, saving money, helping Name with his own business and Name helped me not to feel lonely and isolated in a new country, taking care about all finances such as bills, rent etc. We’ve built a good interesting network of mutual friends and now, one year after we’ve become a family, I feel myself very comfortable and happy in Australia. We’ve settled in our everyday life – both are sharing household obligations and such joint responsibilities as loans for furniture. Although I couldn’t take a loan on my name because of visa status, I transfer every month my part of a loan to Name’s bank account (please find evidences attached). We also share all bills, rent and food shopping. About one month ago we’ve moved to a bigger home on Place (please find the evidence of tenancy agreement attached).

Being an active couple, we are looking for adventures that could brighten our life:

We like camping and made a big trip to Melbourne and back to Gold Coast to get a 4WD car that Name found for us. After that we’ve traveled to Caravan Gorge in the middle of Queensland, Moreton Island, Sunshine Coast, Yamba etc. As an evidence of our mutual dedication to this hobby, I attached some bills, showing that we both contributed to our travelling.
We both like active sport, so we’ve bought each other surf boards as a part of New Year presents. Also, Name bought me a wake board and now we both are the members of Gold Coast Wake Park and Logan Wake Park. (Please find the evidences attached).
We both are members of Name of Place.

For the moment our plans for future are:

If we get my visa approved, we are going to visit my family in Russia.
We are going to have a loan for home in the nearest future.
We are also planning to have kids next year.

We are looking forward for a decision.

Thank you,

What evidences you need to provide for your 820 Partner Visa

To apply for Partner visa in Australia you will need to provide enough evidences that your relationships are genuine and continuing. A lot of evidences. There are four main aspects of relationship that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection will take into consideration while assessing your application. Let’s have a closer look at them and I will tell you what I applied.

images

Financial Aspects of Relationship

Joint loan agreement for real estate. If you have just moved to your partner and he is renting, make sure you put your name in the loan agreement, just contact the owner of the house or real estate;
Property purchases on both your name (lucky you!);
Joint bank account and bank statements from this account;
If you don’t have a joint bank account, print out your and your partner’s bank statements where you need to underline the cash flow between your accounts. Like cute ‘love you’ or ‘tax wife’ transactions, micro-loans etc;
Joint Statutory Declarations stating a summary of your financial aspects.

Nature of Household

Joint residential leases (again);
Joint rental receipts;
Joint utilities accounts (electricity, telephone, Netflix, gas, PayPal etc);
Any mails that addressed to you and your partner at the same address;
Shared responsibility for kids;
Shared responsibility for pets;
Joint Statutory Declaration stating a summary of the Nature of Household.

Social Aspect of the Relationship

Photos, a lot of photos (I combined them in one PDF with identification of location and date, just easier to track our trips and going-outs);
Email confirmations of gifts, flights, bookings of hotels etc;
Joint gym and other sports and community centers memberships;
Facebook screenshots (by the way, check your Facebook, better set it open and state that you are couple/married;
Personal emails between you and your sponsor, whatsapp, phone calls logs (you can ask this from your phone provider for additional price);
Statements in the forms of Statutory declarations of parents, family members and friends;

Nature of Commitment to each other

Statutory Declaration of your Nature of Commitment to each other;
Certified certificate of Marriage or De Facto Relationship;
Proof that you and your partner are each other’s beneficiaries for Super Funds;
Evidences of your communication while you were apart (for example whatsapp conversations while one of you were out of the country);
Any evidence of emotional support – letters, gifts etc
Relationship history statements. You can have a look at my Statement here.

Waiting for a visa in Australia

I m not an Immigration agent, all information is taken from open sources:)

What does your status of the application means?

An application may have one of the following status values.

Submitted Your application has been successfully submitted to the Department.
Received Your application has been received by the Department and will be assessed.
Initial assessment The application has gone through the initial checks. Please check correspondence for any additional information you may need to provide.
Further assessment The application is currently being assessed. The Department will contact you if further supporting documentation is required.
Approved For citizenship applications, this indicates that the application has been approved. In most cases, the applicant(s) will not become Australian citizens until they attend a citizenship conferral ceremony.
Finalised Your application has been decided. Refer to correspondence for details of the outcome.

Couple looking at laptop screen supporting team watching match o — <a href=”https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/people”>People photo created by yanalya – http://www.freepik.com</a>

On some stage everyone’s status has been updated from “Assessment in progress” to “Further Assessment”. Maybe it was just a change of the name of the status just to make the applicants realise that their application is still alive:)

To check your visa status you can either look on your Immi account, or check on the Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) website.

To check global processing times, go here . Global visa processing times is updated monthly, providing you with an indicative time frame for processing applications.

Circumstances that affect processing times (click here)

We assess applications on a case-by-case basis, and actual processing times can vary due to individual circumstances including:

whether you have lodged a complete application, including all necessary supporting documents
how promptly you respond to any requests for additional information
how long it takes to perform required checks on the supporting information provided
how long it takes to receive additional information from external agencies, particularly in relation to health, character, and national security requirements
for permanent migration visa applications, how many places are available in the migration program

Family visa processing priorities (see here)

The current processing priorities (with highest priority first) are:

family migration applications that have been subject to ministerial intervention
applications by a partner or a dependent child (except where the sponsor or proposed sponsor entered Australia as an illegal maritime arrival (IMA) and is the holder of a permanent visa)
applications by an orphan relative (except where the sponsor or proposed sponsor entered Australia as an illegal maritime arrival (IMA) and is the holder of a permanent visa)
applications by a contributory parent or a contributory aged parent (except where the sponsor or proposed sponsor entered Australia as an illegal maritime arrival (IMA) and is the holder of a permanent visa)
applications by a carer (except where the sponsor or proposed sponsor entered Australia as an illegal maritime arrival (IMA) and is the holder of a permanent visa)
applications by a parent, aged parent, remaining relative or aged dependant relative (except where the sponsor or proposed sponsor entered Australia as an illegal maritime arrival (IMA) and is the holder of a permanent visa)
applications where the sponsor or proposed sponsor entered Australia as an illegal maritime arrival (IMA) and is the holder of a permanent visa

What about me… I am trying to live a life and don’t think about visa too much. The priority should be your family and friends, your career, your health, hobbies, new adventures and savings (difficult to combine, I know). So… just let it go:)

Second Stage of Partner Visa

About one month before I can mark 2 years after the date of my Partner Visa application, I got an auto-generated message from Immigration that I can apply for Partner Visa Stage 2. As I could understand they send you the reminder in advance, so you could gather documents necessary to apply for the next stage.

66688908_2350699604996214_8584634121320398848_n — Excited me, the day when I applied for the Second Stage Partner Visa.

When you log into your Immi Acount, you need to apply for Second Stage Partner Visa. One of the first question in the application was if you have 2 years since your initial visa application. So I had to wait a month, to actually pass the mark of 2 years to be able to apply online. Actually, I applied even couple of weeks later as I was visiting my family and didn’t want to do from another country. There was no deadline in the letter and I found on forums (which is not official information) that you can apply up to 2 months after your 2 years mark. Once again, I don’t know if it’s like that, but I didn’t have any problems with applying 2 weeks after my 2 years mark kicked in.

The first thing – I ordered Police check to get it in time. Just for me, no need to make it for Sponsor again. Then I asked two of our friends to make Form 888 (Statutory Declaration of Supporting Witnesses). You can also download it from official Immigration website, just google Form 888 for partner visa. As I knew that people could be busy, I asked 4 of my friends. Eventually, I got 2 forms ready. Well, you know… people can be very busy, so try not to relay only on 2 people, ask more friends:)

Then I asked my bank to send me the bank statements of my account and our joint bank accounts for one year (online banking allowed me to download only half of the year). As we use joint bank account only for major savings, I usually transfer my part for rent, loans, bills etc to my husband’s bank account. It was important to show this money flow to prove that we share all financial responsibilities. I just highlighted all transactions in the print outs, combine them all together, made a cover letter where explained how we pay for our bills and how we use joint bank account and made one pdf that called “Financial Evidence – bank account”.

Sponsor, my dear husband should write and certify at JP Statutory Declaration (you can download from the Internet) That’s the same explanation how you share finances, what is your social life together, how you share household and nature of commitment. You don’t have to make a separate form, you will need to type in the application the same information. Just be sure that Statutory Declaration of your partner matches what you actually type in while applying.

To prove our social life together, I have asked our gym to send me an official letter where it says that we both are members of this gym. The same with wake park where we go together and climbing centre. It doesn’t have to be official letter (although it’s always better!), wake parked and climbing centre just confirmed our memberships by email.

I gathered all our photos, bookings of hotels, tickets to event in chronological order in one document and attached it as one file. As well as I attached all our water, electricity bills, entry notices and all our emails with the real estate. We have a joint loan on my car (I couldn’t have it just on my name because of the visa status), I attached all the documents about it too.

I decided to attach one more time our Marriage Certificate, mine and my partner’s driving license, birth certificate, ID (all certified).

Now only waiting. They say it’s from 22 – 26 months. I really hope it’s less and I know a lot of people who got their Permanent Visas in one year, but you never know what is the workload and how quick it could be. Will keep you updated:)

Buying a house in Australia

Obviously, I am not a professional… I wish

On some stage of your life you will have to face the truth (if you didn’t do it already) – you need to save for a house/apartment/unit. That’s one of your biggest investment and security, your safe place in this world and home to come back. There is hardly any point to rent all the time as you are just paying off someone’s else mortgage or good life.

compromises-buying-your-first-home-couple-keys-e1519077908710-1024x538

It doesn’t matter when you start saving, the earlier – the better. I am 31 and I started to save just a year ago (welcome to the world of immigrants, we have to spend a lot of money on moving, translating documents, finding a place to rent, additional qualifications, driving license etc). I am not a good example, usually people in Australia start to save for their houses much earlier, because the prices for houses in the majority of regions are growing and it’s your ticket to stable investment). We are not talking about “real-estate bubble”, it depends on the region and city where you live and you need to consider to talk to a specialist and make your own research. In this article I will cover some of the tips and hidden facts that I didn’t know until I started to investigate the market. I am still gathering information, but it’s something to begin with.

In Australia, a golden rule of buying your first house is to save a 20 per cent deposit. It’s a lot… just calculate 20 per cent of $600,000 – $700,000 house. You need to save these 20 per cent to avoid paying lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI). LMI is the bank’s insurance against you not being able to make your repayments.

When you are scrolling your dream houses on realestate.com.au (the most popular website to buy or rent houses, lands, apartments, units, townhouses etc), keep in mind that:

If that’s your first property in Queensland, check First Home Owner grant. Check any possible grants in your region.
Indicated price is usually negotiable. We are in the process of looking for a house and we’ve seen a lot how houses were sold for less than they were advertised. Not all of them, but it worth trying to make an offer for a bit less and see how it goes. I would recommend to check the page “sold” – they list the houses that they have sold recently and you could see what is the real price for the property you are looking for.
Keep in mind, if you don’t have Permanent Residency, you cannot buy separately, without your partner. Although, de facto relationships are usually accepted.
Some lenders require couples to purchase a property as ‘joint tenants,’ not ‘tenants in common.’ However not all lenders have this policy and may allow other legal ownership structures. If you are purchasing the property with your Australian citizen spouse, as ‘joint tenants’, then you will not be required to seek Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval.
Additional stamp duty or a surcharge on top of normal stamp duty fees may apply to you as a foreign citizen, even if you’re living in Australia. If you buy a property on the name of your partner who has Permanent Residency or is Australian citizen, the stamp duty surcharge doesn’t apply. In New South Wales specifically, if you’ve been living in Australia on a partner visa (subclass 309 or 820) for over 200 days, the surcharge doesn’t apply. I would recommend check the information here – the foreign citizen stamp duty page or by contacting your relevant office of state revenue.
Plus to the price you managed to negotiate with real-estate, there is a number of hidden expenses:

Bank fees and charges – up to $1500
Building inspection – $400 – $500 (this is when a builder comes to your property inspects it, makes sure that the structure is sound and lets you know of any issues that the property has or issues that the property may have in the future).
Pest inspection – $300 – $400 (inspection for pests, such as termites or termite damage, or cockroaches are anything like that).
Accountant – $500
Property Valuation – up to $500
Research Reports – about $250 (These research report help give you an idea of the value of the property, so it’s going to show you comparable sales, a lot of data and some insight into the suburb that you’re buying in).
Mortgage broker fees
Stamp Duty – from $1000 – $10000
Property Legal Fees – up to $2000
Insurances
Buyer’s Agent Fee – up to 2,5 per cent.

Scary enough? Let’s start saving then:)

I will give some tips about saving in the next article.

‘You have a right to enjoy a sunbath on the beach. Anything you eat and drink will be used against your summer body shape. You have the right to remain silent…and happy…’

What does your status of the application means?

<a href=”https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/people”>People photo created by yanalya – http://www.freepik.com</a&gt;

Circumstances that affect processing times (click here)

Family visa processing priorities (see here)

<a href=”https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/people”>People photo created by yanalya – http://www.freepik.com</a>