# subclass 461 questions



## aneu (Aug 19, 2011)

Hi,

Im currently applying for a 461 visa (for a family member of a New Zealand citizen to stay with them in australia) and just have a few questions i need a little advice with.


in the last part of the form (im using form 147 if that helps) it says that every applicant needs to have police checks, but im not sure if my girlfriend needs one? she isnt actually sponsoring me as im not required to have a 'sponsor' in the formal sense, but it does ask for her details in the application.

also, in regards to getting a AFP check for her and the one i got for myself, they would specify if it needed to be a fingerprint check wouldnt they? as i just applied for a general police check.

lastly for the minute, when it comes to statutory declarations, do they need to be hand written or can they be typed? i think the 888 form has to be hand written, but when it comes to my partner and I doing our stat decs, can we type it up?

thanks in advance for any help people can give


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## SarahM (Feb 8, 2011)

Hi,

Applicants are people needing the visa, so only you will need a police check as your girlfriend is not an applicant. My husband just got a general AFP check without fingerprints for his partner visa and that was all that was required.

You can type your statutory declarations if you want, but for them to actually be legally binding documents it needs to include some things, so use this blank form:
Statutory declarations
(In the top right hand corner you can choose it as a word doc, then you type in the spaces and print it out)


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## aneu (Aug 19, 2011)

Thanks for that 

Im so stressed at the moment, i wanted to have this applied for at the end of July but ive been held up by people not doing stat decs, to then only find out this week that i have to provide evenmore evidence showing that we kept in contact during periods of separation.

after looking through my emails, the oldest one i have dates in 2007..when my partner and i actually started talking in 2005! 
apart from printing out comments on myspace or something of the sort i have no idea how i can prove we were talking then?


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## SarahM (Feb 8, 2011)

Did you use Skype? Skype chat hisotry is stored forever. Did you write letters to each other?

You won't be refused the visa just because you have no evidence for 2005/06. When it comes to de facto partners, immigration usually wants at least 12 months commitment, so I think if you can provide evidence for 2007-2011 that'll be way more than enough. 

Those general guidelines "evidence that you kept in contact during periods of separation" doesn't mean "give us evidence for every day that you were apart for every day or else we don't give you the visa". What it means is that communication while being apart is evidence that you were in a relationship, and if you can show that at any time, then it helps to show that you are de facto.

This applies to a married relationship aswell, sorry if I made the wrong assumption.


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## aneu (Aug 19, 2011)

no need to apologise, you were correct in the first place.

I shouldve probably explained my situation abit more.
my girlfriend and i started dating whilst i was visiting australia in mid 08. i then returned at xmas 08 for 3 weeks, then again from june-august 09, and then have been living in australia since dec 09 to now on a working holiday visa.
i did 3 months farm work last year to extend my visa for an extra year to december this year.

we did use skype to contact eachother during our periods of separation, but i checked and it will only allow me to go as far back as november 2010. i guess its to do with me now using a different computer.

i sent my girlfriend a birthday card and a letter once i think, but we mostly just used msn/email/social networking sites to stay in contact, as they are obviously easier.

I can print out emails to show we stayed in contact, but dont want to go overboard with too many, so should i maybe print one from a week or something?

so, it will be ok for me to write in my stat dec that we started talking in 05, eventhough i have no evidence to prove it?

thanks for your help btw!


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## SarahM (Feb 8, 2011)

No problem 

You're right, you shouldn't give them all of your emails. I think one or two for each month should be fine. They just want a representative amount. Print out some of the msn chats, even just to show the dates of communication, print out some emails, maybe the Skype log, definately the birthday cards (just photocopy them) if you can find them, ect.

It will be fine in your stat dec to tell the truth about when you met, even though you don't have the evidence. The same thing happened to me, as we met on xbox before talking on Skype and then couldn't actually prove that we had met before, but we wrote it anyway.

You should be fine with that evidence. I don't know how much different this visa is to a standard partner visa, where an Australian is the sponsor of their partner, but you should just make sure that evidence of communication is not the only thing they want. For example, for a partner visa we need to show the social context of the relationship, financial commitment, ect.


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## aneu (Aug 19, 2011)

hey,

thanks for reeplying! ive not had internet for the past couple of weeks and its driven me insane, hence no replying on here 

ive printed some emails, just for the "periods of separation" and also a few from before we were dating.
although thats all i can really show, as i dont have any msn chats saved (and even if they did they would be on my computer in the uk) and skype only shows my history as far back as november 2010, which isnt helpful as ive been in australia since december 2009 so theres been no need to contact via skype.

in regards to bank statements, i know they say to not send originals and get certified copies of everything, but since we live in a high tech age now and can download full statements, is it ok for me to just print these out and send them? rather than trying to get like 6 months of statements certified?

also, is it really necessary for me to send EVERY page of a statement, or just pick out relevant ones, to show when we bought items like our laptop/tv, paid our lease/rent etc etc?


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## SarahM (Feb 8, 2011)

aneu said:


> in regards to bank statements, i know they say to not send originals and get certified copies of everything, but since we live in a high tech age now and can download full statements, is it ok for me to just print these out and send them? rather than trying to get like 6 months of statements certified?
> 
> also, is it really necessary for me to send EVERY page of a statement, or just pick out relevant ones, to show when we bought items like our laptop/tv, paid our lease/rent etc etc?


No problem 

For the bank statements we gave some originals as wells as print outs of the electronic ones, I couldn't be bothered certifying them either. You don't have to print out every page, no, but just make sure you highlight the important transactions and explain what they are.


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## Aysally (Sep 23, 2013)

Does the (statutory declaration form) 888 apply to the New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship (Temporary) Visa {Subclass 461} ???

Myself and my wife have been legally married for over 1 year now, our relationship including dating and friendship is kind of 2 years old, we have only lived together under the same roof for one month, we have nothing that binds us financially, we have access to all our means of everyday communication and we are blessed with a 7 months old daughter.
I am a Nigerian studying and living in Malaysia, we're both young couples, she is 30 while i am 28.
From the perspective of the high commission how genuine do you think this sort of relationship is?
We will be applying for the New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship (Temporary) Visa {Subclass 461}

Advices needed please!!!
God bless


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