# Fiancee in Ghana - what are my options?



## Bombah (Mar 18, 2013)

Hi everyone

Some background: I met my fiancee online. She's from Ghana, late 20s. I'm Australian, early 40s. We talked via Skype, MSN and Yahoo IM every day for around 6 months before we decided that we should take the next step. I was advised by a migration agent that her chances of coming to Australia on a tourist visa were very small... so I spent 8 weeks with her over xmas 2012-13 in Africa. This was because the agent advised that he'd seen visas rejected for shorter in-person meetings. While I was there I proposed, and we plan to get married once she can get a visa to move here permenantly. We took lots of pictures of the two of us together and so on.

So, the question is: what are my options now? Is the 300 PMV the best visa? Or could she come out here on something else?

Also, do you think that I need to use the migration agent, or is it safe to DIY? I tend to think that DIY is probably okay as our situation is really quite straight forward.

So, what are my next steps? How do I get the ball rolling?

Can't wait to hear from you.


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## MarkNortham (Dec 19, 2012)

Hi Bombah -

You may want to consider 300 PMV visa as the relationship requirements (especially re: living together, etc) are not as rigorous as the partner visa. Then she could come to Australia, you could marry and live together for a few months, and then lodge an onshore partner visa application.

Re: agent, of course up to you. Unfortunately fiance and partner visa applications from high risk countries are being given close scrutiny these days due to the increasing amount of fraudulent/sham marriages - probably the best benefit of using an agent if you choose to is that the agent may see things in your application/evidence/statements that could be a potential problem in the eyes of DIAC as they process the case. Beyond that, just making sure all the forms are completed correctly that the evidence is suitable, relevant, and effective would be other benefits.

Hope this helps - please advise if i can assist any further -

Best,

Mark Northam


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## Bombah (Mar 18, 2013)

MarkNortham said:


> Hi Bombah -
> 
> You may want to consider 300 PMV visa as the relationship requirements (especially re: living together, etc) are not as rigorous as the partner visa. Then she could come to Australia, you could marry and live together for a few months, and then lodge an onshore partner visa application.
> 
> ...


Hi Mark

Thanks so much for you time and advice. I really appreciate it.

Yes, we had planned on the 300 PMV. Was just curious if there was anything else that we hadn't thought of.

What kind of potential problems were you referring to?

As far as evidence goes, we have lots of photos, phone and Skype records, vast instant message records, Western Union transfers, travel (eg hire car) reciepts in both our names and so on. Is there anything else we need?

Lastly, and I guess this is the $64,000 question, is there anything we can do to speed up the procedure?

Regards


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## MarkNortham (Dec 19, 2012)

Hi Bombah -

Sounds like you have some good relationship evidence! Statements from you and your fiance plus any statements from others about the relationship will also be helpful.

Unfortunately no way to speed up the processing other than making sure your application package is 100% perfect, all requirements met, all docs included, all forms completed 100% accurately and completely. Then it's a waiting game.

Good luck - sounds like you're well prepared for this.

Best,

Mark Northam


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## melandabdul (Sep 1, 2012)

Hi Bombah,

I am in love with and engaged to a beautiful Ghanian man so when I saw your post I was most excited to be able to speak to someone with something in common. We do have some difference however as my love is living in Greece at the moment but we applied for a PMV 300 visa almost 6 months ago to the Berlin embassy in Germany.

I will tell you a couple things from my experience. You are in for a long wait my friend. I am so sorry to tell you this but I would like to be honest with you up front and let you know this. I would also like to let you know that you chance of bringing your fiancee over on a tourist visa is super slim.

We just tried it and we shattered to be rejected after we put together what we felt was a very good case with the assistance of Mark Northam. In the end, Ghana is considered a high risk country (this term may be new to you) and you need to prove that your love has a good reason to return to Ghana at the end of the visa (has property, employment etc) and a number of other criteria.

The regulations for assessing the tourist visa are also such that it allows the case office to make very subjective decisions on what they think your fiancee MIGHT do when she gets here. For example I was sponsoring my love and paying for his flight and will put him up in my house and paying for all food etc while he is here and he cant get work in Greece with the situation there.

Even with all the stat decs and pay slips and all of the documentation I provided, one of the reasons they rejected was that he didn't have hi own money to come here and they felt he would work when here, which is against the tourist visa regulations.

I would save yourself the $100 and save up to go see her in Ghana.

The other thing I would say is that I think you have to send your application to Kenya from Ghana. Please check this. It seems as if the Kenya's are waiting the LONGEST of all the people on here. I am not sure if that is because they are a high risk country or if it is because the Kenya outpost is dreadfully slow! There is a thread on here for people who are African or have African partners and some of them are waiting now 13, 15, 18 months.

Lastly...knowing all of this and that we did our application myself and it is possible to do...I would say IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY AND IF THIS IS IMPORTANT TO YOU....engage an agent!!!!

Not because you CAN'T do it yourself...but because of the scrutiny you will be under just because you are submitting a high risk application. There are almost no other people from Ghana on here but the Kenya, Ethiopia and other African brothers and sisters are all being put through a long wait so if I could do it again I would make sure that every word was written right and every answer had the right tilt to the response to ensure no eye brows were raised any further than they already might be just cos of being African.

Oh I am sooo sorry to dump on you but I wanted to give you all the facts up front. I can highly recommend Mark Northam who has responded to you on here if you are after a great agent. He is a good man and knows his stuff.

Would love to know about what living in Ghana was live too...it might be a path we have to take as being apart much longer is too hard so he might go back to Ghana and I might go and live there with him till our visa comes through.

Stay strong!


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## salt and pepper (Mar 28, 2013)

Bombah said:


> Hi everyone
> 
> Some background: I met my fiancee online. She's from Ghana, late 20s. I'm Australian, early 40s. We talked via Skype, MSN and Yahoo IM every day for around 6 months before we decided that we should take the next step. I was advised by a migration agent that her chances of coming to Australia on a tourist visa were very small... so I spent 8 weeks with her over xmas 2012-13 in Africa. This was because the agent advised that he'd seen visas rejected for shorter in-person meetings. While I was there I proposed, and we plan to get married once she can get a visa to move here permenantly. We took lots of pictures of the two of us together and so on.
> 
> ...


 Well Bombah, your chances are bright. i am not an agent but i can tell you once again that your chances are bright. i am a Ghanaian also applying for PMV. but i am in China now. i know about 5 or 6 people whose visas where approved within 6 months and they are Ghanaians. just gather all the evidence you have, your e mail, messeger chats, photos, money gram or western union, flight tickets. but, i will advice that you edit some sensitive part of your conversation before you apply. and i am sure you will get it. dont worry about migrant agent you can do it. once you have all the papers done. wish you good luck if you need any info i will be so glad to help.


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## Maureen (Mar 27, 2013)

Dear Salt and Pepper, can u please send me a private message? I'm new here and in the same situation. Thank u


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## salt and pepper (Mar 28, 2013)

well, have you applied or about to apply?


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## Nelly87 (Jul 3, 2011)

melandabdul said:


> Hi Bombah,
> 
> I am in love with and engaged to a beautiful Ghanian man so when I saw your post I was most excited to be able to speak to someone with something in common. We do have some difference however as my love is living in Greece at the moment but we applied for a PMV 300 visa almost 6 months ago to the Berlin embassy in Germany.
> 
> ...


Can I just say this is a beautiful post with excellent advice?

Melandabdul can advise you on the matter very well - there is nothing quite like first hand experience. Things like the issue of the Kenya office are not announced anywhere but they are known realities to those going through it. I would suggest definitely looking into that and looking into talking to others with partners from Ghana and/or that particular region of Africa.

Secondly my personal opinion - if I were you and I had the money I would:

Definitely get an agent!
Visit my partner there instead of trying for an Australian tourist visa.

Sadly it is hard for people from high risk countries to get tourist visas. You'd be better off investing in visiting her - and this is just my personal take but I'd say it's also very useful to become familiar with your partner's culture, family and home country. I mean - I'm Dutch, which is considered a first world country on the list with Australia, the Dutch and Australian governments even have healthcare agreements due to similarities... and I don't think my partner would understand me as well as he does now if he hadn't lived there with me for a year. Even seemingly similar countries give you cultural baggage and it does become part of who you are. This is just my personal experience, but before she permanently moves to you it might not be a bad idea to familiarize with her country as well so you know how she feels when she comes over.

Then there's the agent - if I had a partner from a high risk country, I would definitely get an agent. Probably even if I had a seemingly bullet-proof solid case. Because the process for high risk countries is simply longer and more difficult on average and you want to take all the advantage you can get. Get a good, trustworthy agent - one you feel comfortable with. One who makes you feel they have heart for your situation, not just selling you a service. They will give you a lot of comfort during the process and a lot of peace of mind, so you never have to go back and wonder; should have, would have, could have?

I stress the type of agent because once you start looking you _may _run into some people who scare you off a bit, I sure did and it scared me off the whole idea. But if you look at agents like Mark... if you can have someone like that on your side, with a high risk country partner, why risk going in without one?


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## Maureen (Mar 27, 2013)

About to apply in Accra. I need the specific documents to add to my application. Thank you for ur prompt response


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## MarkNortham (Dec 19, 2012)

Hi Maureen -

It depends on what type of visa you are applying for - DIAC publishes checklists on the immi.gov.au site for many visa types that list the additional documents they require depending on the type of visa.

If you're doing a family (fiance, partner) visa and need to include relationship evidence and statements, I would study the threads here on those topics as there is some excellent information there.

Best,

Mark Northam


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## Maureen (Mar 27, 2013)

Thank you Mark. I'm trying to apply for a PMV here in Ghana. My problem is with the evidence to support my application. I've gone through the immi.gov.au site as well but I still need specific document types to support my application. I'm glad I joined such an informative site. Y'all very supportive and I'm grateful. Once again, thank you


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## MarkNortham (Dec 19, 2012)

Hi Maureen -

In case you don't have it, here's the DIAC checklist for the subclass 300 PMV visa:

www.immi.gov.au/migrants/_pdf/300-checklist.pdf

You also should check the Australian Embassy Kenya site to make sure they don't have any additional requirements - some Embassies such as the Philippines have additional document requirements.

For relationship evidence, the sticky thread on this forum is excellent.

Good luck!

Best,

Mark Northam


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## salt and pepper (Mar 28, 2013)

Maureen said:


> About to apply in Accra. I need the specific documents to add to my application. Thank you for ur prompt response


Hi,Maureen soory but i can not send you private message since i am a junior here. but my little advise is you can not apply in Ghana. i also do not know which visa you are applying for be specific.

Client Service Charter
meanwhile you can check some thing on the above website. and then we continue from there


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## salt and pepper (Mar 28, 2013)

Maureen said:


> Thank you Mark. I'm trying to apply for a PMV here in Ghana. My problem is with the evidence to support my application. I've gone through the immi.gov.au site as well but I still need specific document types to support my application. I'm glad I joined such an informative site. Y'all very supportive and I'm grateful. Once again, thank you


 Maureen, i think you need printout of your messages or chats with your sponsor, police clearance certificate from police head quarters, photos of your and your partner including other family members and friends.envelopes of letters or parcel envelopes even if the gift is not in there.make sure you do your payments,add form 888, let any of your parents, or sibblings good friend who knows about your sponsor fill in those forms. i think the rest you know them already since you have been on the website already. you can also send over all that you have already and then others can also help you on that. all the best


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## jodibb (Oct 23, 2012)

You must always remember that EVERY case is different and every bodies circumstances are different .
There is no Right answer 
We have recently applied for a PMV my fiancee is from Ghana 
We also wait
I know of others in Aust who's partners have been granted a PMV within 4 months and I know personally they did not even get interviewed, regardless that Ghana is considered High Risk.
They did the application Without an Agent

Make sure your paperwork is 100% covering everything that's required
Be honest

Every case is Individual 
You can not put complete weight to what others have said


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## Maureen (Mar 27, 2013)

Thank u Jodibb. I appreciate your input. Please what exactly did u add to support your application? I mean the supporting documents for your application.


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## jodibb (Oct 23, 2012)

Follow the checklist 
It does tell you exactly what you need and what needs to be certified and translated etc
I am sure your application will be processed in Kenya
My fiance is from Ghana but is living in another country

My advice would be to include family members in your evidence particularly in photos and statutory declarations 
If you already have children ,has some form of relationship been established between them and your partner ?
Keep and copy all receipts for joint purchases (ring)or gifts between one another
Receipts for airfare , accommodation anything you did while together 
Send original envelopes or packaging 
Cards or invitations you have received as a couple
Postcards letters
Evidence of conversations on all networks you use
We sent letter from employer ,payslips and bank statement showing these funds 
Funds sent for financial support

How much is too much ?
I would send more rather than less 
An incomplete application will only cause additional delay

I hope this has been a little helpful
The paperwork is easy 
The waiting is the hardest part


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## Maureen (Mar 27, 2013)

Thanks jodibb, u've been very helpful. I'm still a little confused about the notice of intended marriage confirmation/marriage celebrant stuff. How I'm I to do that? Plus can anybody give me a sample of how the statements detailing history of relationship looks like? Also can my fiancé pay the visa fees in Aussie and send me the receipt in Accra?

Thanks and best regards


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## salt and pepper (Mar 28, 2013)

Maureen said:


> Thanks jodibb, u've been very helpful. I'm still a little confused about the notice of intended marriage confirmation/marriage celebrant stuff. How I'm I to do that? Plus can anybody give me a sample of how the statements detailing history of relationship looks like? Also can my fiancé pay the visa fees in Aussie and send me the receipt in Accra?
> 
> Thanks and best regards


 hello Maureen, i think applying to PMV means you plan to marry in Australia, so send your passport copy to your fiancee and have him look for a marriage celebrant, who will fill the form NOIM. the same celebrant can write a letter indicating that a notice of intention of marriage has been lodge at his or her place. the marriage celebrant needs to state both couples name in the letter and where marriage will take place. so your partner needs to get that for you in Australia. With the statement is just like you telling a friend how you met, what kept you going, what do you have in common, how do you support each other, eg sending gift, money, this part should cover, finanacially, spiritual, emotionally and e.t.c . you can also add why you intend to marry such a person and not your previous, how special is the person to you when you got engaged and what's your plan for the future? where you plan to live together in Australia, the work you will be doing? any plans for kids and blahblahblah. yes your partner can pay in AUSTRALIA and send you a copy of the reciept. you must make sure you have police clearance certificate from Ghana police, fill out form 888 at least 2 from both sides. get every document certify e.g birth certificate, single status certificate which both you needs to provide,(You can get yours near the 28th febuary road court area or going to the regiter genenrals department in accra) if you are divorced you need certificate to prove it. you need to send photos of you and your partner together including other relatives and friends together, at least 15 0r more photos may not be bad. if you need anything again everyone here is here to help you.
Cheers


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## Maureen (Mar 27, 2013)

Wow! That's a lot of things more to provide. I didn't know there was a single status certificate. Thanx for that important info! By the way, we both are single, never been married or have kids. But we plan to have them in the near future. So can I walk into any courtroom and ask for a single status certificate in Accra? Also, kindly let me know if there is any other thing they might want which is not on the checklist or DIAC website.


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## salt and pepper (Mar 28, 2013)

Maureen said:


> Wow! That's a lot of things more to provide. I didn't know there was a single status certificate. Thanx for that important info! By the way, we both are single, never been married or have kids. But we plan to have them in the near future. So can I walk into any courtroom and ask for a single status certificate in Accra? Also, kindly let me know if there is any other thing they might want which is not on the checklist or DIAC website.


hello maureen. you can not get it inside the courtroom. when go accra 28th february road court, or just near the high court, there registered solicitors with small offices around the court. they do affividavites, registering of marriage, court clearance and the rest, see them and they might help you if you can not find one just send me a private message and i can direct you to one very close to the british library. it will take you weeks to get it so you need to move fast. they have to send it to AMA, to the registrar generals department and the court. for authorisation. you need to tell them which embassy you are sending to. after do photocopies and ask them to certify it for you which will cost you again. good luck


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## Maureen (Mar 27, 2013)

[Oh ok. Imma private message you salt and pepper! And thank you once again.


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## chicken999 (May 2, 2013)

I am also Aussie with Ghanaian fiancé in process of our second attempt at fiancé visa first refused also doing mrt appeal at same time. Would love to be in touch with others with Ghanaian partners so we can share advice and hopes and dreams

Sent from my iPad using Australia


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## meez (Jun 6, 2013)

*Hi Guys*

I've been following this thread for a while now and thought that I should ask a question, do anyone have idea of processing time of New Zealand family visa 
Subclass 461


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## elynneg (Dec 19, 2012)

Hey meez,

I just got my 461 visa in April. I applied on Feb. 1, 2013, and it took nearly 3 months (2 months and 23 days). I provided them a decision ready application and I was not asked to do medicals. So much shorter than the partner visa.

elynneg


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