jejuniper
12th June 2010, 01:37 PM
Hi there,
I'm an Australian citizen by birth and my husband is a US citizen. We've been married 3 years during which time we've been living together in the US. I really want to go home as I'm very homesick and miss my family and friends in Australia and we don't really have any close friends or family where we live here. We visited Australia for a month at the end of 2008 and my husband loved it and is happy to move. We would also like to start a family and I would find it very hard without my Australian family around. We applied for a spouse visa in July 2009 but it was refused a couple of weeks ago because my husband has ulcerative colitis and a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth said he would potentially cost $100,000. He is in remission and perfectly able to work, he just has to take medication.
We had put through a health waiver request but that was refused and I'm not exactly sure why - the letter we received didn't state which compelling and compassionate circumstances were considered or not, just that they decided not to exercise the waiver. I had put together a lot of information about our financial situation (which I believe is good, we own a house and have savings) and job prospects (my occupation is listed on the NEW skilled occupations list and my husband's was on the old one which was in effect at the time we applied), had six statutory declarations from family and friends stating that they'd be willing to provide care and support, and I also included a statement about wanting to start a family and how it would affect me emotionally if I wasn't able to return home.
After getting the refusal I was so devastated that I rang the case officer and asked her if she could give me a better explanation of why it was refused - she sounded very flustered and just kept saying "it's the cost, it's the cost". When I said "but I'm an Australian citizen and you're basically telling me I can't live in Australia", she just said "you can live in the USA". I guess I was naive in thinking that the health waiver is exercised as a matter of course for spousal relationships. After doing some research online and stumbling across a 2007 Australian National Audit Office report on DIAC's administration of the health waiver process, it appears it's only exercised around 12% of the time.
We are now applying to the Migration Review Tribunal and I wanted to find out if anyone knows anything about the process. Is it something we can do ourselves or would we definitely be better off getting the assistance of a lawyer? I have sent off the form and just received a letter and receipt today which stated I should send in evidence as soon as possible. I had spoken to an Australian lawyer over the phone prior to sending the application off and he said I should wait before sending any evidence. Is that right? What do I need to do next, do I just ask the Australian Embassy here to give me a copy of my DIAC file? I'm just not sure what the steps are - I had a look at the MRT website but I couldn't find anything which laid out the exact steps that would occur. If anyone can offer any assistance or clarification about the MRT process or point me in the right direction, I would very much appreciate it, as this whole thing has made me very frustrated and anxious.
Thank you very much!
I'm an Australian citizen by birth and my husband is a US citizen. We've been married 3 years during which time we've been living together in the US. I really want to go home as I'm very homesick and miss my family and friends in Australia and we don't really have any close friends or family where we live here. We visited Australia for a month at the end of 2008 and my husband loved it and is happy to move. We would also like to start a family and I would find it very hard without my Australian family around. We applied for a spouse visa in July 2009 but it was refused a couple of weeks ago because my husband has ulcerative colitis and a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth said he would potentially cost $100,000. He is in remission and perfectly able to work, he just has to take medication.
We had put through a health waiver request but that was refused and I'm not exactly sure why - the letter we received didn't state which compelling and compassionate circumstances were considered or not, just that they decided not to exercise the waiver. I had put together a lot of information about our financial situation (which I believe is good, we own a house and have savings) and job prospects (my occupation is listed on the NEW skilled occupations list and my husband's was on the old one which was in effect at the time we applied), had six statutory declarations from family and friends stating that they'd be willing to provide care and support, and I also included a statement about wanting to start a family and how it would affect me emotionally if I wasn't able to return home.
After getting the refusal I was so devastated that I rang the case officer and asked her if she could give me a better explanation of why it was refused - she sounded very flustered and just kept saying "it's the cost, it's the cost". When I said "but I'm an Australian citizen and you're basically telling me I can't live in Australia", she just said "you can live in the USA". I guess I was naive in thinking that the health waiver is exercised as a matter of course for spousal relationships. After doing some research online and stumbling across a 2007 Australian National Audit Office report on DIAC's administration of the health waiver process, it appears it's only exercised around 12% of the time.
We are now applying to the Migration Review Tribunal and I wanted to find out if anyone knows anything about the process. Is it something we can do ourselves or would we definitely be better off getting the assistance of a lawyer? I have sent off the form and just received a letter and receipt today which stated I should send in evidence as soon as possible. I had spoken to an Australian lawyer over the phone prior to sending the application off and he said I should wait before sending any evidence. Is that right? What do I need to do next, do I just ask the Australian Embassy here to give me a copy of my DIAC file? I'm just not sure what the steps are - I had a look at the MRT website but I couldn't find anything which laid out the exact steps that would occur. If anyone can offer any assistance or clarification about the MRT process or point me in the right direction, I would very much appreciate it, as this whole thing has made me very frustrated and anxious.
Thank you very much!