Spouse Visa question - Passport

[DAF]

Hello everyone,

I'm an Australian Citizen married to a Filipina lady since April this year. We are set to lodge our application for a Spouse Visa 820 (Forms SP40/47SP) for her to come and live with me in Australia. We have hit one potential roadblock though, and I would like your assistance.

My wife's passport is still in her maiden name, while she has changed her name with the NBI and with the police clearances. We found out it will take at least 2 months for her to receive her passport back if she lodges it for the change of her name to my surname, which is now her legal name. Is there any way to lodge the application with the certified copy of her current passport, while stating it will be lodged with the embassy for a name change as her legal name differs? I wonder with her maiden name being on the marriage certificate and birth certificate, it may be no problem. But considering how tough the laws are now, I am expecting to have to get her passport updated before we even lodge our whole application.

Thankyou for your assistance! Any advice/info is much appreciated at this time.

[downundervisa]

I do mainly fiancee visas out of Manila, but I do some spouse visas too. I HAVE submitted applications with cert. copies passports in maiden names, and so far (touch wood!) it hasn't been a problem.

But you can never be entirely certain, as interpretation of some things is a bit subjective to what an individual Case Officer thinks. So what I'm saying is that it is POSSIBLE that the Case Officer may query that. BUT chances are it will be a few months before any queries come up, and in the meantime you should have the marriage certificate issued by NSO that you can present to them IF they ask you.

Not a crystal-clear answer, sorry. But I honestly don't think you'll have a problem.

[DAF]

Thanks very much for your fast answer and being very informative.
We are presenting our marriage certificate and we were informed today it is possible for my wife to submit a certified copy of her current passport in her maiden name while she has it updated to her married name, and then she can submit that later. Ideally this will all take under 6 months so she can be with me until Christmas, but I am prepared for a longer wait!

I have A LOT of emails and chat logs that I wish to send as part of my evidence. Would anybody have a recommendation as to how much or how spaced out the logs/emails should be? Almost every day is covered since we met!

Thanks everyone!

[downundervisa]

People who work in offices feed on paper! The more you give them, the happier they are. If you give them less than they ask for, they think you're treating them and their job with contempt. You give them MORE than they ask for? They feel very proud that you've regarded them and their job with respect!

Answer! Send as much as you can!

[DAF]

They're going to get a full dossier in that case!

I need to leave out a few emails and chat conversations due to the nature of them, or should I just black them out with a marker? There's literally 200-300 emails and daily chat logs spanning hours a day for 16 months.

Two questions about character references, the people who write about our relationship and it's integrity. Can they be typed? And do their statements need signing by a JP? And if so do they need to take the letter there to have it signed? Or is that only for Stat Dec's?

Thank you for your assistance :)

[nvoorst]

In Australia : Use Form 888, witnessed by a JP and include certified proof of Australian permanent residency or citizenship of the person making the statement.
Outside Australia : use an affadavit or stat.dec.

[downundervisa]

Ohhh, I wouldn't go blacking anything out. That's sure to raise suspicion! Better to simply not include those emails. I've had clients get into trouble when early emails mentioned "I want to get a job" or similar. But if you are a loving couple, and you have a few rauchy emails, it's perfectly normal.

[sweetsamoan]

I'm in a similar situation, my Australian passport is still under my ex-husbands surname and I need to send verified copies to my husband in Samoa. Pretty much all my current I.D's are still under my previously married name.

Can I still use that passport and send copies of my divorce certificate?

[DAF]

Thanks for the clarification on the email documents. We have about 1600 pages of chat logs, so I was thinking of including just some small excerpts from them as we are already providing 230 fully detailed Emails! And a history log showing the dates we chatted on Yahoo, Skype etc. I can't send 4 reams of paper. My wife will tear her shoulder out of the socket carrying that thing!

[DAF]

Just about set to send everything, including almost all of our emails and a few Myspace messages/small samples of our chat logs. In total about 350 pages of documents. May luck be with us!