Ozinca

Hello,:waves:
This is a long story, so please bear with me; I need good advice on
what immigration options are available to my wife & I. I hope that
somebody can help with our situation and how to resolve it.

I am an Australian citizen by grant & an Australian passport holder; I
also have a British Passport by birthright. And I also have a
residentÂ?s card for Peru.
My Wife & I have been married for just over 2 œ years and have been in
a serious relationship for nearly 5 years. We are currently living in
Cusco, Peru.
Until recently I was employed (legally) by an Australian/British
company here in Peru.
We were married here in Peru, and all the legal documents related to
the wedding were done using my British Passport as ID.
I have not been resident in Australia for a long time, I left Australia
to travel indefinitely in 1987, 1996 was the last time I have been
resident & working in Australia although I was there as a visitor 2
years ago. I have visited many times in this time, as my mother is a
permanent resident in Australia.
My wife and I have always planned to go to Australia to live in the
future, but my recent unemployment means that we need to go ASAP. It is
not possible for me to work here in Peru, now that my contract is
finished.
Neither of us are professional people or skilled, and we really cannot
afford expensive agencies to get this immigration application sorted.
My wife speaks, reads & writes English very well. She has a Peruvian
passport, but has only ever travelled as far as Bolivia.


Basically our problem is that I cannot possibly stay here without work
for 9 months waiting for the processing of this visa, so what are our
options? Obviously we do not want to be separated for any great length
of time either.
I have been reading through a lot of the forums/ blogs here and I am
getting very discouraged by the time it apparently takes to actually
get a visa for a spouse, is there any way of speeding this up or are
there special case scenarios?
We have spent the last 2 months just amassing all the documents needed,
my documents not really being a problem, but getting access to official
documents here in Peru, is not that easy. For instance, 5 weeks to get
my wifeÂ?s original birth certificate.

So, my questions areÂ?.
1. Should I return to Australia alone and do all of the application
from there for my wife?
2. Or, is it better/quicker to do it from here in South America?
3. Is our marriage recognised in Australia? (I certainly hope so!)
4. Should we be applying for a partner visa, or a fiancé visa and
getting married again in Australia?
5. Any other options, that anyone can come up with?

Please can anybody help with this dilemma? We have tried a lot of the
online immigration agencies, but they really do not give any assistance
until you pay up front and we are not prepared to do that until we know
what we are up againstÂ?..

Please can anybody give us some ideas on which way to jump?
Thank you.

Kangaroo16

On Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:50:07 +0000, ozinca
<> wrote in
<> :

>
>Hello,:waves:
>This is a long story, so please bear with me; I need good advice on
>what immigration options are available to my wife & I. I hope that
>somebody can help with our situation and how to resolve it.
>
>I am an Australian citizen by grant & an Australian passport holder; I
>also have a British Passport by birthright. And I also have a
>resident?s card for Peru.
>My Wife & I have been married for just over 2 ½ years and have been in
>a serious relationship for nearly 5 years. We are currently living in
>Cusco, Peru.
>Until recently I was employed (legally) by an Australian/British
>company here in Peru.
>We were married here in Peru, and all the legal documents related to
>the wedding were done using my British Passport as ID.
>I have not been resident in Australia for a long time, I left Australia
>to travel indefinitely in 1987, 1996 was the last time I have been
>resident & working in Australia although I was there as a visitor 2
>years ago. I have visited many times in this time, as my mother is a
>permanent resident in Australia.
>My wife and I have always planned to go to Australia to live in the
>future, but my recent unemployment means that we need to go ASAP. It is
>not possible for me to work here in Peru, now that my contract is
>finished.
>Neither of us are professional people or skilled, and we really cannot
>afford expensive agencies to get this immigration application sorted.
>My wife speaks, reads & writes English very well. She has a Peruvian
>passport, but has only ever travelled as far as Bolivia.
>
>
>Basically our problem is that I cannot possibly stay here without work
>for 9 months waiting for the processing of this visa, so what are our
>options? Obviously we do not want to be separated for any great length
>of time either.
>I have been reading through a lot of the forums/ blogs here and I am
>getting very discouraged by the time it apparently takes to actually
>get a visa for a spouse, is there any way of speeding this up or are
>there special case scenarios?
>We have spent the last 2 months just amassing all the documents needed,
>my documents not really being a problem, but getting access to official
>documents here in Peru, is not that easy. For instance, 5 weeks to get
>my wife?s original birth certificate.
>
>So, my questions are?.
>1. Should I return to Australia alone and do all of the application
>from there for my wife?
>2. Or, is it better/quicker to do it from here in South America?
>3. Is our marriage recognised in Australia? (I certainly hope so!)
>4. Should we be applying for a partner visa, or a fiancé visa and
>getting married again in Australia?
>5. Any other options, that anyone can come up with?
>
>Please can anybody help with this dilemma? We have tried a lot of the
>online immigration agencies, but they really do not give any assistance
>until you pay up front and we are not prepared to do that until we know
>what we are up against?..
>
>Please can anybody give us some ideas on which way to jump?
>Thank you.

Hi, Ozinca

Other than being American who migrated to Australia decades ago,
I wouldn't claim any expertise in any migration issues,
especially in a complex case. I can only offer some ideas and
hope they will help you.

Trying to put myself in your place, I would consider it a special
case and when the problem arose I would be consulting the US
Embassy or Consul in Peru as soon as I could for advice.
Officials can usually get essential documents more quickly than
an individual can.

When I read your post, I used Google to search for Australian
sites for the string

australian embassy consulate peru

This provided 507 site links, 10 at a time.

The first page provided:

Peru - Country information - Australian Department of Foreign ...
Embassies and consulates. Australia. The Australian Embassy in
Chile has non-resident accreditation for Peru; Australian
Consulate-General in Lima, Peru ...
www.dfat.gov.au/geo/peru/index.html - 10k - Cached - Similar
pages
[ More results from www.dfat.gov.au ]

On the page, clicked on the reference to
Australian Consulate-General in Lima, Peru

This took me to the page with a web address of
http://www.dfat.gov.au/missions/countries/pe.html

There are more links on the page, but will quote what
should be the most helpful. As not that long, will copy,
condensing the info into fewer lines.

Australian Consulate-General in Lima, Peru
This post is managed by Austrade
Address
Av. Victor Andres Belaunde 147, Via Principal 155
Torre Real Tres, Of. 1301, San Isidro
Lima Peru

Telephone +51 1 222 8281 Fax +51 1 221 4996

Before I contacted him wouldn't necessarily wait for paperwork
that might take a while to get, just what was on hand. Any
dismissal notice, reference, Name & Address of your
employer, phone number, contact name. ...and so on.

This may not all be asked for, but if asked, I would have as
much information as possible at hand as to where had worked,
what I did, marriage date & details, and so on.

I would also be ready to give information on company or companies
I had worked for in Peru, and what I did there. If possibly
would have a complete job history for everyplace I had ever
worked, in Peru or Australia.

As he is the consulate contact I would assume he will know how
long it would take me to get official copies, and that his office
could get them quicker. Would probably ask him for an e-mail
address.

I might follow this up with a registered air mail, return receipt
requested, written version. Especially if had only been able
to talk with a clerk at the office.

In Australia, when get married generally have to get passports of
husband and wife endorsed for the change of status.

Is it the same in Peru? If so, have you and your wife had your
passports changed?

Am wondering why you married using your British passport rather
than the Australian passport. In my opinion, the Australian
consular officials might wonder about this too, so perhaps
you should have a reply ready.

At one time, from memory, British citizens and Australian
citizens could freely travel between countries. I think a visa
is now required. At one time no paperwork whatsoever was
needed between Australia and N.Z. but this has changed.

Earlier you wrote:
>Neither of us are professional people or skilled

At the moment Australia is pretty desperate for people
in many job categories, not just professional or skilled.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but thought the post might
be a guide to others seeking information on similar problems.

Each country has a different type of civil service, but they can
all be pretty slow. There are a lot of people traveling and
migrating to other countries these days, departments often
understaffed and overworked.

IMHO, though, I agree that yours is a bit of a "special case"
and delays aren't desirable. I would think that you would
be entitled to some sort of special case handling.

You wouldn't be the only one in such a position, so you might
call the UK embassy in Peru if there is one. Perhaps they could
offer some advice.

Were I a Roman Catholic, would also advise the local Priest of
the problem. They often have good advice and even some
unexpected contacts

Any possibility that your mother could help? Have you kept her
informed of developments.

Cheers,
Kangaroo16