Preparing Evidence of a Genuine Relationship

Plenty of genuine couples arrive at lodgement convinced they have no evidence. The lease is in one name, one partner earns and the other studies, the bills were never split. None of that makes a relationship less real, and none of it is fatal. What sinks an application is leaving the delegate to work out why the file looks the way it does.

Where an arrangement is one sided, explain the arrangement. A short written explanation of how the household actually runs does more for a thin financial category than another twenty photographs.

Building each category

Treat the four categories as four separate briefs rather than one pile of documents.

The financial aspects

Joint accounts, shared liabilities, property, and any pooling of income or expenses. Where money is deliberately kept separate, say so and say why. Transfers between accounts, evidence of one partner meeting the other's costs, and any shared debt all count.

The nature of the household

The lease or title, utilities and services, mail and identity documents directed to the same address, and how domestic responsibilities are divided. This is the category most easily proved and most often left half done.

The social context

Evidence that the relationship is known and accepted. Statutory declarations from supporting witnesses, photographs across a span of time, travel, and joint invitations. A single event covered thoroughly is weaker than four years covered thinly.

The nature of the commitment

The history of the relationship, the length and reason for any separation, and the plans you have made together. Write the relationship statement in your own words, with dates. Delegates read this closely.

Timing and the de facto threshold

De facto applicants generally need at least 12 months of living together before lodgement. The exceptions are a relationship registered with an Australian state or territory registry, or compelling and compassionate circumstances. Registration is the simpler of the two and is frequently overlooked.

Married applicants have no equivalent threshold, but the four categories apply in exactly the same way. A marriage certificate proves a marriage, not a shared life.

If circumstances change

If the relationship ends during processing you must notify the Department. In limited circumstances the application can still proceed, including where there has been family violence, where there is a child of the relationship, or where the sponsor has died.

Supporting witnesses complete a statutory declaration describing what they have seen of your relationship. The common mistake is handing each witness the same template. Four declarations in near identical wording read as one account signed four times. Ask each witness for the things only they saw, and let the declarations differ from one another.