Our journey to a partner visa – Wayne and
Yuliana Glew
Wayne Glew lives life to the full and is a very busy man. The 68-year old who lives in Geraldton Western Australia is not only an inventor and part-owner of a gold mine, he is also setting up a business importing antique furniture from Indonesia and renovating it here in WA. But the last few months have been even busier for Wayne as he has just got married to his 41 -year old Indonesian partner Yuliana and thanks to Visa Solutions Australia, has successfully lodged a visa application which has allowed her to stay in this country.
“I met Yuliana online through Facebook, she was a friend of my cousin. It wasn’t long before I realised that we had a very strong connection. Yuliana who was working as a Carer in Taipei in Taiwan is a very intelligent lady and speaks four languages. We exchanged 24,000 messages in three months and that’s when I flew out to meet her,” explains Wayne.
Wayne arranged to see Yuliana and her family in Cirebon, 300 kilometres south west of Jakarta in Indonesia and there was an instant attraction. They soon became engaged and got married in a local ceremony in Indonesia.
As their relationship developed Yuliana was able to come and go to Australia on a tourist visa. Although they’d married in Indonesia, it wasn’t recognised legally and in order to live in this country as man and wife Wayne realised he would have to sponsor Yuliana on a partner visa.
Initially Wayne looked into organising this himself but soon became aware of the potential pitfalls.
“As an ex-policeman I know a lot about legal documents but I realised I didn’t really have the time and having gone through the experience now, I really would advise people to get an agent.”
Wayne and Yuliana looked at various agents but settled on Visa Solutions Australia.
“We were very impressed with Registered Migration Agent Andrew Emmott. He has an Indonesian wife and so knew the process involved of bringing a loved one from overseas.”
The couple were advised that the best way to ensure Yuliana could stay in this country was to submit an application for an 820 temporary partner visa. Her visitor visa was due to expire on June 29th and so they realised they had to act quickly. They arranged to get married on May 29th 2016 in Geraldton just before her visitor visa expired.
While arranging their wedding they also had to submit documentation to prove their relationship was genuine and permanent so Yuliana could progress onto a Partner visa (subclass 820). Visa Solutions Australia did all the paperwork but the couple had to complete an in-depth questionnaire.
“We had two to three meetings in person, then everything was done by email. I had to prove I was financially stable to support Yuliana and she had to provide evidence of her work history. We then had to give pictorial evidence of our relationship to date.”
Wayne has nothing but praise for the team at Visa Solutions Australia.
“In total I spent around $11,000 on the visa process. For peace of mind and to reduce stress, my advice would be to get an agent. You’d be a fool to try to do it yourself. I know this is going to sound clichéd but everything has now fallen into place. We fell in love on the internet and now just over 18 months later we’re living in Australia as man and wife. It’s like our own fairy tale with a happy ending.”
