Same deal as migrating a Russian. Guided a mate through the process just after I went through it with my Russian (now) wife. No difference. Don't need migration agents. Simply follow the guidlines here http://www.immi.gov.au/ and do it exactly by the book. It is not rocket science.
I assume you visited her in person in her country or another country..a face to face meeting.
Make sure you provide as much evidence as you can, this includes:
1. Photos of you and her together and with her and her family
2. Certified copy of air ticket and visa stamps in your passport to prove you went and visited her.
3. All letters and e-mails to prove your correspondence before and after you meet and contact records if you telephoned her ( your phone bills )
4. Statutory declaration from her family or close relatives/friends testifying to the existence of a relationship between you and her.
5. A signed Australian "Notice of Intention to Marry" signed by the marriage celebrant doing the ceremony, signed by you and her and a proposed date ( this can change )..the fiance visa or Prospective Marriage Sub-class 300 Visa as its called by DIMA is valid for 9 months from the date of issue at our embassy in Mosco which does all visa processing/applications for all FSU countries including Ukraine ( there is no embassy in Ukraine, only an honorary consul that does not process visa applications and he is in Kiev )
6. Receipts for hotel accomodation in Ukraine or if you stayed with her family/her a stat dec saying that.
Doing it with a migration firm is the best, make sure the firm is registered Australian Migration Agent approved by DIMA and not some backyard operation.
It won't be cheap.
Fiance visa runs at about $1300 AUD, medicals about $300 AUD for her and after 2 years living with you, a $650 AUD fee to change her status to permanent resident PLUS the migration agents fees., I think it will cost at least $3000 AUD all up for the paperwork/agents fees.
I don't recommend you do the paperwork yourself to save moeny..its too complicated now, I did this back in 1989 myself but it was not easy and I had problems with the embassy in Fiji for my Indian ex-wife, they could not understand why I did not marry her in Fiji but I told them I was engaged to her and that DIMA in Australia said I was not allowed to get married over there because it was against proper procedures for the fiance visa and could not apply this visa if I did that and it would make things much more complicated and difficult.
Hope this helps. You will need a migration pack from DIMA but its the agents job to organise that and do all the paperwork, make sure all the info you supply to them about yourself and her is dead accurate as the paperwork must be spot on or big delays will occur!....AND YOU CANNOT MARRY ON A TOURIST VISA IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT THE AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY WOULD GIVE HER ONE IF YOUR PLANNING TO BRING HER HERE FOR A HOLIDAY..DO THAT AND THEY WILL SEND HER HOME AND THEN YOU WILL HAVE TO APPLY FOR SPOUSE VISA ( CLASS 406 I THINK ) AND THAT CAN 12 MONTHS TO GET AND DIMA WILL THINK YOU AND HER TRIED TO DO IMMIGRATION FRAUD AND IT WILL BE HARD TO CONVINCE THEM OTHERWISE..don't sabotage your chances and try and short cut and circumvent the system as ome dickheads in here have advicated in the past..do it by the book and suppy all the evidence and it will take about 5 to 7 months to get a fiance visa for her on average, you can succeed if you play by DIMAs rules!
Aussieman: Your information is not entirely accurate.
1) The SC300 (Prospective marriage) visa must be changed almost immediately after marriage. On the SC300, you have 9 months from DATE OF ISSUE (Note, NOT date of entry) to be legally married in Au. She has no access to medicare which basically forces the change anyway until that is done AND the application for Provisional Resident (SC820) is submitted. It is at that point you pay the $650 and the 2 year later issue of the resident visa has no more charges attached. Your costs are about right, give or take a little but the timing is not as you say.
I fail to understand your logic of mandatory use of agents. For anyone a little familiar with documentation it is NOT difficult. Yes it is long and time consuming but not difficult. Don’t assume you get out of much of the work by having an agent. You still need to obtain and provide them with much of the information in order for them to complete the file. It is not wrong to use an agent, but $700-$1800 for work you can do in a few evenings yourself doesn’t seem wise use of money to me. ~Shrugs~
Visitor visas. Several Au guys have recently had their G/F's from Russia and Ukraine here for visits on Visitor visas. My now wife was here several times on a visitor visa, and during the processing of our SC300, the Moscow embassy suggested another visitor visa whilst we were waiting. Certainly you can't marry and have them stay whilst on a visitor visa but you can have a visitor visa whilst the SC300 is being processed. There has been quite a shake up in the Moscow Embassy over the last 3 years BUT the basic process has not changed much in several years.
IMO, it is sheer stupidity not to take advantage of the visitor visa availability nowadays. I would never consider dragging a woman half way around the world to spend her life with me if she had not had the opportunity to "case the joint" for herself. IMO, that simply isn't fair. If a guy can’t afford the extra trip/s for her, then he shouldn’t be in this process anyway.
BTW, on a breach of visa, they will only deport her once the visa date becomes invalid and they will stamp her passport, "No Entry for 4 Years". That can be appealed but I suspect it wouldn't be much fun.
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Russian brides > Main Forum > Has anyone had any experience with migrating a ukranian girl to Australia??