Marriage Celebrants from afar - Australia fiancee visa question
I have a question for anyone who's deal with Australian fiancee visas:
Most of the requirements seem pretty straightforward to me for the fiancee visa application, but there's one piece that threw me for a loop - the requirement that our marriage celebrant confirms the date of our wedding. Here's the language in the Migration Booklet:
"Evidence that you intend to marry your fiancé(e) within 9 months of being granted the visa. Such evidence must be a signed and dated letter (on letterhead) from an authorised marriage celebrant who will conduct your wedding ceremony. The letter must include the date and place of the planned marriage ceremony. If you plan to marry in Australia, the celebrant must confirm that a Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) for you and your fiancé(e) has been lodged with them (see page 33 for further details about NOIMs)."
We're planning to lodge our application in December/January after he comes to visit here. (We've already met - I spent two wonderful weeks with him in May, but we want to give him a chance to meet my family.)
Does anyone have any experience/suggestions with this portion? Given the 5-10 months to get the visa approved, it seems difficult to get this part completed. My boyfriend's not thrilled at the thought of having to pick out a celebrant by himself, as we wanted to do it together, and I don't like being forced to pick one without getting to meet them in person, but if we have to, we have to. Any suggestions on how to pick a good one from long-distance is greatly appreciated, as I want to help him find someone.
I know the permanent partner visa has even more crapola, but we're going to deal with that /after/ this visa and the wedding. Oi. XD
Also, if anyone has any tips, suggestions, or websites with good tips for the fiancee visa, let me know (my Googlefu failed me).
x-posted to intl_ldr
Most of the requirements seem pretty straightforward to me for the fiancee visa application, but there's one piece that threw me for a loop - the requirement that our marriage celebrant confirms the date of our wedding. Here's the language in the Migration Booklet:
"Evidence that you intend to marry your fiancé(e) within 9 months of being granted the visa. Such evidence must be a signed and dated letter (on letterhead) from an authorised marriage celebrant who will conduct your wedding ceremony. The letter must include the date and place of the planned marriage ceremony. If you plan to marry in Australia, the celebrant must confirm that a Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) for you and your fiancé(e) has been lodged with them (see page 33 for further details about NOIMs)."
We're planning to lodge our application in December/January after he comes to visit here. (We've already met - I spent two wonderful weeks with him in May, but we want to give him a chance to meet my family.)
Does anyone have any experience/suggestions with this portion? Given the 5-10 months to get the visa approved, it seems difficult to get this part completed. My boyfriend's not thrilled at the thought of having to pick out a celebrant by himself, as we wanted to do it together, and I don't like being forced to pick one without getting to meet them in person, but if we have to, we have to. Any suggestions on how to pick a good one from long-distance is greatly appreciated, as I want to help him find someone.
I know the permanent partner visa has even more crapola, but we're going to deal with that /after/ this visa and the wedding. Oi. XD
Also, if anyone has any tips, suggestions, or websites with good tips for the fiancee visa, let me know (my Googlefu failed me).
x-posted to intl_ldr