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Question about a spouse for the DV 2015 application please help

L

lolly7757

New Member
Hi everyone

Recently I submitted my application but could only choose if I was married, single or widowed. I am not married but have been in my partnership for over 10 years and have a child with my partner. I was not sure what to put for my relationship status so I put married and filled in my partners name etc.

Some definitions of 'spouse' say you do not legally have to be married but this has me worried about my application as it is not quite accurate (yet)
Will this have a negative effect on my application as I have a different surname to my partner and child?

Will I need to get married if I am a selectee for the DV lottery?

I am a New Zealander living in Australia.

Thanks everyone, any help or infor would be great :)
 
lolly7757 said:
Hi everyone

Recently I submitted my application but could only choose if I was married, single or widowed. I am not married but have been in my partnership for over 10 years and have a child with my partner. I was not sure what to put for my relationship status so I put married and filled in my partners name etc.

Some definitions of 'spouse' say you do not legally have to be married but this has me worried about my application as it is not quite accurate (yet)
Will this have a negative effect on my application as I have a different surname to my partner and child?

Will I need to get married if I am a selectee for the DV lottery?

I am a New Zealander living in Australia.

Thanks everyone, any help or infor would be great :)
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Dear lolly,I am new here,BUT one thing I have learned well so far,NEVER put them something not applicable...In fact, you are single...Sorry if Im wrong.
 
lolly7757 said:
Hi everyone

Recently I submitted my application but could only choose if I was married, single or widowed. I am not married but have been in my partnership for over 10 years and have a child with my partner. I was not sure what to put for my relationship status so I put married and filled in my partners name etc.

Some definitions of 'spouse' say you do not legally have to be married but this has me worried about my application as it is not quite accurate (yet)
Will this have a negative effect on my application as I have a different surname to my partner and child?

Will I need to get married if I am a selectee for the DV lottery?

I am a New Zealander living in Australia.

Thanks everyone, any help or infor would be great :)
Click to expand...


The rules about that are strict, you should have put single. If you are selected, you will almost certainly be disqualified at interview because your marriage date will show a later date than your entry. I'm sorry, I'm have no idea why you thought the term married was somehow flexible.
 
According to the US DOS Foreign Affairs Mannual, Section 9 FAM 40.1 N1.2 Cohabitation (which I'm guessing is the right term for the OP's situation, if I've not misread his/her posting) could be accepted as a "valid marriage", but there's a BIG BUT - it has to meet some steep conditions.

In the absence of a marriage certificate, an official verification, or a legal brief verifying full marital rights, a common law marriage or cohabitation is considered to be a “valid marriage” for purposes of administering the U.S. immigration law only if:
  • It bestows all of the same legal rights and duties possessed by partners in a lawfully contracted marriage; and
  • Local laws recognize such cohabitation as being fully equivalent in every respect to a traditional legal marriage, e.g.:
    1. The relationship can only be terminated by divorce;
    2. There is a potential right to alimony;
    3. There is a right to intestate distribution of an estate; and
    4. There is a right of custody, if there are children.
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http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86920.pdf

So Lolly7757, if you get selected, this may be the way out for you, if your relationship meets the stated conditions.
 
Changes to application

Hi again and that's to all who have helped me. Does anyone know if the dv application can be changed at all? Eg: go back and change it to a single status and not married? Even though I am in a "defacto" relationship for over 10 years with a child. Pretty much marriage anyways. I feel like I have ruined my application due to a small error. Thanks again everyone.
 
lolly7757 said:
Hi again and that's to all who have helped me. Does anyone know if the dv application can be changed at all? Eg: go back and change it to a single status and not married? Even though I am in a "defacto" relationship for over 10 years with a child. Pretty much marriage anyways. I feel like I have ruined my application due to a small error. Thanks again everyone.
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Unfortunately no, you can't go back and change it. And unfortunately to KCC this is not a small error, but grounds for disqualification. I am sorry for you.
 
Getting married

Thanks again
Just another quick question, say I was planning on getting married in a few months time, technically I would be married at the times that the interviews would be conducted. Just because I wasn't married on the date the dv application was sent in, would this be allowed? Would the dates be overlooked because I would be married before the interview? Thanks again.
 
lolly7757 said:
Thanks again
Just another quick question, say I was planning on getting married in a few months time, technically I would be married at the times that the interviews would be conducted. Just because I wasn't married on the date the dv application was sent in, would this be allowed? Would the dates be overlooked because I would be married before the interview? Thanks again.
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The process for doing this is to send updated forms with marriage certificate to KCC ahead of the interview, but then you would have had to enter as single. They do not overlook dates as a general rule.

I will say this however: it's possible that you get a very sympathetic consular officer at the interview, so you might want to take that chance (which will be expensive given the medical and visa fees). If I were you, rather than asking on the forum, I would contact KCC or - preferably - the consulate where you'll be interviewed, explain the situation, and see if there is any discretion in the process whereby they might be able to process the visa anyway. My impression - and I stress this is only my impression and not backed by anything official - is that the real problem they try to prevent is people entering as single and then showing up with more dependents.
 
I think if you get married now, you can explain to the consular officer that you had been in a 'common law marriage' but just never got around to do it officially. You can prove it by bringing a mountain of documents, letter, pictures, and all sorts of things that show you two have been together for a very long time. A sympathetic consular officer might be willing to accept your explanation, and being in Australia you have a better chance of meeting such an officer. This is just my opinion, but consular officers in developed countries tend to be more lenient than ones in developing nations.

If (this is a big IF) you get selected and you intend to immigrate, it's worth a shot.
 
Hexa said:
I think if you get married now, you can explain to the consular officer that you had been in a 'common law marriage' but just never got around to do it officially. You can prove it by bringing a mountain of documents, letter, pictures, and all sorts of things that show you two have been together for a very long time. A sympathetic consular officer might be willing to accept your explanation, and being in Australia you have a better chance of meeting such an officer. This is just my opinion, but consular officers in developed countries tend to be more lenient than ones in developing nations.

If (this is a big IF) you get selected and you intend to immigrate, it's worth a shot.
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If I'm not mistaken the "common law marriage" thing only works if the local government already recognized it as such at the time you claimed to be married.
 
c1984 said:
If I'm not mistaken the "common law marriage" thing only works if the local government already recognized it as such at the time you claimed to be married.
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That is correct. The local laws must recognize such cohabitation as being fully equivalent in every respect to a traditional legal marriage by meeting conditions such as:

1.The relationship can only be terminated by divorce;
2.There is a potential right to alimony;
3.There is a right to intestate distribution of an estate; and
4.There is a right of custody, if there are children.
 
c1984 said:
If I'm not mistaken the "common law marriage" thing only works if the local government already recognized it as such at the time you claimed to be married.
Click to expand...

The concept of 'common law marriage' originates in English legal system, which in turn influences Australia's. There's a very good chance that it's recognized over there, at least good enough that pursuing a DV visa is worth doing if they're selected.

If this is in the neighboring country of Indonesia, they can forget about claiming common law marriage and not waste the money on the fees.
 
Hexa said:
The concept of 'common law marriage' originates in English legal system, which in turn influences Australia's. There's a very good chance that it's recognized over there, at least good enough that pursuing a DV visa is worth doing if they're selected.

If this is in the neighboring country of Indonesia, they can forget about claiming common law marriage and not waste the money on the fees.
Click to expand...

Australia does recognize common law marriage. The point is that the local government should have recognized and considered the OP's relationship as common law marriage at the time they entered the lottery. A recognition after the fact is not going to cut it, imo.

Still worth trying in my opinion, if they are willing to risk the fees and the other costs. I know that I would.
 
No, Australia does not recognize "common law marriage" (nor does the UK, by the way - that is a commonly held misconception).

Australia does have the concept of a "defacto relationship" and couples can use that to gain certain rights over property etc with some variation between the states. However, these defacto relationships are not "fully equivalent" as traditional legal marriage - and that is an important part of the test as quoted by Sm1smom earlier.

So - I doubt that this could be successfully argued, especially during CP. However, I suppose if the OP wins, they could try - but the CO will be wanting to get a piece of paper to tick a box to justify why they approved that visa, and that would be difficult. In this situation it would be helpful if the OP were married BEFORE selection, ONLY from the point of view of providing a marriage cert to tick the box and not having the marriage to benefit from the GC win.
 
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