# Police clearance for separated spouse



## soulfood (Apr 3, 2014)

Hi everyone,

I have applied for skilled independent Australia permanent residence 189 visa. My situation is somewhat complicated and any advise would be greatly appreciated.
I am currently legally married and have also applied for the visa with relationship status as 'Married'. I had mentioned my wife as non-migrating dependant.
My wife and I are now living separately and we want to get divorced in the future. However this is not a 'legal' separation and there is no legal document of the separation. I have uploaded all of my required supporting documents for my application. Only my wife's form 1221 and police clearance certificate is missing. It is now difficult for me to get her cooperation to give me these two documents. 
How should I go about this if my case officer asks for her documents? Can I make an affidavit/statutory declaration stating my current situation? Will also a similar affidavit from my wife be required?


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## prseeker (Sep 11, 2013)

soulfood said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I have applied for skilled independent Australia permanent residence 189 visa. My situation is somewhat complicated and any advise would be greatly appreciated.
> I am currently legally married and have also applied for the visa with relationship status as 'Married'. I had mentioned my wife as non-migrating dependant.
> ...


You don't need PCC for non migrating dependents .


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## soulfood (Apr 3, 2014)

Hi prseeker,

Thanks for the quick reply.
In the online application, the form 1221 and PCC is mentioned as 'recommended' for my wife. The migration agent through whom I have applied, insists that it is absolutely needed. Do you mean to say that the case officer may not insist on it? Because, on the list of supporting documents, I can see form 1221 and PCC.


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## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

prseeker said:


> You don't need PCC for non migrating dependants .


 Yes you do  Medicals too. 

If they are your dependants you need to get clearance from them. Anyone you put down as non migrating dependent must pass health and character. 

A wife needs to be checked even if you didnt put her in non migrating dependants because she is your dependent until you divorce her.


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## soulfood (Apr 3, 2014)

_shel said:


> Yes you do  Medicals too.
> 
> If they are your dependants you need to get clearance from them. Anyone you put down as non migrating dependent must pass health and character.
> 
> A wife needs to be checked even if you didnt put her in non migrating dependants because she is your dependent until you divorce her.


Hi _shel,
Thanks for the reply. At the moment it appears the best I can do is to make an affidavit stating my current situation. Also, as per divorce laws here in India, we will need to live apart for one year before we can even apply for divorce. The actual divorce proceeding could take another 6 months. So, it will take me a minimum of 1.5 years to divorce my wife. If I were to explain all this in my affidavit, could my visa application be approved or at least put on hold until I get the divorce. Is there some time limit on a visa application, after which they reject the application if all conditions are not satisfied.


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## prseeker (Sep 11, 2013)

_shel said:


> Yes you do  Medicals too.
> 
> If they are your dependants you need to get clearance from them. Anyone you put down as non migrating dependent must pass health and character.
> 
> A wife needs to be checked even if you didnt put her in non migrating dependants because she is your dependent until you divorce her.


oops my bad ! Glad you corrected me and provided correct information to thread starter , I hope he didn't give an earful to anybody based on information I provided to him


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## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

soulfood said:


> Hi _shel,
> Thanks for the reply. At the moment it appears the best I can do is to make an affidavit stating my current situation. Also, as per divorce laws here in India, we will need to live apart for one year before we can even apply for divorce. The actual divorce proceeding could take another 6 months. So, it will take me a minimum of 1.5 years to divorce my wife. If I were to explain all this in my affidavit, could my visa application be approved or at least put on hold until I get the divorce. Is there some time limit on a visa application, after which they reject the application if all conditions are not satisfied.


 If you have started the proceedings and have been separated a long time you might be ok with a statutory declaration. It is those who have only been separated a few months were problems arise because they think you could get back together quickly after grant or the 'seperation' is for visa purposes.


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## soulfood (Apr 3, 2014)

Hi everyone,
I suppose what I really would like to know is, is it possible to ask my case officer to put my visa application on hold indefinitely until I have a divorce? 
I don't want my application to be rejected because of a couple of missing documents that in my opinion really have nothing to do with me anymore. And as mentioned by _shel, I also don't want my application to be rejected because the case officer thinks that my separation is not real.


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## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

Dont do that. Write an email explaining the situation. If you can provide evidence of having tried to get her to complete PCC and medical and failed it will probably be accepted. 
Evidence of such would usually be a letter from a solicitor that has written to her on your behalf. Verifying they wrote and she either ignored or replied saying no.


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## mainak (Feb 14, 2014)

Hello Thread Subscribers

I have recently received my grant. I am a candidate with the same cause that the OP had hence I decided long back to share my experience when it gets through for mine. I had seen people here praying that old guys come back and tell what 'actually' they did after all the discussions hence this is my paying it forward.

One of the major dilemma that people faced here is that what exactly to put on marital status? Few preferred putting it married and then quoting ex-wife as non migrating dependant. While I saw separated and divorced both there - I always felt it should be separated. Majorly all of us here had the problem that we are not yet divorced and living separately but we do not have any document showing the same.

I took a bet and applied as status separated. Then what I did is simple to say but hard to do. Bite the bullet. I initiated talk with my wife and started the process of legal separation / divorce. I knew I have applied as separated and not divorced hence CO wont ask me for divorce decree but something to show legally separated. I worked in that line and used the petition document we filed in court for divorce as legal separation document.

That worked perfect. CO promptly accepted that document (document applying divorce but not the divorce decree) and set relation status document to received. And finally I got the grant.

I would recommend this line of working to my fellow expats.

Good luck. Let Oz give us the life we await.


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## cancerianlrules (Feb 6, 2014)

mainak said:


> Hello Thread Subscribers
> 
> I have recently received my grant. I am a candidate with the same cause that the OP had hence I decided long back to share my experience when it gets through for mine. I had seen people here praying that old guys come back and tell what 'actually' they did after all the discussions hence this is my paying it forward.
> 
> ...


This is such a valuable information for a lot of people in the forum! Thanks a lot! 

Good luck for the future , may God bless you!!


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## jelli-kallu (Apr 26, 2015)

mainak said:


> Hello Thread Subscribers
> 
> I have recently received my grant. I am a candidate with the same cause that the OP had hence I decided long back to share my experience when it gets through for mine. I had seen people here praying that old guys come back and tell what 'actually' they did after all the discussions hence this is my paying it forward.
> 
> ...


I have a question here - What if the couple are not separated but living together? My spouse is not willing to live separately. Are there any steps I can take, where-in, I apply, get visa for only myself and take things forward? All of this while there is no guarantee of my wife agreeing to divorce me!!


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## Maggie-May24 (May 19, 2015)

I think you'll struggle to prove you're separated if you're still living under the same roof. If your wife isn't willing to live separately (there would be nothing to prevent you from moving out) and may not agree to divorce you, I expect it's also unlikely she'd be willing to complete the police and medical checks required.


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## rameshkd (Aug 26, 2011)

jelli-kallu said:


> I have a question here - What if the couple are not separated but living together? My spouse is not willing to live separately. Are there any steps I can take, where-in, I apply, get visa for only myself and take things forward? All of this while there is no guarantee of my wife agreeing to divorce me!!


Since you're legally not separated your status would still be married but that does not stop you for applying for GSM just for yourselves. It's not mandatory to include your wife on your application.
To get more details around the legalities of this, I suggest you get in touch with a legal-advisor.


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## jelli-kallu (Apr 26, 2015)

rameshkd said:


> Since you're legally not separated your status would still be married but that does not stop you for applying for GSM just for yourselves. It's not mandatory to include your wife on your application.
> To get more details around the legalities of this, I suggest you get in touch with a legal-advisor.


rameshkd - What does GSM mean? I'm assuming General Skilled Migrant? If yes, I would still need PCC and medicals of my spouse, wouldn't I? And in all probability, I won't get it from her!!


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## jesh2 (Mar 14, 2016)

Dear Mainak

I appreciate in detailing of your experience. Right now I am in your same mentioned status. "Married, separated, but not divorced". Have a 5 year old kid who is migrating with me. I gave "separated status" in visa application keeping my spouse as nonmigrant. Now I filed for divorce.

Please help me on these,
1. How did you authenticate your "petition document" when u submitted the same to CO.
2. I have requested in my filed petition to pass "a divorce decree" by the court. Will it create the situation for a "must" divorce decree by the CO to grant visa.

I appreciate any piece of advice from someone who has or had the same status.

thanks


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## baron33 (Mar 20, 2016)

_shel said:


> If you have started the proceedings and have been separated a long time you might be ok with a statutory declaration. It is those who have only been separated a few months were problems arise because they think you could get back together quickly after grant or the 'seperation' is for visa purposes.


I quite understand the first part -- being separated a few month may be not solid evidence --- but why it may have an impact on visa purpose?

for example, obviously, it is easier to get a visa on a married status -- to prove separated is much harder


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