# AUS 190 Visa - Previous countries of residence



## nethread (Feb 17, 2015)

Hello Australia Expat Forum members,


I have received Australian visa invite under 190 and am completing the application.

One of the questions is -

*Have any of the applicants lived in a country other than the primary applicant's usual country of residence?*

I have stayed in various countries in Europe sine 2008 on multiple occasions for job as well as on personal trip and on short term tourist visa as well as on work permit. Do I need to mention each and every stay? If I enlist each and every stay record, there will 29 entries. I have all the information with me regarding visa details, address where I stayed, purpose, duration, etc. So I am not worried about that. *My main concern is will Case Officer ask for Police Clearance for all those stays in all those countries?* It will be a difficult as well as costly matter (not to mention highly illogical) to go back there just to get police clearance.

Could anyone advise?

Regards


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## osteo80 (Oct 4, 2015)

Only if you stay in one country for more than 12 months since you turned 18 years old then you will have to get the police certificate for that country.


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## JP Mosa (Mar 14, 2013)

nethread said:


> Hello Australia Expat Forum members,
> 
> 
> I have received Australian visa invite under 190 and am completing the application.
> ...



1.Write every country you visited even for 48 hours stay excluding transits.
2. If a person stays more than 6 months in any country need to submit PCC,as far as my knowledge........but not for short duration trips.


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## nethread (Feb 17, 2015)

Hello osteo80,

Thank you very much for the prompt and useful reply.

Luckily, I never stayed in any of the countries I referred above for more than 11 months at once. 

Thanks again.
Regards


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## nethread (Feb 17, 2015)

JP Mosa said:


> 1.Write every country you visited even for 48 hours stay excluding transits.
> 2. If a person stays more than 6 months in any country need to submit PCC,as far as my knowledge........but not for short duration trips.


Thanks JP Mosa 

I stayed in each country for more than 48 hours which means I need to mention all of them.

Also, regarding link of length of stay with PCC, I wonder if any of the official websites of DIBP mention what is the exact rule which I might have missed.

Still thank you for prompt and informative response.

Regards


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## Maggie-May24 (May 19, 2015)

nethread said:


> Thanks JP Mosa
> 
> I stayed in each country for more than 48 hours which means I need to mention all of them.
> 
> ...


It's always a good idea to read the information on the DIBP website, or even better to refer to the lesiglation, since both responses above were incorrect. Character and police certificate requirements

"For the Australian Government to determine whether you are of good character, you might be asked to provide police certificates for each country you have lived in for 12 months or more, over the last 10 years, since turning 16 years of age."


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## JP Mosa (Mar 14, 2013)

Maggie-May24 said:


> It's always a good idea to read the information on the DIBP website, or even better to refer to the lesiglation, since both responses above were incorrect. Character and police certificate requirements
> 
> "For the Australian Government to determine whether you are of good character, you might be asked to provide police certificates for each country you have lived in for 12 months or more, over the last 10 years, since turning 16 years of age."


Yes....Now its 12 months......

reason why I said....."AS FAR AS MY KNOWLEDGE".


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## nethread (Feb 17, 2015)

Maggie-May24 said:


> It's always a good idea to read the information on the DIBP website, or even better to refer to the lesiglation, since both responses above were incorrect. Character and police certificate requirements
> 
> "For the Australian Government to determine whether you are of good character, you might be asked to provide police certificates for each country you have lived in for 12 months or more, over the last 10 years, since turning 16 years of age."


Hello Maggie-May24,

Thank you very much for your response. I reckon your response was for "regarding link of length of stay with PCC" and so yes you have answered that doubt. I had gone through the section and specific provision you quoted after opening this thread. 

However, I felt that in no way that provision on DIBP site clarifies the meaning of "living" or "residence" in particular country and that ambiguity still remains. 

e.g. now a days, many Indians work outside India where their Indian employers send them on onsite assignments which range from few weeks to few month or sometimes even few years with short breaks in onsite stay.

In all such cases, employers either book hotels for accommodation or employees rent accommodation on their own and get reimbursement from the employer. Now in almost all the cases, the place is not "bought" and no matter whether the onsite assignment is for few weeks / months / years, the nature of residing place remains "rented", nature of visa remains "work permit" or "business visa" or "residence permit only subject to employment status". So in all these cases, employees can't even plan for residing permanently in those foreign countries unless they get a chance, either through their own efforts or through an offer from employer to switch to some visa category that will allow them to enter into the category of permanent residents / citizens. So in this sense, all the above cases amount to "travel for work" and not "living" or "residing" irrespective of time period and travel purpose.

In addition to DIBP website information, I had also gone through Form 80 upfront which I have heard is requested at later stage of visa application. There is a big separate section in that Form where applicant has to enlist ALL the places where he/she has travelled for tourism or work. This adds to more confusion. If applicants have to give details of travel for work in Form 80 then it raises a doubt as to was it really expected of me to mention the same information in Initial Visa Application in the section "Previous countries of residence"? In fact, it makes one feel that "..okay since I had no intentions or means to ‘settle’ in the foreign country where I travelled for work, on visa with work-time-travel restrictions, where I did not buy any property, and since I had not left / could not leave my own country for good, I cannot treat foreign countries as "place of living" in this context. Also, since Visa Authority is asking the travel information in Form 80 it may not have wanted applicants to duplicate the same information in the section of ‘Previous countries of residence’… “

When applicant is applying on his/her own, the applicant takes much more care than the applicants applying through Agent because no one wants to get rejection. There is always a question in the mind as to am I missing important information? Or am I giving unnecessary information that will confuse Case Officer and will add to un-necessary procedural formalities to be completed from my side. So in most of the cases such applicant definitely goes through information on official websites as well as experiences of like-minded people shared through forum like this. I was expecting to find something in the help section (small round question-mark links corresponding to most of the questions on visa application which when clicked, open in a separate dialogue box/screen clarifying the nature of question or interpreting the meaning of question for helping the applicant) Sorry to say but in case of question / section of "Previous countries of residence", there is no such help available.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am highly grateful to you for the time you gave to answer to my query and for your inputs and efforts to guide forum members and in fact your answer did clarify one of the doubts I had asked. So Thanks again.

Best Regards


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## verma.rajput (Mar 25, 2016)

Dear nethread

So, did you mention any stay outside your home country in "Previous Countries of residence" ??

Thanks,
Aman


nethread said:


> Hello Maggie-May24,
> 
> Thank you very much for your response. I reckon your response was for "regarding link of length of stay with PCC" and so yes you have answered that doubt. I had gone through the section and specific provision you quoted after opening this thread.
> 
> ...


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## nethread (Feb 17, 2015)

Sorry I forgot to update the thread. Yes I mentioned in Form 80, each and every country where I stayed (why to hide?) 


Also following are the requirements pertaining to police certificate.


*Police Certificates*

_Everyone who applies for a visa must satisfy the character requirements of the Migration Act, 1958 before a visa can be granted. As part of your visa application you must provide an original police certificate from each country where you have lived for a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years as evidence that you satisfy the character requirements. These 12 months are calculated cumulatively and need not have been consecutive. Country-specific instructions on how to obtain a police certificate are at Character and police certificate requirements.

Please provide the department with (an) offshore police certificate(s) from each country where you have lived for a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years.

If you are unable to obtain an overseas police certificate it is in your best interest to demonstrate to the DIBP, with documentary evidence where possible, that you have made a genuine attempt to obtain the relevant certificate(s). If the department is satisfied that you are unable to obtain an overseas police certificate and have made a genuine attempt to do so then a waiver of this requirement may be granted.

If applicant does not provide the police certificate(s) and the department is satisfied that it is reasonable for the applicant to provide the police certificate(s), the visa application may be refused._​


Hope this helps.
Thanks






verma.rajput said:


> Dear nethread
> 
> So, did you mention any stay outside your home country in "Previous Countries of residence" ??
> 
> ...


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