That is a staggering amount — and since it’s how much you’ll need to spend on the application and a possible appeal before receiving your Australian migration visa, you probably want to be careful how you spend it.

Here are 8 major mistakes we see in the partner visa application process…

8. Considering hiring an unregistered migration agent to handle your application.

7. Trying to handle the mountain of paperwork by oneself. You will find that, in addition to 15 required documents, there are more than a dozen others that you’ll wish you had included.

6. Your partner may suggest you go without any outside assistance because the process is already expensive enough when you handle it yourself. Don’t give in to this temptation.

5. Believing that the experience friends and other successful applicants went through will be identical to your experience. You aren’t likely to have the same government employees examining your paperwork, so prepare for every inevitability, concern or reason for disqualification.

4. Assuming that because you qualify, you’ll be accepted. The migration tribunal (which handles appeals) says 40% of their caseload is partner visa rejections.

3. Expecting a straightforward appeals process in a large bureaucracy. You must also be willing to lose your application fee ($6,865!) plus an AAT appeal application fee of roughly $1,600 more, not to mention…

2. Planning to have this resolved quickly. An application, rejection and appeal can take two years off your life.

1. Not hiring a registered migration agent to manage all of this with you.

Luckily, Hightrees Law, with its 100% track record in successful partner visa applications for Australia and New Zealand, can”yabber” with you about everything you need to know to make sure your decision to use us as your registered agent for your move to Australia is a brilliant one. Contact Paula for details.