G'day Frank,



12 Oct 96 09:07, Frank Malcolm wrote to Rod Gasson:



 VC>> He had ONE reason. Gaelyne. To be able to immigrate here she has

 VC>> to be sponsored by an Australian citizen.



 FM> Yes, of course. Although apparently that only changed in July this

 FM> year.



Yeah..  up until then being a permanent resident was enough.



 FM> Rod, can you tell me any more about the sponsorship

 FM> process, particularly how you get around the bureaucrats in your

 FM> specific situation, ie that you're not married but "engaged"?



I didn't have any problems/hassles at all...   first up I didn't

mention my 'marital' status or why I was applying on my application..

I correctly and honestly put down that I was single.



All I needed to do was to provide proof that I was/am a permanent

resident, this was easy, 'cos I had tax records dating back over

25years, plus a certificate that details when I arrived in Aust (at

the grand old age of 13)



 FM> A friend of mine is a NZ, will be entitled to be naturalised in a

 FM> month or so. Her boyfriend is Ghanaian and she wants to sponsor him,

 FM> is getting the bureaucratic runaround.



Obviously the circumstances are different between us...   after living

here as a perm resident for almost 30 years I was confident enough of

being approved, that I gave my interviewer a hard time.

eg, when asked "What is one of the first things you must do as an

Australian Citizen" I replyed "Sign on the dole"  (the correct

response would have been to sign on the electoral role).

When asked "Name one of the responsibilties of being an Australian". I

scratched my head and said "I thought one of the benefits of being an

Aussie was to have NO responsibilities".



A couple of times during the interview I was SURE he was going to tear

the application up then and there (and had I been a "new arrival" I'm

sure he would have done), but unless they were prepared to deport me

back to England, there was no way they could possibly refuse me.





BTW, you friend could be getting the run around because the

application fees are due to go up again (from $55 to $80), and causing

such delays could be little more than revenue raising.



Cheers,

Rod



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