Statutory Declarations
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Check List Using The Regulations As A Template eg - Spouse Visa
Get Enough Sleep
Visa Application And Associated Costs
Preserving Records
Record Keeping And Management - How Long Do Documents Have To Be Kept?
Initial Requirements Regarding Accepting A Retainer
Failure Of Proper File Management Can Lead To Suspension As A Migration Agent
Interpreters
Confidentiality & Notifying The Client Of Complaint Procedure
Give Your Client A Copy Of Everything
Give Your Client The Bad News Immediately
Take Care While On Holidays
Clients & English
Check Special Requirements For Offshore Visas With The Embassy's Or Consulate's Website
Don't Accept Immigration's Assertion That Decisions Have Been Made Properly
Have No Fear Of Appeals
Never Advise Your Client To Make Life Changing Decisions Prior To The Grant Of A Visa & Trust Your Instincts
Before You Set The Fee With Your Client And Before You File A Visa Application
Oral Instructions
What Can Go Wrong If You Don't Record Your Mail Properly
Prepare Your Client For The Oath
Ideas For Chronologies For Client Files
Immigration Goes Into Hibernation On 30 June Each Year
Australia Closes Down Between Christmas & New Year
Have An Industrial Strength Office Set Up At The Office And At Home
What Is A Permanent Residence Visa?
Practice Together Or Practice In Groups
A Proper Email Account And Email Management
Undercharging And Undercutting On Fees
Positioning And Pathways And Fees (Putting All One's Eggs In One Basket)
Email & Fax Communication & Errors With Credit Cards Emerge As Troubling Issues
Preparing A Client For Merit Review Hearings Or Interviews With DIBP
Accountants And Migration Law
Passport
Berenguel - Sometimes Time Of Application Criteria Can Be Met At Time Of Decision
Bare Faced Liars & The Fraudsters
Everyone's Doing It
Bridging Visas
Visas Remain Current Until Midnight
Immigration Closes At 4pm
Looking After Secondary Visa Holders In A Visa Cancellation Process
Applying As A Secondary Visa Applicant Onshore When The Primary Visa Applicant Is Offshore
Being Illegal
Essential Prerequisites For A Ministerial Discretion Application
Last Lunge Applications
State And Territory Sponsorship
Addresses
Believing The Client
Follow Up
Make Peace With The Tax Office
No Obligation On Immigration To Chase Up Information Or Documents From Migration Agents Or Lawyers Representing A Client
Errors In Visa Applications
Spouse Visas - Unexplained Large Deposits of Money
Managing No. 8503 On Tourist Visas
Medical Consent
Statutory Declarations
Merit Review
Tax Deductibility of Migration Advice
LEGENDcom
Dates On Documents And Names On Documents
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Take A Statement
Case Management Software
Work Rights
Student
Check All Past Visa Applications
Revealing Convictions
Visa Holders Being On Their Best Behaviour
Email Communication With Immigration - Delete All Strings
No Without Prejudice Conversations With Immigration
Accounts Managements
What Is A Secondary Visa?
Identify Australian Citizens Who Support An Applicant
Communications
Schedule 1 Criteria
Second Thing To Do On Starting A File - Download The Relevant Part Of The Law
First Thing To Do When Starting Any File - Identify Any 'Rights Destroying' Deadlines
Lodging Paper Applications
Social Media & Smart Phones
References
Disputes About Parentage And Children
Helping People Pass The English Tests
Managing Emails
What Is The Pomodoro Technique?
Immigration Telephones Client
When Is A Visa Application Made In Australia
Apply For A Visa In Australia
No Visa Application Is An Island
The Hammock Principle
During the preparation and compilation of a visa application, it is sometimes necessary for applicants to complete a statutory declaration verifying the truth of a certain set of facts. This may include an applicant needing to make a statutory declaration outlining his past work history or business history or third parties verifying an applicant’s de-facto relationship.
The writer advises that statutory declarations provided to the Department for immigration purposes should be made under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 (Cth).
The format of the statutory declaration should be set out as prescribed in Schedule 1 of the Statutory. Declarations Regulations 1993. A copy of the Regulations including Schedule 1 can be found here:
Please note that for a statutory declaration to be validly made, the deponent (the person making the declaration) must sign the statutory declaration before an approved witness.
Schedule 2 of the Regulations provides a list of persons whom a statutory declaration can be made before (i.e. a list of approved witnesses).
It is also worth noting that spouse visa applicants making a non-judicial claim of family violence are required to provide statutory declarations to evidence their claim pursuant to Reg 1.24.
Reg 1.21 defines ‘statutory declaration’ as follows:
statutory declaration means a statutory declaration under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959.
Therefore for the purposes of a non-judicial claim of family violence, statutory declarations made under other jurisdictions or Act (including any State or Territory legislation made in relation to oaths or statutory declarations) may not be accepted as proper evidence of the claim.
In a particularly restrictive decision, the Federal Court in Mohamed v Minister for Immigration & Citizenship [2007] FCA 1004, 19 July 2007 found that if a state statutory declaration was used when the regulations specified a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration then the visa criteria would not be met! This was so despite the fact there was minimal difference between the wording of the state and Commonwealth forms.
Of course if a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration is not required by regulation it may be possible to use a state declaration but good practice would suggest that in migration matters a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration be always used.
Ensure every page is signed at the bottom by both the deponent and the qualified witness.
Australian consulates and embassies throughout the world have qualified people available to witness statutory declarations. Each will charge a fee and only have specified hours as to when this is done, e.g.
Guangzhou – come in person with valid passport/ID from 3pm to 4pm Monday to Friday. Fee is RMB 90 each.
Repeating what is said elsewhere, generally it is relevant in migration matters to know if a deponent is an Australian citizen or not (specifying if by birth or by grant, if the latter the date of grant) and the date of birth or age of the deponent is relevant.