"I should have asked earlier."
"We had been together four years and I thought the visa would be the easy part. We were wrong about that, but not in the way I expected."
"We were doing it ourselves. I had a folder of photos and a lease, and a form half filled in for three months because every question opened two more. My partner's visa had an end date coming and I was checking forums at midnight. We nearly lodged it just to feel like we had done something."
"A friend gave me Miklos's number. The first thing he did was not tell me what to do. He asked what we had, went through it, and told us plainly which parts were fine and which parts would be a problem. He gave us a list, in writing, of what was missing and why it mattered. Then he kept us in the loop at every step, so I stopped refreshing my email."
"The visa was granted. Every case is different and I know ours was not the hardest one he has seen. What I would tell someone in our spot is simple. Ask before you lodge, not after. The folder of photos was never the problem. Not knowing what the folder was missing was."