VIC Will form 888 come back and haunt me in the future?

[aliveanddrive]

Hi all

I am extremely confused, and in a tough position. Short story:

My brother is an Australian citizen. He wants to fill in form 888 for his girlfriend, lets say Mary. Mary is from country A. The problem is, my brother is asking me to be a witness and sign form 888.

My question is, will I be held responsible for anything that happens to Mary or her family members? I genuinely prefer not to say the below information, but I feel I need to share it so that I can get better advice....

There are signs that once Mary has her PR visa, she will sponsor/bring her brother, who is a drug user, from country A into Australia. What will happen if Mary's brother commits some serious crime in Australia? Will I be called into court or something, seeing as I was the witness in Mary's relationship with my brother?

Please, please help. I am in a great dilemma. On one hand I want to support and help my brother....but on the other hand, I don't know much about Mary, and the fact that Mary's brother is a drug user scares me...

My only concern is, say 5 years from now, the Australian government calls me and says "Why did you become a witness for someone who is connected to a drug addict"? or so......this is my biggest concern.

Thank you so much for reading. Any advice very much appreciated. Thank you all.

 

[Docupedia]

You’re overthinking things, based on predictions of possibilities you can’t control. I don’t know what the form asks of you but unless you’re being asked to attest to something along the lines of Mary’s character or family relations then it’s not on you.

 

[aliveanddrive]

Thank you Docupedia for your answer.

Hmmm you are right. I rarely see these forms so I don't have any experience with them. From what I have seen, form 888 is only for saying whether a relationship is genuine or not. In that case, I should be safe, correct?

 

[Docupedia]

Sorry, there's no way I can answer that.

 

[Tim W]

It's really simple.

Don't tell lies on forms.
Don't be a party (even in a small, incidental way) to enabling immigration offences by others.
Don't sign anything you're not in-your-gut happy about.

Look within - the real question here is not
"Is this a bad idea?".
The real question is
"Do I have the backbone to say 'no' to a request I know, in some part, to be dodgy?"

 

[aliveanddrive]

So Tim, in your opinion/experience, this form will not bite me back in the future right? I am only worried about the possibility of the government calling me and saying "Why did you become a witness for someone who is connected to a drug addict" or so.

 

[Tim W]

Just so we are clear....

Who is the declarant - your brother, or, falsely, you?

If you, then is the declaration wholly true and correct?
In Australia, it's an offence (yes, crime) to lie in a declaration.

---> If somebody else is filling out and "just asking you to sign it...", then don't sign it.
It has to be your truthful statement(s) in the declaration.

If he wants you to be a witness (that is, not the declarant)
than are you even a "qualified person" for that purpose?

Do you understand what you're doing?
---> If you don't understand what you're signing, then don't sign it.

 

[aliveanddrive]

Thanks Tim W

My brother is the one getting married with Mary. All I need to do is be a witness. My brother wants me to sign form 888 to be a witness. Basically to say their relationship is genuine or not.

My only concern is that story about Mary's brother being a drug user (explained in more detail in my original post). I just want to make sure the Australia government doesnt call me in 5 years and say "Why did you become a witness for someone who is connected to a drug addict" or so.

In terms of saying whether their relationship is genuine or not, I have no issues here, I can say yes it is genuine. I just dont want to be held accountable for whatever happens to Mary's brother. That is all.

 

[Tim W]

To witness form 888, you need to be one of the "prescribed persons".
Are you?

 

[aliveanddrive]

I personally am not one of the prescribed persons. But my brother said that my job is simply to fill in the form, not be a witness. After that, he will get someone in the "prescribed persons" to be a witness.