Australian Visas Compared To Other Countries..

[krisb]

Ive read threads about visas to other countries on here, and it seems so many countries are just plain hard to get a visa for.

Some folks seem to just give up trying as there doesnt seem to be a visa for them, others havnt known their partner for 2 years etc.

A friend of mine from Holland that lives in LOS said he doesnt even bother taking his GF to Holland for holidays its just to hard getting visas. Is he just being lazy?

So is it just me or is Australia the most visa friendly nation compared to others?

[theslime]

I had a real hard time to get Wife OZ Visa, maybe should have done the short stay visa instead of Maximum 4 Wife. My past might of been catching up with me. Went back to OZ ,got Legal Aid who did the Translation,s required and then no problem with Visa App.

[krisb]

I had a real hard time to get Wife OZ Visa, maybe should have done the short stay visa instead of Maximum 4 Wife. My past might of been catching up with me. Went back to OZ ,got Legal Aid who did the Translation,s required and then no problem with Visa App.

Legal aid = free translations correct?

So basically it was easy to get visa for your wife.

Edited October 20, 2012 by krisb

[electau]

If the applicant addresses the criteria for the 676 visa correctly they should have no problem. The form is a 48R.

The main criteria is reason to return, and the applicant must be able to show that they can support themselves financially, ie sufficient funds for travel.

For a 676 visa the applicant requires a current passport, form 48R filled in correctly, financial information, ie bank statements/book etc enclosed with application.

If a third party offer support while in Australia they may indicate the level of support in a letter along with their relationship to the applicant. They should enclose a copy of their bank statement for the last six months.

Visas are refused because the applicant has failed to meet the criteria asked of them.

You should read that form 48R carefully, it can be downloaded from the DIAC website.

When a visa is refused the reason will be given in a formal letter to the applicant.

Translations of documents in Australia eg from Thai to English must be carried out by a certified NAATI translator to satisfy DIAC requirements.

(Documents in English are not required to be translated for an Australian visa application).

[Will27]

If the applicant addresses the criteria for the 676 visa correctly they should have no problem. The form is a 48R.

The main criteria is reason to return, and the applicant must be able to show that they can support themselves financially, ie sufficient funds for travel.

For a 676 visa the applicant requires a current passport, form 48R filled in correctly, financial information, ie bank statements/book etc enclosed with application.

If a third party offer support while in Australia they may indicate the level of support in a letter along with their relationship to the applicant. They should enclose a copy of their bank statement for the last six months.

Visas are refused because the applicant has failed to meet the criteria asked of them.

You should read that form 48R carefully, it can be downloaded from the DIAC website.

When a visa is refused the reason will be given in a formal letter to the applicant.

Translations of documents in Australia eg from Thai to English must be carried out by a certified NAATI translator to satisfy DIAC requirements.

(Documents in English are not required to be translated for an Australian visa application).

I agree with nearly everything you've said, apart from the highlighted piece.

Whilst in the majority of cases, tourist visa's are relatively easy to get, people

occasionally do get bad decisions where the criterion has been met.

But apart from the odd bad call from a case officer, I'd agree that it's pretty easy

to get a tourist visa for Oz.

Regards

Will

[electau]

There is no formal appeal process for a 676 visa if it is refused, the applicant just applies again at a later date when they can meet the criteria. The applicant should address very carefully in the formal letter the reason for refusal before re-applying.

An applicant will always be advised by a formal letter if a visa is refused.

[Will27]

There is no formal appeal process for a 676 visa if it is refused, the applicant just applies again at a later date when they can meet the criteria. The applicant should address very carefully in the formal letter the reason for refusal before re-applying.

An applicant will always be advised by a formal letter if a visa is refused.

I have witnessed where applications have been refused, and spoken to senior officers who

have advised just to apply straight away again using the same application. These visa's have

then been granted.

In other words, a dud decision by a case officer (not that they will admit that)

but nothing can be done about it other than to re-apply.

Bad decisions are sometimes given and it is not always from a bad application, although

in the majority of cases, as you have said, the criteria hasn't been met.

Regards

Will

[theslime]

I had a real hard time to get Wife OZ Visa, maybe should have done the short stay visa instead of Maximum 4 Wife. My past might of been catching up with me. Went back to OZ ,got Legal Aid who did the Translation,s required and then no problem with Visa App.

Legal aid = free translations correct?

So basically it was easy to get visa for your wife.

Sorry been away up River, I got free Translation,s from Legal Aid, they couldn,t be more helpful. Maybe they where surprised to see an Aussie, as the place was full of African,s

[krisb]

I had a real hard time to get Wife OZ Visa, maybe should have done the short stay visa instead of Maximum 4 Wife. My past might of been catching up with me. Went back to OZ ,got Legal Aid who did the Translation,s required and then no problem with Visa App.

Legal aid = free translations correct?

So basically it was easy to get visa for your wife.

Sorry been away up River, I got free Translation,s from Legal Aid, they couldn,t be more helpful. Maybe they where surprised to see an Aussie, as the place was full of African,s

Thats a really good tip.

Legal aid free translations!

Obviously you didnt have to pay for service but were you unemployed to use them?

[theslime]

I had a real hard time to get Wife OZ Visa, maybe should have done the short stay visa instead of Maximum 4 Wife. My past might of been catching up with me. Went back to OZ ,got Legal Aid who did the Translation,s required and then no problem with Visa App.

Legal aid = free translations correct?

So basically it was easy to get visa for your wife.

Sorry been away up River, I got free Translation,s from Legal Aid, they couldn,t be more helpful. Maybe they where surprised to see an Aussie, as the place was full of African,s

Thats a really good tip.

Legal aid free translations!

Obviously you didnt have to pay for service but were you unemployed to use them?

Yes I was Unemployed as I had just arrived back and straight onto them. But it was very friendly and I cant think of any forms I might have filled out as it was like, what is problem then Ok we fix . Good Luck.

[soloman]

For an Australian Tourist visa for my GF; I studied 'in depth' the tips on this web site, and worked very hard at preparing the documentation, Gf's statement & application, my stat dec. and proof of relationship, her employer letter, my assets and income records, and hers, a tight 2 week itinerary, etc etc etc. I nearly had a breakdown with the stress of this, and trying to get the information from my Gf straight. Of course there were the disagreements too. I had to break through her thinking that it is 'easy' to get a visa. Anyway she got the visa in 8 days. At face value, someone might say it was easy, but I really do not want to go through it all again!!

Edited October 22, 2012 by soloman

[beano2274]

Cannot talk about Aussie visas, but have got my wife two visas for the UK and 2 Schengen visas, and the mother in law a schengen and also a UK visa, without any problems, no agents used.

[David48]

Cannot talk about Aussie visas, but have got my wife two visas for the UK and 2 Schengen visas, and the mother in law a schengen and also a UK visa, without any problems, no agents used.

It was something the (now-ex) Mod 7x7 said that the Australian Visa was one of the hardest to acquire.

He's been around the traps for many-a-year and have no doubt his experience.

[nightwatch]

For an Australian Tourist visa for my GF; I studied 'in depth' the tips on this web site, and worked very hard at preparing the documentation, Gf's statement & application, my stat dec. and proof of relationship, her employer letter, my assets and income records, and hers, a tight 2 week itinerary, etc etc etc. I nearly had a breakdown with the stress of this, and trying to get the information from my Gf straight. Of course there were the disagreements too. I had to break through her thinking that it is 'easy' to get a visa. Anyway she got the visa in 8 days. At face value, someone might say it was easy, but I really do not want to go through it all again!!

Know the feeling soloman,

Mate it's all worth it in the end.

You will find the next one a lot easier for sure!

I've Helped my missus with 4 visa's now 3 tourist and 1 defacto partner visa,that just approved a couple of hours ago.

The first one was not easy, just trying to get all the documents together took a bit of effort on both sides but forums like these most certainly made the job a lot easier.

All the best

nightwatch

Edited October 22, 2012 by nightwatch

[krisb]

For an Australian Tourist visa for my GF; I studied 'in depth' the tips on this web site, and worked very hard at preparing the documentation, Gf's statement & application, my stat dec. and proof of relationship, her employer letter, my assets and income records, and hers, a tight 2 week itinerary, etc etc etc. I nearly had a breakdown with the stress of this, and trying to get the information from my Gf straight. Of course there were the disagreements too. I had to break through her thinking that it is 'easy' to get a visa. Anyway she got the visa in 8 days. At face value, someone might say it was easy, but I really do not want to go through it all again!!

As said in anoher thread, stat decs arent worth the paper theyre printed on....do you agree?....I think including them is a good idea.

Perhaps the stress wasnt necessary? Was it the stress of going vfs, getting all the documents etc or the thought of denied?

Finally, you say youdont want to go through that again. So you dont plan on getting anymore visas?

[Will27]

For an Australian Tourist visa for my GF; I studied 'in depth' the tips on this web site, and worked very hard at preparing the documentation, Gf's statement & application, my stat dec. and proof of relationship, her employer letter, my assets and income records, and hers, a tight 2 week itinerary, etc etc etc. I nearly had a breakdown with the stress of this, and trying to get the information from my Gf straight. Of course there were the disagreements too. I had to break through her thinking that it is 'easy' to get a visa. Anyway she got the visa in 8 days. At face value, someone might say it was easy, but I really do not want to go through it all again!!

As said in anoher thread, stat decs arent worth the paper theyre printed on....do you agree?....I think including them is a good idea.

Perhaps the stress wasnt necessary? Was it the stress of going vfs, getting all the documents etc or the thought of denied?

Finally, you say youdont want to go through that again. So you dont plan on getting anymore visas?

I know people want to be thorough and make sure they get the tourist visa, but some people bring a lot of the

stress on themselves (not saying this is the case with nightwatch).

They provide pages and pages of information that is not relevant or needed.

Things like assets and incomes statements. Just provide a current group certificate

and or payslips.Stat decs (again). They are not specifically asked for and really provide nothing.

All it is is getting a mate to sign a bit of paper for you. I know people crap on about them being a

legal document but in the scheme of things it means nothing. Providing itinerary's and long winded

statements, again not required.

Truck loads of photo's, phone records, money going into bank accounts, all unnecessary.

We're talking about a tourist visa here, not spouse.

I helped a friend prepare an application a month ago. He met the girl via the interent 12

months ago and has gone to see her once.

He provided a current payslip and group certificate, a letter from her employer saying she's

been employed there from 2010 and an 8 line letter from him saying he wants to bring her to

Australia for a holiday. Visa was granted in 10 days.

If you follow the instructions on the form, I still think that the visa is not hard to obtain.

As many people have already stated, the main thing to be provided is that the applicant will go home.

Providing pages and pages of irrelevant information won't help the case officer make that decision and

only brings stress to the applicants.

Regardless of what people may think about the embassy, they're encouraged to grant visa's. I read some

documentation a few years ago which read that the refusal rate for tourist visa's in Bkk was something like 5%.

Regards

Will

Edited October 23, 2012 by Will27

[Mik83]

HI guys im new to this forum and have a problem which i post tomorrow in another thread its about a tourist visa being refused mainly on the grounds they dont belive that my GF will return to thailand at end of her visit

My question is this what proof can i/she provide that she will return back to thailand if she is unemployed and reading from post before should she just get a letter from her sis that owns a salon and write that she will b given a job when she comes back. And just re-apply

thanks for any help

Mik

[Elwood62]

dont lie about it thats the first thing to remember. she needs to show reason she will return eg family ties, land, house, work or anything that shows there is a reason to return.

[Mik83]

i dont want to lie but if she has no job i can see shel have big problem geting visa she does have a family in issan mom dad dad works as a nurse in hospital mom in restaurand she has sister brother dad owns a home and she has a house book etc what sort of info does she need to provide like letter from dad that he guarantees she comes back or???

also if she gets a formal letter from a company that will state that shel b offerd a job on her return to thailand would that help?

thanks mik

[krisb]

i dont want to lie but if she has no job i can see shel have big problem geting visa she does have a family in issan mom dad dad works as a nurse in hospital mom in restaurand she has sister brother dad owns a home and she has a house book etc what sort of info does she need to provide like letter from dad that he guarantees she comes back or???

also if she gets a formal letter from a company that will state that shel b offerd a job on her return to thailand would that help?

thanks mik

Mik Ive gotta ask is she really a nurse?

How did you meet a nurse from Issan?....seems kind of rare I suppose.

Anyhow, back to the question you asked, did you ring her vfs case worker and ask what was the problem?...I would have.

[Will27]

i dont want to lie but if she has no job i can see shel have big problem geting visa she does have a family in issan mom dad dad works as a nurse in hospital mom in restaurand she has sister brother dad owns a home and she has a house book etc what sort of info does she need to provide like letter from dad that he guarantees she comes back or???

also if she gets a formal letter from a company that will state that shel b offerd a job on her return to thailand would that help?

thanks mik

Mik Ive gotta ask is she really a nurse?

How did you meet a nurse from Issan?....seems kind of rare I suppose.

Anyhow, back to the question you asked, did you ring her vfs case worker and ask what was the problem?...I would have.

The way I read it, her dad is a nurse,mom works in a restaurant and she's unemployed.

Also, VFS aren't case officers, they're couriers.

The refusal details will/should be documented in the refusal letter.

But, if I've read it right and she's unemployed, that more than likely would be one of the reasons.

Regards

Will

Edited November 15, 2012 by Will27

[mmushr00m]

As long as there is a solid relationship history and it shows she will return to Thailand it's pretty straight forward for most countries.

The biggest visa shocker for me was a few years ago when we travelled back to Canada fir my brothers wedding.

We put in the visitors visa application in the morning just before the cutoff time and we were told to come back the same afternoon as they might need to ask some questions.

We were thinking buggers as in all previous apps we have never been questioned. Plus the lady had asked "how come you are not applying for a PRV?" to which the wife answered "because I don't want to."

We showed up in the afternoon, went to the counter and got handed the passport. Visa approved and stuck onto the passport in under 3 hours. That was a shocker!

When we eventually applied for her PRV it was just as pain free too.