Visa Process For Australia

[derge]

Hi guys,

I have been reading many of the posts here and there is some great but at times disheartening information in regards to getting her partner visa 309 approved for Australia. We submitted our visa at the end of July in Bangkok, had her medical at the end of August and have been lucky in some regards as she has just had her interview at the embassy. Even though it has been 3 months so far which seems like forever as we have been apart since April it appears that this is the pace in which everything seems to move with the Australian Embassy.

The question that I would like to know is what other steps are there from here and it would be great if anyone could let me know of their time frames from this point until they heard anything back from the embassy?

Do I need to have an interview?

Do we get any sort of progress reports from them or is it just a matter of waiting for up to another 9 months?

Also if my wife was to apply for a visitors visa could this in any way affect her current application?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as the waiting with just the stonewall of standard answers from the embassy is killing us both.

[Berek]

She'll probably get a call in a month or two to go to the embassy to get a visa sticker. I don't see the point in getting a tourist visa for her at this stage. The process is pretty straight forward just takes time.

[Will27]

There's nothing further you can do but wait I'm afraid.

But the good news is, that recents posts have indicated

that the turn-around is approx 6 months.

So you really only have 2 options as I see it. Wait another

3 months or apply for a tourist visa.

An application for a tourist visa will not have an affect on

your 309 visa.

Regards

Will

[derge]

Thanks for the responses guys. It is hard to wait with no feedback from the embassy but it's in their hands now.

It's funny that with all of the questions they asked her I would have thought that they would have wanted me to do an interview as well to cross reference her but all the better if they just go straight through to the approval. Hopefully it's smooth sailing from here.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[nightwatch]

Hi derge

good luck with everything,

It really is in there hands and agree with will27 you just have to wait, but if you want to see your partner just do a tourist visa,It will not effect her partner visa.

Has your partner visited Aus before?

[derge]

Hi derge

good luck with everything,

It really is in there hands and agree with will27 you just have to wait, but if you want to see your partner just do a tourist visa,It will not effect her partner visa.

Has your partner visited Aus before?

Thanks for the well wishes.

No she hasn't been here yet as it would have been difficult for her to have taken enough time off work to make the trip worthwhile after she took time off the times that I visited there and then when we were married. They did ask her why she had not visited Australia before deciding to move here so hopefully this won't play against her application.

Guess the wait continues lol

[David48]

^^ WOW, if she has never travelled to Australia before ... she will be in for some serious Culture shocks.

Have you a plan to ease her first few weeks in Australia?

[nightwatch]

Hi derge

good luck with everything,

It really is in there hands and agree with will27 you just have to wait, but if you want to see your partner just do a tourist visa,It will not effect her partner visa.

Has your partner visited Aus before?

Thanks for the well wishes.

No she hasn't been here yet as it would have been difficult for her to have taken enough time off work to make the trip worthwhile after she took time off the times that I visited there and then when we were married. They did ask her why she had not visited Australia before deciding to move here so hopefully this won't play against her application.

Guess the wait continues lol

It should not play against her at all, but i think this is the reason why they interveiwed her,as long as you have proven to Diac that your relationship is genuine and have provided all the needed document's i dont think you will have a problem.

My partner loves Australia,I.m sure your girl will too,

All the best

nightwatch

[derge]

^^ WOW, if she has never travelled to Australia before ... she will be in for some serious Culture shocks.

Have you a plan to ease her first few weeks in Australia?

She hasn't traveled to Australia yet but she did spend 4 months in the USA when she was at university on a cultural exchange program that her uni was hosting so I'm hoping it should not be too much of a shock for her but we are planning to spend some time seeing my family in Sydney and looking around before coming home to Mackay where I have a couple of weeks off after we are here where we can just spend some orientation time.

Hopefully all should be fine

[derge]

Hi derge

good luck with everything,

It really is in there hands and agree with will27 you just have to wait, but if you want to see your partner just do a tourist visa,It will not effect her partner visa.

Has your partner visited Aus before?

Thanks for the well wishes.

No she hasn't been here yet as it would have been difficult for her to have taken enough time off work to make the trip worthwhile after she took time off the times that I visited there and then when we were married. They did ask her why she had not visited Australia before deciding to move here so hopefully this won't play against her application.

Guess the wait continues lol

It should not play against her at all, but i think this is the reason why they interveiwed her,as long as you have proven to Diac that your relationship is genuine and have provided all the needed document's i dont think you will have a problem.

My partner loves Australia,I.m sure your girl will too,

All the best

nightwatch

Cheers again and I'm sure that she'll love it here too. If she doesn't like it for whatever reason then we move on together to find somewhere that we both like but all will be good so soon as we can get past this little hurdle

[derge]

Hi again to all,

I just wanted to give an update with our case. We finally heard back from the embassy which was reasonably quick but unfortunately the embassy delivered bad news for us. The reasoning that they gave us was a bit poor in my eyes as it could have been easily explained and iother evidence provided to support what I would have said if they had called and given the chance.

Some of the reasons were

1) We don't share household duties

A) It is hard to do this when we have no ability to live with each other until my wife has a visa to come here.

My wife had a long time off work with the flooding that effected Ayutthaya so had little time able to take off from work and since I have been there twice where she took the small anmount of holidays off for our marriage and a seperate occasion for a few days holiday together.

2) We don't share our finances

A) My wife is self supportive in thailand as she has a good engineering job there which they should have been able to see and we have savings in my name which we have intentions to open joint bank account upon her arrival here.

3) My wife hasn't met my parents

A) They have met through the internet of which there is recorded emails through facebook and could have easily gotten statements to verify skype conversations that have been held.

4) We haven't had a wedding ceremony with family or fiends in attendance

A) We went through the legal wedding process so that it would be recognised for the visa application and have already booked a big wedding ceremony for Dec 1st next year in Koh chang and invited all of our friends and famil to attend.

5) We have no existing or planned joint ventures for land or housing or share resopnsibility for day to day household expenses

A) We have savings for a deposit on a house after my wife arrives as I am wanting to choose a house with her. We are also in the process of choosing a house to build on her mothers property. My wife is an independant woman with a good engineering job in Thailand. I have sent money to her for the Sin Sod and for all agency and application processing but she did not want any other money to be sent there but rather to save money here.

The answers that I have written can all be supported with emails, skype written conversation when the internet has been poor in her place as well as house designs and many other documents that have been sent electronically but none of this was ever asked for and oour agent or case officer never suggested anything of this nature.

The reason that I am writing this is to show that even when you think everything should be good and you are advised that they do not need any more evidence you should try and look at your case from every angle and it is best to give more rather than think it will be ok. I would have given statements from all of my family and friends that have had any contact with my wife. We would have provided much more about our history with a diary type account and we would have given many more photos.

We would have also shown of our intentions to hold a wedding ceremony there as well as many other small things that did not seem to be important when we applied.

Dot your i's, cross your t's and look at everything as if your case was very poor until there is absolutely nothing that you can do to improve your case.

Well off to an immigration lawyer here in Australia to get some advice and choose a course of attack.

I hope other people have better luck

[David48]

Firstly derge ... sadness that your application, on this occasion has not been successful.

But a credit to you that you show your strength and have come back to us with the negative reply and we can all learn something from your experience ...

I'm struggling a little with their reasons as to why they declined your wife/gf.

Any chance you can scan the refusal letter here? Remove all your collective personal details though.

If you can remove your details, but can scan the letter ... if you like, PM me with the scan ... I'll fix it up and post it on your behalf.

Keep us posted.

David48

[althemighty]

I got my 309 visa approved about a week ago for my wife. Was submitted for final check at the end of september. . We have only been together for a year so were worried about getting rejected but we think we ticked off the boxes you missed out on. It looks like you need more evidence that you are a real couple.

For your list this is what I did.

First Sharing household duties. Explained what we did do together in our letter of invitation whenever we were together.

Second sent her some money to show accout transaction evidence. (We don't have shared bank account etc) She did not need the money but sent it and explained it was for air tickets etc.

Third. I decided very early to bring my wife here to Australia and take lots of photos because I believed that was the best thing I could do to improve my chances of a visa. I think this worked big time.

Fourth. We only registered the marriage but planned to have our wedding ceremony. Explained this in the letter and sent them a coppy of the invite.

Fith. In the letter I explained how we would live together, start a family, she was goign to study english further and look for work.

[derge]

I got my 309 visa approved about a week ago for my wife. Was submitted for final check at the end of september. . We have only been together for a year so were worried about getting rejected but we think we ticked off the boxes you missed out on. It looks like you need more evidence that you are a real couple.

For your list this is what I did.

First Sharing household duties. Explained what we did do together in our letter of invitation whenever we were together.

Second sent her some money to show accout transaction evidence. (We don't have shared bank account etc) She did not need the money but sent it and explained it was for air tickets etc.

Third. I decided very early to bring my wife here to Australia and take lots of photos because I believed that was the best thing I could do to improve my chances of a visa. I think this worked big time.

Fourth. We only registered the marriage but planned to have our wedding ceremony. Explained this in the letter and sent them a coppy of the invite.

Fith. In the letter I explained how we would live together, start a family, she was goign to study english further and look for work.

Hi mate,

Looking back now we should have booked a visit here before we submitted our application but as mentioned earlier with my wifes work committments it was going to be difficult but at the same time we could have written in our statements the reason as to why she had not visited.

We did show money transfers that had been made which were for the Sin Sod as well as the visa application fees.

I would have added in evidence of our intention to hold the wedding ceremony, i.e. booking reciepts and invitations and so forth.

We did add in plenty of pictures from our time together as well as in our statements our intentions to buy a house when my wife arrives here as well as having an English course lined up for her and so forth.

I think that the big hitter was the visit to Australia though. I recommend this to be something that is very important and if not possible to have it documented that there is good reason why it has not happened.

[derge]

Firstly derge ... sadness that your application, on this occasion has not been successful.

But a credit to you that you show your strength and have come back to us with the negative reply and we can all learn something from your experience ...

I'm struggling a little with their reasons as to why they declined your wife/gf.

Any chance you can scan the refusal letter here? Remove all your collective personal details though.

If you can remove your details, but can scan the letter ... if you like, PM me with the scan ... I'll fix it up and post it on your behalf.

Keep us posted.

David48

Hi Dave,

I have passed on the letter. It would be great to hear your thoughts

[electau]

With regard to your post derge#11.

You could take the matter to the Migration Review Tribunal. This is what the Australian migration agent will most probably advise.

You will have 90 days from the date on the refusal letter from DIAC to apply to the MRT. There are costs involved.

The actual reason(s) for refusal are in the letter from DIAC and are based on current Australian migration legislation and their PAM ( Procedures Advisory Manual).

Edited December 12, 2012 by electau

[derge]

With regard to your post derge#11.

You could take the matter to the Migration Review Tribunal. This is what the Australian migration agent will most probably advise.

You will have 90 days from the date on the refusal letter from DIAC to apply to the MRT. There are costs involved.

Hi mate,

I believe that that is what we will do. I am seeing the immigration lawyer more to assist with preparing everything to ensure we get it right this time.

Not sure if it has changed or not but you now have 70 days from the day of notice to file a dispute claim with the Migration Review Tribunal with the cost associtaed being about $1,500

[electau]

With regard to your post derge#11.

You could take the matter to the Migration Review Tribunal. This is what the Australian migration agent will most probably advise.

You will have 90 days from the date on the refusal letter from DIAC to apply to the MRT. There are costs involved.

Hi mate,

I believe that that is what we will do. I am seeing the immigration lawyer more to assist with preparing everything to ensure we get it right this time.

Not sure if it has changed or not but you now have 70 days from the day of notice to file a dispute claim with the Migration Review Tribunal with the cost associtaed being about $1,500

Allow for mailing times, 7 days within Australia and 21 days if overseas. Total 91 days and include Sat, Sun and all public holidays. Make sure your application is received by the MRT within the timeframe and have an Australia Post tracking number on mail delivery.

[derge]

With regard to your post derge#11.

You could take the matter to the Migration Review Tribunal. This is what the Australian migration agent will most probably advise.

You will have 90 days from the date on the refusal letter from DIAC to apply to the MRT. There are costs involved.

Hi mate,

I believe that that is what we will do. I am seeing the immigration lawyer more to assist with preparing everything to ensure we get it right this time.

Not sure if it has changed or not but you now have 70 days from the day of notice to file a dispute claim with the Migration Review Tribunal with the cost associtaed being about $1,500

Allow for mailing times, 7 days within Australia and 21 days if overseas. Total 91 days and include Sat, Sun and all public holidays. Make sure your application is received by the MRT within the timeframe and have an Australia Post tracking number on mail delivery.

Thanks for the advice. very much appreciated. You wouldn't happen to know that allowed time frames on how long a dispute might take? Would we be waiting another 5 months or so?

[derge]

Nevermind. I just found the information which states that the average is taking 531 Calendar days which is almost 18 months. This being the case it would be quicker to just resubmit a fresh application. Found this information here

http://www.mrt-rrt.gov.au/Processing-times/Processing-times/default.aspx

[electau]

Where you met, how you met and how long since you decided to get married? Have you been married before?

Make sure that you obtain ALL the correct documentation especially transfers of money to your spouse.

This is where the migration agent can help you, as it appears that some important information was not submitted with the application.

Edited December 12, 2012 by electau

[David48]

Firstly derge ... sadness that your application, on this occasion has not been successful.

But a credit to you that you show your strength and have come back to us with the negative reply and we can all learn something from your experience ...

I'm struggling a little with their reasons as to why they declined your wife/gf.

Any chance you can scan the refusal letter here? Remove all your collective personal details though.

If you can remove your details, but can scan the letter ... if you like, PM me with the scan ... I'll fix it up and post it on your behalf.

Keep us posted.

David48

Hi Dave,

I have passed on the letter. It would be great to hear your thoughts

Mate ... have replied to your PM and thanks.

I'll await your reply for the next step.

.

[krisb]

Hmm...interesting story.

[scotto]

Yes a trip to oz is almost mandatory imho i did this with my wife and when she came to oz we got married

as we had a son together , so had all pics everything in place when filing application put in everything you can

even if you think not applicable as it very well may be.

then wait and wait do not hassle them let it take its course the time will go quick i no hard but in the end its worth it !

[krisb]

I hardly put anything in our partner visa. Nothing from my work, tax etc. Couple of passport pics of us, stat dec, her police clearance and waited all of around 3 weeks. Thought if they want anything they can ring. That was it. Approved.

Im not boasting, just dont understand how their minds work at the diac.

Edited December 12, 2012 by krisb

[chiangmaibruce]

Good luck on your review. I went though the mill several years ago and wouldn't repeat the exercise in a hurry. And we got through without an appeal. I know this is a long way down the track, but when you do get through remember to retain and collect papers for the next step which occurs after she has held residency status for two years.

Oh, and I wrote a paper about the visa process that may be of some background interest.

[David48]

Below is the decision notice given an unsuccessful applicant.

The Original Poster, derge sent me a copy of the decision notice.

It's easy to post here when you are successful, but it takes a brave person to share his/her experiences in this circumstances.

Accordingly, please show the respect to the OP and simply avail ourselves of the unique learning opportunity that is presented here ...

So, attached (in the next post) is the decision notice, in full, less his and his wife's personal details.

To the Mods ... could you please keep a close eye on this ...

[David48]

The points of interest are ...

Introduction

Evidence Presented

Applicant’s Claims

Financial aspects of the relationship

Nature of the household

Social aspects of the relationship

Nature of the persons’ commitment to each other

Australian Embassy Bangkok Visa and Immigration Office.docx

The rest is just fill ...

Edited December 12, 2012 by David48

[David48]

My suggestion is that essentially Immigration were looking for a longer period of time spent together as a couple.

With that increased time together, a lot of the social aspects that the decision notice addresses could be satisfied.

Maybe an application for a Tourist visa would be appropriate ... have some quality time together and an application maybe mid next year?

If you do apply for a tourist visa ... don't be surprised if you get a '8503 - No Further Stay' condition attached ... the bark is worse then it's bite. If you get one, have a read back through the various topics here and you will see it explained.

Some people advise a stack of photos with any application ... I suggest that sometimes 'less is more'

.

[David48]

With the photos ... try and think that the Immigration Dept is looking for.

Social integration ... a true relationship, evidenced over an extended period of time.

*Taken Kings Birthday Dec '12.

So, when the opportunity, I submit maybe 8 - 12 photos in total with the month/year, the occasion and the people in the photo.

The concept of 'Holiday Snaps' is of little interest, I presume, to the Dept'

Also have one in front of the Farm House with all the Family for use another time.

But, like most things here ... we all have different opinions ... maybe some folk think 40 pages of photos are the way to go (as someone did with their UK Visa application ... )

Best of luck to the OP for a successful application soon and thanks for sharing your experiences and decision notice.

* Have family's permission for displaying the photo.

.