Processing times for Australian Spouse Visa

[sezzo]

Hello,

I am helping out a friend who is looking at applying for a spouse visa for his thai wife. I have searched on this forum for similar topics and found one which hasn't been updated since Oct 12 so I thought I would start a new topic. As this friend is only at the start of the process of preparing the application I would like to be able to inform him of what timeframe he may be expected to wait for notification.

Back in 2008 when I applied for a spouse visa for my wife to go to Australia, we received positive notification of visa grant within 7 days but I believe this has all changed in the past few years.

Thanks for any information or advice in advance

[Goompa]

Hey sezzo

not sure if I can be of any benefit because it has been a long time and many drinks ago

I had found back in 2007 that it was quicker to apply for a NOIM than to have married in Thailand or to have applied for a spouse visa in Aus

Sorry if I am little help

[simple1]

OP: From the DIAC website for spouse visa "You can expect a decision on your application within 3 months from the day you lodge your application. If your application is likely to take longer than 3 months you will be fully informed of the reason for any delays" May take a bit longer as Thailand is considered "high risk"

http://www.thailand.embassy.gov.au/bkok/DIAC_Partner_Migration_Visa.html

[Goompa]

Things must have changed a bit

I/we applied in Aus for the visa , but had to cross the T's and dot the I,s as well , also had to re-send info because of the download docs had a date stamp at the bottom reviewed , sorry updated!

[Torrens54]

Going back a few years but it only took a couple of weeks and we did have ALL the documentation, including Police checks etc., completed. Maybe it also helped that my wife had visited Australia on a Visitor's Visa with me previously.

All in all, we had great service from the folk at the Australian Embassy in BKK and later in Perth. And this was all before I worked for Immigration prior to us retiring in Thailand where we also get excellent service from Thai Immigration here in Chiang Mai.

Just a tip, when dealing with Immigration either Australian or Thai, be polite and dress accordingly. The "Ugly, loud, abusive Ocker" one way or another finds his/her way to the bottom of the heap.

[sezzo]

Going back a few years but it only took a couple of weeks and we did have ALL the documentation, including Police checks etc., completed. Maybe it also helped that my wife had visited Australia on a Visitor's Visa with me previously.

All in all, we had great service from the folk at the Australian Embassy in BKK and later in Perth. And this was all before I worked for Immigration prior to us retiring in Thailand where we also get excellent service from Thai Immigration here in Chiang Mai.

Just a tip, when dealing with Immigration either Australian or Thai, be polite and dress accordingly. The "Ugly, loud, abusive Ocker" one way or another finds his/her way to the bottom of the heap.

My sentiments exactly in relation to dealings with immigration/embassy staff. Like I stated before my wifes application was approved within 7 days of lodging but I spent about 2 or 3 months preparing it in Oz and here in Thailand. Prior preparation prevents piss poor performance.

I believe the processing times are much slower now. I wonder if this is because of SE Asia being a high risk area or because of those wonderful boat people flooding into Oz now.

[nightwatch]

My Partner's visa took 4 month's, this was submitted in june 2012.

The Diac web site states up to 12 month's.

Totally agree with Torrens comment's on the immigration department, i have had to contact them for assistance in the past and they have alway's been very good , Quick to reply to my e-mails and most helpful.

[krisb]

Got ours last year, around July. Going from fiancee to spouse took about 2 weeks. A bridging visa was issued in between the 2 visas. If they're just going for spouse visa, then whatever diac site says is possible.

[Bluetongue]

I had got a thread going only recently which asked exactly this, the quoted timeframe is up to 12 months in the "service delivery standards" part of the immi.gov.au website, but in the handout from OZ Embassy in Bangkok 10-12 weeks for initial assessment processing by a case officer, following which you would hear from them, copy attached

But from long experience dealing with Government Departments they often put almost ludicrously slow timeframes on things, to cover themselves and to make it seem more complicated and thus how hard working they were to get it done quicker, or something like that anyway.

Info_checklist_partner_provisional_050713.pdf

Edited August 23, 2013 by Bluetongue

[JackRyan]

I posted our experience on another thread but here is what we found

We applied in November 2012 and we received permanent resident visa subclass 100 in April this year.

Pretty sure the embassy at the time was stating it can take up to 10 months for just the spouse visa.

Depending on your situation you can be granted a PR visa straight away as we were.

If you want any further info let me know

Cheers

Greg

[Bluetongue]

I had got a thread going only recently which asked exactly this, the quoted timeframe is up to 12 months in the "service delivery standards" part of the immi.gov.au website, but in the handout from OZ Embassy in Bangkok 10-12 weeks for initial assessment processing by a case officer, following which you would hear from them, copy attached

But from long experience dealing with Government Departments they often put almost ludicrously slow timeframes on things, to cover themselves and to make it seem more complicated and thus how hard working they were to get it done quicker, or something like that anyway.

I should have been a bit fairer to them. For instance if they get an application from South Sudan for a whole family, the paperwork is hard to check and the sponsor is in a detention centre awaiting outcomes of appeals etc it is going to take every bit of 12 months, whereas from here although still stated as high risk it's a world apart, if the paperwork is in order.

I don't know how long Australia is going to be able to maintain that Thailand is a high risk country, its 5th largest trading partner. Look at the visa overstays on tourist visa on immi.gov,au, Thailand is right on average from memory

[simple1]

I had got a thread going only recently which asked exactly this, the quoted timeframe is up to 12 months in the "service delivery standards" part of the immi.gov.au website, but in the handout from OZ Embassy in Bangkok 10-12 weeks for initial assessment processing by a case officer, following which you would hear from them, copy attached

But from long experience dealing with Government Departments they often put almost ludicrously slow timeframes on things, to cover themselves and to make it seem more complicated and thus how hard working they were to get it done quicker, or something like that anyway.

I should have been a bit fairer to them. For instance if they get an application from South Sudan for a whole family, the paperwork is hard to check and the sponsor is in a detention centre awaiting outcomes of appeals etc it is going to take every bit of 12 months, whereas from here although still stated as high risk it's a world apart, if the paperwork is in order.

I don't know how long Australia is going to be able to maintain that Thailand is a high risk country, its 5th largest trading partner. Look at the visa overstays on tourist visa on immi.gov,au, Thailand is right on average from memory

I couldn't find the stats you were referring to, can you provide the URL? One of the reasons for Immigration to identify Thailand as high risk is Thais being sponsored, trafficked into Australia etc to illegally work in the sex industry i.e. preventing exploitation

[Goompa]

Wow ! bit of the tangent , if not amusing in the least

[krisb]

 

I had got a thread going only recently which asked exactly this, the quoted timeframe is up to 12 months in the "service delivery standards" part of the immi.gov.au website, but in the handout from OZ Embassy in Bangkok 10-12 weeks for initial assessment processing by a case officer, following which you would hear from them, copy attached

 

But from long experience dealing with Government Departments they often put almost ludicrously slow timeframes on things, to cover themselves and to make it seem more complicated and thus how hard working they were to get it done quicker, or something like that anyway.

 

 

I should have been a bit fairer to them. For instance if they get an application from South Sudan for a whole family, the paperwork is hard to check and the sponsor is in a detention centre awaiting outcomes of appeals etc it is going to take every bit of 12 months, whereas from here although still stated as high risk it's a world apart, if the paperwork is in order.

 

I don't know how long Australia is going to be able to maintain that Thailand is a high risk country, its 5th largest trading partner. Look at the visa overstays on tourist visa on immi.gov,au, Thailand is right on average from memory

 

 

I couldn't find the stats you were referring to, can you provide the URL? One of the reasons for Immigration to identify Thailand as high risk is Thais being sponsored, trafficked into Australia etc to illegally work in the sex industry i.e. preventing exploitation

 

Plus I'd hesitate at a guess how many Thai girls just want to marry their way into Australia. It only takes a few bad eggs. I think also more than Thailand is seen as high risk, Australia is seen as an easy target by potential visa scammers.

There's an expected home visit from diac for partner visa at some point, before they issue the permanent or resident status. Wether it will happen or not who knows but that's what they say.

[Bluetongue]

I had got a thread going only recently which asked exactly this, the quoted timeframe is up to 12 months in the "service delivery standards" part of the immi.gov.au website, but in the handout from OZ Embassy in Bangkok 10-12 weeks for initial assessment processing by a case officer, following which you would hear from them, copy attached

But from long experience dealing with Government Departments they often put almost ludicrously slow timeframes on things, to cover themselves and to make it seem more complicated and thus how hard working they were to get it done quicker, or something like that anyway.

I should have been a bit fairer to them. For instance if they get an application from South Sudan for a whole family, the paperwork is hard to check and the sponsor is in a detention centre awaiting outcomes of appeals etc it is going to take every bit of 12 months, whereas from here although still stated as high risk it's a world apart, if the paperwork is in order.

I don't know how long Australia is going to be able to maintain that Thailand is a high risk country, its 5th largest trading partner. Look at the visa overstays on tourist visa on immi.gov,au, Thailand is right on average from memory

I couldn't find the stats you were referring to, can you provide the URL? One of the reasons for Immigration to identify Thailand as high risk is Thais being sponsored, trafficked into Australia etc to illegally work in the sex industry i.e. preventing exploitation

immi.gov.au/media/statistics/visitor.htm

hmm just looked at those figures again its in a report on that page called the mean non return rate. Thailand's rate is 0.85% the same as Canada, little more than NZ and a lot less than many other countries. if there were 35k thai tourists every year that would be about 300 overstays, they would probably be in that industry along with the Koreans and Japanese et al. Obviously failed marriages or faked ones would be a component too but I suspect many probably enter on student visas too. And if there is an organised crime component behind some of it, they wouldn't be waiting in the queue at VFS with all this paperwork. In the bigger picture I think Thailand is a drop in the bucket and that's the point I was trying to make. Sorry OP for going off topic.