Visit Oz whilst Visa being processed?

[Garyd]

Hi all, as the question says can my wife and I visit Oz whilst our visa application is beig processed? We are waiting for our visa to be fast tracked and would like to leave the uk probably before it comes through.

Any problems with this? We have only just filled in our 457 app so does anybody have any idea how long this might take under a fast tracked scheme?

Thanks

Gary

[matt9180]

Hi all, as the question says can my wife and I visit Oz whilst our visa application is beig processed? We are waiting for our visa to be fast tracked and would like to leave the uk probably before it comes through

Hi, i'm new to this website and i'd be interested in the response to this post. Im in a slightly different position as i sometimes get sent to Oz with my job on an ETA visa which is what prompted me to apply for migration as i loved the lifestyle over there. I haven't told work im leaving yet and was wondering whether i could go to Oz on an ETA visa with work whilst my current visa application is underway? Otherwise im gonna have to make up some excuse as to why i cant go. Internal Politics at my company make telling the truth a no go!! I applied in October and hoping to move in June.....hope this makes sense.

Thanks

Matt

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Gary & Matt

People are free to go to Australia whilst waiting for visas for migration to be granted so long as they can meet the criteria for the type of interim visa being sought, *and* they comply with all the pre-conditions for the grant of their main visa subsequently.

Gary - I don't know how fast track the 457 visa is, particularly the e-version. I also don't know whether you would have to be outside Australia in order for th 457 visa to be granted. The general rule is that if you applied for the visa from outside Oz then you must be outside Oz when it is granted. NZ/Fiji/Singapore are all 'outside Oz' for this purpose.

I suspect that the 457 visa may be so fast track that it would not be worth the additional cost of going elsewhere in order for the 457 visa to be granted, but you need to contact DIMA and find out what the conditions are for its grant, I would suggest.

Matt - no reason why you can't continue to go on business-trip ETAs whilst you wait, but do make sure that it is the business version of the ETA, not the tourist version. DIMA arrested a businessman who was on the wrong visa and stuck the poor man in Immigration Detention for about a week, I heard! You would not want that happening to you as well, plainly!

Please see my point above that you may have to be outside Oz in order for the main visa to be granted and evidenced (physically pasted into your passport.) The grant of your main visa will cancel your ETA automatically.

Gary & Matt: If either of you do go to Oz pending the grant of your main visas, make sure that you notify DIMA in writing within 14 days of your arrival in Oz, giving them contact details for you whilst in Oz, and notify them in writing again within 14 days of your departure from Oz. Quote the application reference numbers plus the applicants' full names and dates of birth in all letters to DIMA. Send the letters to the processing centre handling the main application.

Cheers

Gill