Prospective Marriage Visa (Subclass 300) processing time?

[Guest dave8]

Hello,

 

Me and my aussie partner will be lodging an application for the PM 300 visa to the embassy in London and would like to know how long the processing time is. I have been told by the embassy that it takes 3-6 months but when i have spoken to other people who went through this application i have had mixed answers (some people got it in 2 months, others it took up to 8mths!!!).

 

We have put as much info in as possible like 2 years worth of photos, stat decs and bills and bank statements from when we lived together in Perth for a year.

 

Also would you advise to get the health checks done before we put the application in so its all put in together (does anyone know how much these checks cost approx?).

 

And do we just have to ring the embassy up to arrange to drop the application in or just turn up when we're ready?

 

Sorry for all the question but i'm just in the anxious stage at the moment!

 

Thanks. Dave

[Guest siamsusie]

Hello,

 

Me and my aussie partner will be lodging an application for the PM 300 visa to the embassy in London and would like to know how long the processing time is. I have been told by the embassy that it takes 3-6 months but when i have spoken to other people who went through this application i have had mixed answers (some people got it in 2 months, others it took up to 8mths!!!).

 

We have put as much info in as possible like 2 years worth of photos, stat decs and bills and bank statements from when we lived together in Perth for a year.

 

Also would you advise to get the health checks done before we put the application in so its all put in together (does anyone know how much these checks cost approx?).

 

And do we just have to ring the embassy up to arrange to drop the application in or just turn up when we're ready?

 

Sorry for all the question but i'm just in the anxious stage at the moment!

 

Thanks. Dave

 

Good morning/evening Dave,

 

The processing times are approx 4-6 months... I enclose the link for you.

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/58449-summary-spouse-visa-processing-times-offshore-uk-please-add-your-stats-232.html

You could join the above group, its very supportive and informative.

 

You dont have to make an appointment to drop off your application at Australia House, my advice would be to get there early, its Monday to Friday.. check for their hours and public holidays.

 

I did my health and police checks in advance the duration is for 12 months so you should have your visa before then.

 

I enclose the link for the authorised medical centres in the UK.

United Kingdom – Panel Doctors

 

I am sure other members will be able to inform you on up to date costings..

 

Very best wishes..

 

Susie

[Guest GeorgeD]

My Medical and x-Rays were around £300 in total from the Spire Hospital in Edinburgh (the only one in Scotland!) I have heard of cheaper ones, but not much cheaper. Spire have a standard price for the service, I would imagine most clinics are the same as they will do a lot of these tests because there are only a few authorised to do it. Give the ones most convenient for you a call, they will be happy to give you a price.

 

As for dropping off your application, remember that's pretty much all you are doing. Unless you live or work nearby don't go to any effort, just post it. They will only receive it, they don't speak to you/interview you/do anything with it in front of you. I'm sure I saw a post somewhere that someone had packaged theirs in a box when they took it in and they refused to accept it as "packages" could only be accepted from couriers, so they had to go out, find a post office and post it from down the street! Unless it's round the corner from your work or home, I really wouldn't bother delivering it in person.

[Guest dave8]

Thanks very much for getting back to me. When you say 12 month duration does that mean the health checks are valid for 12 months?

 

And in terms of the processing time for the application is 2mths unrealistic? Looks like most peoples are taking about 4 months?

[Guest siamsusie]

Thanks very much for getting back to me. When you say 12 month duration does that mean the health checks are valid for 12 months?

 

And in terms of the processing time for the application is 2mths unrealistic? Looks like most peoples are taking about 4 months?

 

Hi Dave, correct, 12 month validity.

 

Yes the processing times slowed down during the "caretaker government " period, it appears to be approx. 4 - 6 months, fingers crossed for your Dave.

 

Looking forward to seeing your visa eventually coming to fruition.

 

:wubclub:Susie

[Peach]

Thanks very much for getting back to me. When you say 12 month duration does that mean the health checks are valid for 12 months?

 

And in terms of the processing time for the application is 2mths unrealistic? Looks like most peoples are taking about 4 months?

 

Police certificates and medicals are valid 12 months..

 

Processing times seem to be at least 4 months, but who knows you may get lucky!

[tracy123]

Hi Dave

 

We are only at the start of the process, we mucked about for a few months before lodging but it is really straight forward.

 

What ever you have, send it in, the money (£1,100) will come out the next day so make sure it's in your bank...... You wont hear anything for up to 2 weeks, then you should get an email off your case officer telling you what extra things they need, they give you 40 days to get that info. If you don't provide it they just work with the info they have. They advised us that it takes upto 10 days to process the information (so what they do with the other 4 1/2 months I don't know LOL)

I guess the best thing to do is to look at the worst time scale and anything better is a bonus

 

Our case officer (I think) is really good. She responds to e-mails and has called back when we have called, so we couldn't ask for more but when we have asked about a rough date she just says 4 to 5 months

[onecrankypom]

I put mine in on the 10th March 2008 and was approved on the 1st April after midday!!!! Will say i had heaps of texts from friends saying they where the DIAC in London that i told the case officer to stop having me on in so many nice words!! Just glad he understood lol PMV was only valid for 9 months when i got my approval as we had to be married with in 9 months from me moving here. Just make sure you can give them heaps of information on the relationship and if possible details of the wedding we included the celebrate notice to marry as my partner was in aus and was dealing with all the wedding stuff so i just included it in the visa info.

[Guest dave8]

Hello,

 

Firstly many thanks to everyone for getting back to me.

 

I just need a bit of advice on a dilemma we are having regarding the visa application and its processing time.

 

Basically me and my aussie partner are engaged and are living in the UK now (my partner will move back to Aus in Feb as she is on a sabbatical which will be ending then), we have arranged and booked our wedding for early November 2012. My issue is when should we apply for our Prospective Marriage Visa? With this visa we have to me married within 9 months of it being granted. So we don't want to apply too early and have it granted quicker then expected as this will mess up our wedding day plans. However we don't want to wait too long to apply as then we may be apart for a long period of time if it takes longer then expected to go through (and we've already had a stint at that so obviously not ideal to be without each over for another long period of time!).

 

Will we be able to stress this to our Case officer and they may be able to fix it in so that the visa is granted within enough time so that it fits in with our wedding day e.g. if we apply in November 2011 we don't want it processed until at least Feb 2012.

 

If anyone else has been in the situation could you please let me know what happened? And anyone who has applied for this visa could you tell me how long it takes to process?

 

Thanks again! I think once we've put it all in and speak in person to a case officer we will be happy.

:wacko:

[tracy123]

Hello,

 

Firstly many thanks to everyone for getting back to me.

 

I just need a bit of advice on a dilemma we are having regarding the visa application and its processing time.

 

Basically me and my aussie partner are engaged and are living in the UK now (my partner will move back to Aus in Feb as she is on a sabbatical which will be ending then), we have arranged and booked our wedding for early November 2012. My issue is when should we apply for our Prospective Marriage Visa? With this visa we have to me married within 9 months of it being granted. So we don't want to apply too early and have it granted quicker then expected as this will mess up our wedding day plans. However we don't want to wait too long to apply as then we may be apart for a long period of time if it takes longer then expected to go through (and we've already had a stint at that so obviously not ideal to be without each over for another long period of time!).

 

Will we be able to stress this to our Case officer and they may be able to fix it in so that the visa is granted within enough time so that it fits in with our wedding day e.g. if we apply in November 2011 we don't want it processed until at least Feb 2012.

 

If anyone else has been in the situation could you please let me know what happened? And anyone who has applied for this visa could you tell me how long it takes to process?

 

Thanks again! I think once we've put it all in and speak in person to a case officer we will be happy.

:wacko:

 

Hi Dave

 

When you lodge your application you should include a cover letter, detailing what you have and haven't got. As part of that cover letter you should highlight the fact of your wedding day.

The best thing to do is ring them up direct and just ask them for advice on what to do.

[Guest GeorgeD]

Hi Dave...I'm just trying to get my head round your situation, so apologies if I say something stoopid!

 

How long have you been living together so far? Would you qualify for a defacto visa spouse visa? If so, why don't you apply right now...then the visa could be granted in March roughly. This would mean you are free to go to Oz straight away and prepare for the wedding over there.

 

Going down the Prospective Marriage route means you will need to apply for a Partner Visa once you are married, and you'll be doing this onshore, so the cost will be higher (remember you're applying for two visas in this scenario, PMV then Spouse) You'll also be preparing your Spouse Visa application around the time of your wedding...and having got married recently, I'd struggle to decide which was most stressful, the visa or the wedding preparations!

 

You may also find that if you aren't eligible for the Permanent (subclass 100) visa due to only being married a short time, that you only get a temporary one (like me) This means you don't get any benefits for two years, you pay international student fees, you pay higher taxes etc. If you went on a defacto now, then the clock starts ticking now, rather than starting just after you are married...something to think about.

 

I'm not suggesting you go down the defacto route then live in different countries for a year as this will probably be detrimental to your second phase application for permanent residency after two years, but you may be able to get a visa now and join your partner much sooner than you were planning, if that's something which would be beneficial to you.

[Guest hendo]

hi. my names shaun and i am new to this site. i've been reading these messages for a while now and the information has been helpful. i'm visiting australia soon (leave this thursday!) to meet a lady i met on a dating website almost 8 months ago now. if things go well we hope to get married. if processing times for a marriage visa take 6 months, is there anything me or leonie can do now to speed up the process? we were hoping that i could be back in australia for christmas.

[Peach]

Hi - welcome to the forum! Sadly, there doesn't seem to be anything that can be done to speed things up.. DIAC work at their own speed and nothing more..

[Guest dave8]

Oh and I just noticed I got my years completely wrong! I meant to put wedding is in Nov 2011 and we want to apply in nov 2010. Sorry about the confusion.

 

Any way I got a phone all from the DIAC and they were very helpful and just told me to apply at the end of the year.

 

Thanks to everyone who has helped me with my questions.