Arthur

Hi Perthling, Again apologies for the late reply. Yes it's very upsetting for both of us. We spent new year together in Thailand and we've just had a week together in Italy. But as futile as it may seem I'm not giving up hope just yet. Yes they gave me notice that VACCU had been advised to reject. Yes we could have appealed, well my gf could have done from Oz but as the report I got (40 pages!! They are very thorough....no wonder it takes so long!) said my gf would suffer no substantial hardship from me not being in Oz we decided it probably would have been a waste of time and money for a visa that was only for 3 months and meant for a visit at Christmas. I asked about whether I could apply for a visa again and the response I got back was So we'll keep plugging away.

Hi Barrystock, Apologies for the late reply I have only just seen your post. Unfortunately my visa was rejected this morning. I can't say I'm surprised but to say I'm heartbroken is an understatement. That said having read your thread there are some major differences between our cases. My offence did involve violence and I did get a custodial sentence of 15 months. So don't give up hope. For the record I submitted my application 15th October, it was passed to VACCU on the 27th November and I got my decision 30th March. Only option I appear to have now is my partner can appeal the decision. As it was noted in the report that she will suffer no hardship with me not being there I really don't see the point. Best of luck to yourself.

I don't want to seem like I'm answering my own questions but this may be of use to someone else in a similar situation. They emailed me overnight with the following So no Christmas in Oz for me. :frown:

Thanks Captain. Along with the police certificate they asked for a explanation to my offence where I stated how remorseful I was and how it had such a negative impact on my life.

Quick update. The Immigration people got back to me exactly one calendar month after I gave them my police certificate. They've passed my case over to Visa Applicant Character Consideration Unit (VACCU) in Melbourne. Having searched on here for VACCU I see that it can take a considerable amount of time for them to get back to people applying for longer/permanent visas. Does anyone have any idea if I should be expecting an equally as long wait for a tourist visa? I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I won't make it out for Christmas as per the original plan but just want to manage my own and my girlfriends expectations. We are of course fully aware that there is a good chance it might come back as an out right no but I'd rather just know than not. Thanks in advance.

Not really what I wanted to hear but kinda what I expected. It was two years ago so pretty recent.

Greetings all, Firstly can I just say what a great community this is and how very useful some of the information I've read on here has been. So much so it prompted me to register. So here is my story. I'm 35 year old male currently based in the UK. A year or so ago I met an Aussie girl here and we hit it off straight away and to cut a long story short we've been together ever since. She is a qualified nurse and was here on a working visa for 2 years. Sadly things didn't work out for her professionally here (and they say the NHS is crying out for nurses!?!) and sadly due to a few reasons, that being the main one, she has cut short her stay in the UK and returned back to Melbourne where I'm pleased to say she got work within about 5 minutes of getting back on Australian soil. It was always the plan that she would return home but also that I would follow as my company are in the process of opening an office in that part of the world in the new year and have agreed for me to re-locate out there. Initially I want to go out and spend Christmas and NY with her and her family so I have applied for a tourist visa for three months. So now the bad news.....sadly I've had a brush with the law that unfortunately saw me getting a 15 month custodial sentence. I served 5.5 months behind the door and then 3 on tag and the rest on licence. I've read pretty much all there is to read on the net about getting in to Oz with a criminal record so appreciate no one will be able to give me an answer to the question what do you think my chances are as I appreciate all cases are viewed on an individual basis and because my sentence was > 12 months I might struggle even with a tourist visa. However my question was does anyone know how long there decision making process takes? I applied two weeks and a half weeks ago now and got a response within 24 hours asking me to provide a police certificate. That took about a week to come and I uploaded it straight away to the application along with all of the others bits and bobs they requested. Since then the status has just been sat as application under review or similar. I'm normally a patient person but I'm missing my girl terribly as she is me. It's hard conducting a relationship over whatsapp/skype especially when I've got in the back of my mind that there is a chance that I may never see her again. Not to mention it being difficult watching the price of flights sky rocket because of the time of year. Should the scenario turn out to be a positive one for me and I'm granted the tourist visa. I assume that can't do any harm should I apply for a sponsored visa at a later date? I appreciate they are two completely different things and will be treated as such by the immigration people. What sort of timescales on average (if there is such a thing) should I be looking at for finding out about sponsored visas? Should the scenario be a negative one and I'm refused the tourist visa I believe I have 28 days to appeal before being permanently excluded from Australia? Does anyone know what is involved in the appeal process and how long it would likely take? Thanks in advance.