How to prioritize a tourist visa application

[mikesmyth 0]

Hi all,

So my parents were on a bridging visa (they applied for the aged parent visa) and travelled outside of AU before COVID hit. Unfortunatety they were outside of Australia when the border restrictions kicked in and their bridging visa got expired / cancelled due to them not making it back in time (or rather not allowed to come back).

Have been advised to apply for a tourist visa to get them back (and then applying for an exemption). The tourist visa application was applied for in June 2020 and keeps getting knocked back.

Is there any way to contact the team behind it and ask them to process it due to a family emergency need here in Australia?

Thanks in advance for the help / replies.

[rtritudr 167]

There is no point in applying for a tourist visa unless you can get a border exemption to go along with it.

[Marisawright 7,257]

12 hours ago, mikesmyth said:

Have been advised to apply for a tourist visa to get them back (and then applying for an exemption). The tourist visa application was applied for in June 2020 and keeps getting knocked back.

Is there any way to contact the team behind it and ask them to process it due to a family emergency need here in Australia?

I wonder if this is a chicken and egg problem?   Are you sure the process is to apply for the visa first and then the exemption, and not the other way around?

The exemption application will need to include substantial proof of the family emergency.

Edited March 14 by Marisawright

[rtritudr 167]

22 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I wonder if this is a chicken and egg problem?   Are you sure the process is to apply for the visa first and then the exemption, and not the other way around?

The exemption application will need to include substantial proof of the family emergency.

I believe the usual procedure is to get the visa application in first, have a TRN and then supply that in the exemption request so the two can be linked.  In any case, you need to have a valid reason for an exemption.

[Marisawright 7,257]

15 minutes ago, rtritudr said:

I believe the usual procedure is to get the visa application in first, have a TRN and then supply that in the exemption request so the two can be linked.  In any case, you need to have a valid reason for an exemption.

The problem is that their application for the visitor visa keeps getting refused, presumably because they don t have an exemption. That's what I mean by chicken and egg

[paulhand 584]

6 hours ago, rtritudr said:

I believe the usual procedure is to get the visa application in first, have a TRN and then supply that in the exemption request so the two can be linked.  In any case, you need to have a valid reason for an exemption.

This is correct 

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

The problem is that their application for the visitor visa keeps getting refused, presumably because they don t have an exemption. That's what I mean by chicken and egg

The ‘correct’ way is to lodge a visa application and then immediately lodge the exemption request using the TRN of the visitor visa application. This links the 2 and an exemption approval allows the visa to be approved ... it’s also not clear to me what the OP means by the application getting ‘knocked back’?

On 13/03/2021 at 13:45, mikesmyth said:

Is there any way to contact the team behind it and ask them to process it due to a family emergency need here in Australia?

This is what the exemption request is for ... but we are not seeing much, if any, success getting parents to Australia. 

[mikesmyth 0]

What i mean by getting knocked back, is that the visa status at the immi portal is recieved but the processing time keeps changing at the end of each month.

I believe I had applied 4 times, 3 of which got refused for not meeting the criteria (the last two of which referenced a TRN of the tourist visa) and the fourth attempt said my parents were a greater risk to the Australian society than my family emergency (despite supporting letters from 3 different hospitals).

[paulhand 584]

3 hours ago, mikesmyth said:

What i mean by getting knocked back, is that the visa status at the immi portal is recieved but the processing time keeps changing at the end of each month.

I believe I had applied 4 times, 3 of which got refused for not meeting the criteria (the last two of which referenced a TRN of the tourist visa) and the fourth attempt said my parents were a greater risk to the Australian society than my family emergency (despite supporting letters from 3 different hospitals).

So the visa hasn't actually been refused, it just isn't being processed because there is no exemption attached to the application.

The processing time is just a general guide showing how long most applications are taking to be finalised, it moves around based on circumstances and isn't specific to your application.

Edited March 15 by paulhand

[Marisawright 7,257]

7 hours ago, mikesmyth said:

What i mean by getting knocked back, is that the visa status at the immi portal is recieved but the processing time keeps changing at the end of each month.

I believe I had applied 4 times, 3 of which got refused for not meeting the criteria (the last two of which referenced a TRN of the tourist visa) and the fourth attempt said my parents were a greater risk to the Australian society than my family emergency (despite supporting letters from 3 different hospitals).

Not knowing what your family emergency was, perhaps the problem is that the letters from hospitals weren't the right evidence.  It's one thing to show you have a sick family member, but you also have to show that you are unable to cope with that situation without the parents.   

[Ben P 11]

We received the visa grant (subclass600) today for my son, it only took 2 days to process. He already had exemption and I used this to form part of my evidence/attachments to bolster my application (screenshot of exemption email). 

Backstory: My son had previously received exemption last year in April I THEN applied for a visa of subclass600 which ran from August to August. However we didn’t travel as planned. We re-applied for a subclass600 to replace his current one to suit our updated travel plans. He was granted a 12 month visa which runs from March to March. 

It’s worth noting his parents (myself and wife) and his older brother all recently received RRV’s for 12 months (entry by March ‘22, offshore application which processed in 3 months).

Hope this helps someone