bicek Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 We are moving to Australia shortly. We have a newborn baby who has their UK passport but we don't have time to apply for citizenship by descent for them (I'm Australian) so we will need for them to travel in on their UK passport and then we plan to apply for their citizenship by descent once we arrive. My question is what do we need to do prior to traveling, given we are in covid times and its not straightforward to enter Australia right now. From what I understand we need a visitor visa for our baby. Is that right? And would we also need to apply for an exemption for travel as she is not Australian? Or can she travel without needing exemption granted as she is the immediate family member of an Australian? I don't want to mess this up and she get refused entry! We are traveling in about 6 or 7 weeks (we think... But obviously this is subject to change..!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulhand Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 2 hours ago, bicek said: From what I understand we need a visitor visa for our baby. Is that right Yes 2 hours ago, bicek said: And would we also need to apply for an exemption for travel as she is not Australian? She is ‘exempt’ as immediate family but you need to make an exemption application to get evidence of that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicek Posted August 17, 2021 Author Share Posted August 17, 2021 4 hours ago, paulhand said: Yes She is ‘exempt’ as immediate family but you need to make an exemption application to get evidence of that. Thank you. We've applied for the 600 Visitor Visa for her. Can anyone confirm how long it took for their's to be processed/approved? And also how long it took for their exemption application to be granted? It says not to apply for that less than 2 weeks before flying, but no more than 2 months before flying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicek Posted August 17, 2021 Author Share Posted August 17, 2021 5 hours ago, paulhand said: Yes She is ‘exempt’ as immediate family but you need to make an exemption application to get evidence of that. Ok, so we have possibly applied for the WRONG visa for her. Panicking now! We applied for a Visitor Visa to enable a stay of up to 12 months but it says processing time is 7+ months. Did we need to just apply for an eVisitor visa? I've only just seen this option and not sure why I didn't spot it before when I went through the options on the immi website originally. So - please help - what can we do? Can we retract our other visa application and apply for the eVisitor visa or are we stuck now? We are due to fly in less than 2 months! Can anyone advise please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 (edited) 16 minutes ago, bicek said: Ok, so we have possibly applied for the WRONG visa for her. Panicking now! We applied for a Visitor Visa to enable a stay of up to 12 months but it says processing time is 7+ months. Did we need to just apply for an eVisitor visa? I've only just seen this option and not sure why I didn't spot it before when I went through the options on the immi website originally. So - please help - what can we do? Can we retract our other visa application and apply for the eVisitor visa or are we stuck now? We are due to fly in less than 2 months! Can anyone advise please? Did you apply for the exemption at the same time and quote the visa application reference on the exemption? If not, that's the problem. The visitor visa application won't go anywhere. Edited August 17, 2021 by Marisawright 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicek Posted August 17, 2021 Author Share Posted August 17, 2021 45 minutes ago, Marisawright said: Did you apply for the exemption at the same time and quote the visa application reference on the exemption? If not, that's the problem. The visitor visa application won't go anywhere. We have but I've seen other posts where they've done this and they're still waiting 2+ months and no updates. I don't have that long! Let alone 7 months. I can apparently withdraw the 600 visa and would just lose the fee. I could then apply for evisitor instead for my newborn but this would only give her 3 months. I think we'd need longer to get her citizenship by descent sorted when we arrive. And also unsure how this would impact the exemption application if that is linked to a 600 visa that is then withdrawn. 🥴 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 11 minutes ago, bicek said: We have but I've seen other posts where they've done this and they're still waiting 2+ months and no updates. I don't have that long! Let alone 7 months. I can apparently withdraw the 600 visa and would just lose the fee. I could then apply for evisitor instead for my newborn but this would only give her 3 months. I think we'd need longer to get her citizenship by descent sorted when we arrive. And also unsure how this would impact the exemption application if that is linked to a 600 visa that is then withdrawn. 🥴 Well, once you're in the country, you can always apply for another visitor visa if hers expires before the citizenship comes through. You'd have to do a whole new exemption application linked to the evisitor visa. I think you're at the point where a short consultation with Paul or another agent would be a wise move. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicek Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 14 hours ago, Marisawright said: Well, once you're in the country, you can always apply for another visitor visa if hers expires before the citizenship comes through. You'd have to do a whole new exemption application linked to the evisitor visa. I think you're at the point where a short consultation with Paul or another agent would be a wise move. Thanks, that's very helpful. Yep we are trying to decide whether to withdraw the 600 visa and withdraw the exemption application and start again, applying for the evisitor visa with a different exemption application associated with that. Then we would consider applying for an onshore 600 visa for her once we were in Australia, before her evisitor visa expired. I'm aware we will lose our fee if we do this so didn't want to rush the decision. I expect we can't apply for both options though simultaneously and must withdraw one before applying for the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 7 hours ago, bicek said: Thanks, that's very helpful. Yep we are trying to decide whether to withdraw the 600 visa and withdraw the exemption application and start again, applying for the evisitor visa with a different exemption application associated with that. Then we would consider applying for an onshore 600 visa for her once we were in Australia, before her evisitor visa expired. I'm aware we will lose our fee if we do this so didn't want to rush the decision. I expect we can't apply for both options though simultaneously and must withdraw one before applying for the other. AFAIK there's nothing to stop you having two visas in process at the same time. But like i said, you're at the stage where you can't afford to get this wrong. A short consult with Paul isn't gonig to cost the earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicek Posted August 19, 2021 Author Share Posted August 19, 2021 6 hours ago, Marisawright said: AFAIK there's nothing to stop you having two visas in process at the same time. But like i said, you're at the stage where you can't afford to get this wrong. A short consult with Paul isn't gonig to cost the earth. I've already booked one in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuyPB Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 Hey @bicek, I'm in exactly the same situation as you. A newborn with a British passport but we fly in November so no time to citizenship by descent in the UK. Can she fly with an eVisitor visa and exemption? G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulhand Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 3 minutes ago, GuyPB said: Hey @bicek, I'm in exactly the same situation as you. A newborn with a British passport but we fly in November so no time to citizenship by descent in the UK. Can she fly with an eVisitor visa and exemption? G Yes, that is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicek Posted September 22, 2021 Author Share Posted September 22, 2021 2 minutes ago, GuyPB said: Hey @bicek, I'm in exactly the same situation as you. A newborn with a British passport but we fly in November so no time to citizenship by descent in the UK. Can she fly with an eVisitor visa and exemption? G We have just arrived in Darwin on a repatriation flight. Our newborn came in on a 600 visitor visa which was processed in 2 days. As long as your application is legit, ignore the processing times online as these are not accurate for simple cases. You can also apply for an evisitor visa too from what I understand. We will apply for her citizenship by descent now we are here in Australia. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.