SUMMARY: Spouse Visa Processing times OFFSHORE-UK. Please add your Stats.

[Tedster]

Hi Snowy,

 

We have Case Officer " RN". We applied on 29/06/2015 and didn't hear anything until 30/09/15 when we received an email from RN asking my Partner to get his Medical and Police checks done on or soon after 29/10/2015.

[GooseRenders]

PMV is cos we're not married yet, my other half is in Oz & I'm here. We've never lived together so that's the visa we had to apply for!

Same here!

[Yorkshire123]

hi everyone,

 

I am arriving in australia on the 16th of december but do not think my partner visa will have been granted at that time. would

you advise me to get a tourist visa now and if so will it have any negative effect on my application.

 

also I was planning to email my co (vf) to let him/her know that i will be arriving on that day about 2 weeks before I leave.

 

any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

 

thanks

[ozmichelle]

hi everyone,

 

I am arriving in australia on the 16th of december but do not think my partner visa will have been granted at that time. would

you advise me to get a tourist visa now and if so will it have any negative effect on my application.

 

also I was planning to email my co (vf) to let him/her know that i will be arriving on that day about 2 weeks before I leave.

 

any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

 

thanks

 

Hello

 

My partner and I are leaving for Australia this Wednesday. We applied for his partner visa on the 28th January 2015. I went onto his immi account and applied for his tourist visa last week. It only took a couple of days to be approved. I also emailed our case office through the general email to remind him that we were leaving and to see if there was any chance of getting his partner visa granted before we left. I didn't think it would be granted as we are leaving just before the 9 month mark. I got a email response from the general visa team saying they have passed my email on to my CO for me. This is what was written in the email to us:

 

With regards to your travel plans, as previoulsy advised, If your intention

is to migrate to Australia you should be entering the country on a visa

that properly reflects your intention in Australia, e.g. a permanent visa

if you wish to stay permanently. The processing time for partner visas is

currently 10-14 months, unless there are particularly compelling and

compassionate reasons (such as death in the family/family illness), you

should expect your visa to take this full period of time for a decision.

 

If once you have lodged your partner visa application you need to visit

Australia temporarily you are able to do this, however, you should be aware

that you are required to be outside of Australia for us to grant your

partner visa. Furthermore there is not a visa which has been created for

the purpose of allowing clients to stay in Australia while awaiting a

decision of their partner application lodged outside Australia. If you

propose to visit Australia on a visitor visa you should be aware that you

need to satisfy Australian border and Immigration staff that you are a

genuine visitor. You will need to be able to demonstrate you have

sufficient funds to cover the costs of your stay without the need to work,

that you intend to visit Australia temporarily and that you have an

intention to depart the country before the expiry of your visitor visa.

 

You do not need to seek the approval of your partner visa application’s

case-officer for you to visit Australia, however, you should update them

with any change in your contact details to ensure they can continue to

communicate with you to make any outstanding requests for your application.

We have updated our address and are all set to go Hopefully his visa is granted towards the end of October. We are planning to pop over to New Zealand for a short break once it is granted before heading back to Australia.

 

Both times I have emailed them to let them know we will be flying to Australia in October I got the same sort of response. I've noticed loads of people on this forum have flown to Australia on tourist visas before their partner visas are granted so you shouldn't have any problems if you do the same your partner just won't be able to work until it's granted haha which mine seems happy about.

[Guest]

hi everyone,

 

I am arriving in australia on the 16th of december but do not think my partner visa will have been granted at that time. would

you advise me to get a tourist visa now and if so will it have any negative effect on my application.

 

also I was planning to email my co (vf) to let him/her know that i will be arriving on that day about 2 weeks before I leave.

 

any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

 

thanks

 

just ensure you apply for the tourist visa well ahead of the earliest partner visa grant date. To ensure they don't cross over. Then email them to ensure they have a contact email to get in touch,mice ally the one you gave them when you lodged, so they can email the visa grant notice.

 

and before you book your flight, just in case for whatever reason a tourist visa is not granted. Be out of pocket a bit then

[Yorkshire123]

Hello

 

My partner and I are leaving for Australia this Wednesday. We applied for his partner visa on the 28th January 2015. I went onto his immi account and applied for his tourist visa last week. It only took a couple of days to be approved. I also emailed our case office through the general email to remind him that we were leaving and to see if there was any chance of getting his partner visa granted before we left. I didn't think it would be granted as we are leaving just before the 9 month mark. I got a email response from the general visa team saying they have passed my email on to my CO for me. This is what was written in the email to us:

 

With regards to your travel plans, as previoulsy advised, If your intention

is to migrate to Australia you should be entering the country on a visa

that properly reflects your intention in Australia, e.g. a permanent visa

if you wish to stay permanently. The processing time for partner visas is

currently 10-14 months, unless there are particularly compelling and

compassionate reasons (such as death in the family/family illness), you

should expect your visa to take this full period of time for a decision.

 

If once you have lodged your partner visa application you need to visit

Australia temporarily you are able to do this, however, you should be aware

that you are required to be outside of Australia for us to grant your

partner visa. Furthermore there is not a visa which has been created for

the purpose of allowing clients to stay in Australia while awaiting a

decision of their partner application lodged outside Australia. If you

propose to visit Australia on a visitor visa you should be aware that you

need to satisfy Australian border and Immigration staff that you are a

genuine visitor. You will need to be able to demonstrate you have

sufficient funds to cover the costs of your stay without the need to work,

that you intend to visit Australia temporarily and that you have an

intention to depart the country before the expiry of your visitor visa.

 

You do not need to seek the approval of your partner visa application’s

case-officer for you to visit Australia, however, you should update them

with any change in your contact details to ensure they can continue to

communicate with you to make any outstanding requests for your application.

We have updated our address and are all set to go ? Hopefully his visa is granted towards the end of October. We are planning to pop over to New Zealand for a short break once it is granted before heading back to Australia.

 

Both times I have emailed them to let them know we will be flying to Australia in October I got the same sort of response. I've noticed loads of people on this forum have flown to Australia on tourist visas before their partner visas are granted so you shouldn't have any problems if you do the same ? your partner just won't be able to work until it's granted haha which mine seems happy about.

 

 

thanks,

i have guessed that my partner visa will be granted around the end of December or early January so I'm sure I will have to leave and come back in to activate it. Did you ever get a reply from your case officer or was it always the service centre reply?

 

thanks

[Yorkshire123]

just ensure you apply for the tourist visa well ahead of the earliest partner visa grant date. To ensure they don't cross over. Then email them to ensure they have a contact email to get in touch,mice ally the one you gave them when you lodged, so they can email the visa grant notice.

 

and before you book your flight, just in case for whatever reason a tourist visa is not granted. Be out of pocket a bit then

 

 

That was my main worry about one cancelling out the other, so I think I will apply today

 

thanks for the info

[ozmichelle]

thanks,

i have guessed that my partner visa will be granted around the end of December or early January so I'm sure I will have to leave and come back in to activate it. Did you ever get a reply from your case officer or was it always the service centre reply?

 

thanks

 

No unfortunately the only time I have had a personal email from our CO was when he introduced himself to us initially and when he requested more information regarding my partners police check and that was a couple of months after we applied. All the responses I have had since have been from the general enquiries and has always been someone different :-)

 

Luckily you don't have to come all the way back to the UK once it is granted which is a good thing!

[Bronyaur]

No unfortunately the only time I have had a personal email from our CO was when he introduced himself to us initially and when he requested more information regarding my partners police check and that was a couple of months after we applied. All the responses I have had since have been from the general enquiries and has always been someone different :-)

 

Luckily you don't have to come all the way back to the UK once it is granted which is a good thing!

 

We emailed CO on Thursday letting him know we were leaving for Melbourne on 14th October and asked about the grant. He replied directly to us and said he would let us know.

[Major Tom]

Just had my Police report back, I was crapping it tbh, had a few nights in some cells in my younger days, came back with 'no live trace' which is good enough I think! :-)

[Keep me in oz]

Just had my Police report back, I was crapping it tbh, had a few nights in some cells in my younger days, came back with 'no live trace' which is good enough I think! :-)

 

What brilliant news!!!! Phew!

[Bronyaur]

Just had my Police report back, I was crapping it tbh, had a few nights in some cells in my younger days, came back with 'no live trace' which is good enough I think! :-)

 

 

Hi, No Live Trace means there is something there but its ols info. Your CO will ask you for more details of past history. I think you need to apply for a Public Access Request to satisfy immi. If it had come back No Trace then youd be good to go.

[Pingpongpom2]

Hi,

Can you please tell me where my daughter will find the general email address? Thank you

[Keep me in oz]

Hi,

Can you please tell me where my daughter will find the general email address? Thank you

 

You can use this email address if she is an applicant from England:

 

familymigrationlondon**************

[Pingpongpom2]

You can use this email address if she is an applicant from England:

 

familymigrationlondon**************

Thank you for the quick reply..when i press on it it says invalid url and i can't see the whole address. Any ideas?

[Keep me in oz]

Thank you for the quick reply..when i press on it it says invalid url and i can't see the whole address. Any ideas?

 

Poms in oz doesnt allow you to post email addresses so the second half, after the at symbol is...

 

dfat.gov.au

[burmtra]

Has anyone had an onshore 820 granted in Perth recently, if so how long after the application was submitted? Thanks

[Pingpongpom2]

Poms in oz doesnt allow you to post email addresses so the second half, after the at symbol is...

 

dfat.gov.au

Thank you for that..much appreciated!

[ozmichelle]

We emailed CO on Thursday letting him know we were leaving for Melbourne on 14th October and asked about the grant. He replied directly to us and said he would let us know.

 

Thats great ? you applied about a month before us so your CO may grant yours before you leave. I would be very surprised if ours was granted as we haven't reached the 9 month mark yet. Fingers crossed for you!

[GooseRenders]

FYI With regards to anyone travelling to Aus for a holiday whilst their visa is processing, I emailed my CO on the general email address to let them know I was going to visit Benn for 2 weeks. I then applied for a tourist visa a week or so before I flew to Aus in August, It got approved straight away, and there were no issues entering or leaving Australia. I didn't ever get a response from the CO, but at least they had an idea. I know it's not the same for everyone, but I don't think it's worth stressing about too much!

[Guest]

FYI With regards to anyone travelling to Aus for a holiday whilst their visa is processing, I emailed my CO on the general email address to let them know I was going to visit Benn for 2 weeks. I then applied for a tourist visa a week or so before I flew to Aus in August, It got approved straight away, and there were no issues entering or leaving Australia. I didn't ever get a response from the CO, but at least they had an idea. I know it's not the same for everyone, but I don't think it's worth stressing about too much!

 

That would be fine to visit for a holiday. You'd be applying for the tourist visa long before the visa grant was due so no worries on the visas crossing over and risking the partner one being cancelled out by a tourist visa grant.

 

The main issue is with going over and staying there on a tourist visa is when people are departing the UK closer to the 9 month mark and leave getting their tourist visa to the end. Applying for a tourist visa if you know you are going to go is better done sooner rather than later. Preferably before you spend money on booking flights and defo well before the first possible date of the partner visa grant. I knew we were heading to Aus in the Oct and applied for my tourist visa in June and then booked flights as soon as it was granted (CO advised this way was preferrable just in case). My visa wasn't due for grant until the middle/end of Oct based on the timeframes then but it was granted the last week of July. So I didn't actually need the tourist visa in the end but it did mean I didn't run the risk of stuffing up my partner visa grant having gotten it well ahead of time.

[ballbox]

That would be fine to visit for a holiday. You'd be applying for the tourist visa long before the visa grant was due so no worries on the visas crossing over and risking the partner one being cancelled out by a tourist visa grant.

 

The main issue is with going over and staying there on a tourist visa is when people are departing the UK closer to the 9 month mark and leave getting their tourist visa to the end. Applying for a tourist visa if you know you are going to go is better done sooner rather than later. Preferably before you spend money on booking flights and defo well before the first possible date of the partner visa grant. I knew we were heading to Aus in the Oct and applied for my tourist visa in June and then booked flights as soon as it was granted (CO advised this way was preferrable just in case). My visa wasn't due for grant until the middle/end of Oct based on the timeframes then but it was granted the last week of July. So I didn't actually need the tourist visa in the end but it did mean I didn't run the risk of stuffing up my partner visa grant having gotten it well ahead of time.

I'm planning on going to Australia in January, if my partner visa isn't granted I'm going to go over on a tourist visa. Then wait till it is granted and go for a quick holiday somewhere to activate it. Would that be a problem?

[Guest]

I'm planning on going to Australia in January, if my partner visa isn't granted I'm going to go over on a tourist visa. Then wait till it is granted and go for a quick holiday somewhere to activate it. Would that be a problem?

 

No it shouldn't be. But if you know you are definately going out there in Jan, don't leave the tourist visa application till the end. Apply for it now even if you wanted. IIRC its valid for a year. You then would go offshore to validate your partner visa once it is granted. Ensure you inform your CO of your plans and where you can be contacted (hopefully the same email addy you gave them) so they can liase with you are grant time to go offshore.

[ballbox]

No it shouldn't be. But if you know you are definately going out there in Jan, don't leave the tourist visa application till the end. Apply for it now even if you wanted. IIRC its valid for a year. You then would go offshore to validate your partner visa once it is granted. Ensure you inform your CO of your plans and where you can be contacted (hopefully the same email addy you gave them) so they can liase with you are grant time to go offshore.

Yeah definitely going, flights booked. I'm sure I'll have my partner visa but just incase as you said. Magical 9 month mark this month.

[Guest]

Yeah definitely going, flights booked. I'm sure I'll have my partner visa but just incase as you said. Magical 9 month mark this month.

 

O cripes, be careful applying for a tourist visa now if the 9 month mark is here. Defo email your CO first before applying for a tourist visa and waiting to hear back. I didn't realise you were at the 9 month mark already. I'd have applied for the tourist visa a few months ago if it had been me. At this point if you apply now you risk the visa grants crossing over. Not good.