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

[Guest]

Well heard from my agent today our CO has been appointed and both my daughters medicals have been referred which we knew would happen. The CO says he expects to hear back in around 3 weeks as to whether the girls will meet the health requirements. God I hate waiting as the girls having a hearing impairment has always worrried me, but at least we have a CO and we are being processed.... Just need to take a few deep breaths and look at the lovely engagement ring my OH gave me on Saturday when he proposed :biggrin: and keep positive. QUOTE]

 

I know it's stressful. This was the most stressful part for me too. We didn't hear anything for a while at this point and I imagined the worst. Turned out our case officer had gone on holidays for 5 weeks and forgot to tell us LOL.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed for you. I hope it all goes smoothly for you.

 

Congratulations on your engagement by the way!! How wonderful! :jiggy:

[Guest]

I'm not actually in London... I'm in Ecuador, but there's not a huge community of people here to chat with, so here I am :biggrin:

 

I am Australian, and my husband is Ecuadorian. I am living here until we can get his visa... We sent our Partner (309) application on 23 March 2010, and after the courier temporarily lost our application, it was received by the Aust Embassy in Chile on Thursday 1 April 2010.

 

On Saturday 10 April, we had an email letting us know who our CO was, and a letter stating that we needed to send my 2008-2009 tax return (assume they meant the original, as we had sent the copy). We had already done the police and health checks.

 

I haven't sent the tax return yet (as we were waiting for confirmation that it's all they needed), but the CO emailed my husband yesterday, arranging a phone interview for today (14 April)... I am so nervous, I could vomit!!!! The thing is, I know we have a genuine relationship, so that part is ok... I guess it's the fact that it's 'do or die' time!

 

I desperately want to go home to Brisbane, after 4 years of travelling and living overseas, and I feel like if they rejected his visa for some reason, it would be like telling me that I can't come home, unless I leave my husband! Thousands of boat people are getting in Aus all the time, and yet it's so hard for those of us already in established relationships!

 

I've heard of people getting their visas approved at interview - any stories on that?! It would be awesome if that happens... we'd be out of here in 4 weeks!!!

 

Cat

:hug:

 

Hi Cat,

 

I just wanted to say good luck and I hope everything goes smoothly for your phone interview :biggrin: I am sure it will be fine and I hope you get your visa sorted quickly so you can return home.

 

Tracey

[Guest somsy77]

Hi Cat!

 

First of all, dont stress! I know its easy for me to say this, sitting out here not being in your shoes. Oh wait a minute I am! This visa is all about keeping families together, and they will not reject it. You have all the papers in, and they've arranged for an interview, and like you said you have a genuine relationship SO dont worry !!

 

They WILL give your husband the visa, coz thats the way its going to work, and if they need anything else they WILL ask for it, not reject your visa application straight out. They will give you a chance to get in more papers/ explanations etc if need be, so dont expect the worst. Imagine yourselves to be in Oz by the end of this year, enjoying lovely Brisbane (which is near where I will be by then I hope) and raising a drink to your future.

 

Cheers!

 

Best of luck!

 

 

 

:hug:

[Guest forever 083]

Hello Cat,

 

I wish u all the very best,I know how u feel,like u I come from brissy and my partner is english.I had to wait for his offhsore spouse visa to be granted,so I could go home to brissy.It is like having to choose between your family and the man u love,but luckily for us he got his visa just over a week ago,and is now in seoul waiting for his passport to be stamped.

 

Anyway hang in there,I wish u all the luck in the world,im sure u will get good news soon,like people have said u are genuine,so u dont have anything to worry about.It is annoying that these boat people get in so easily though.Good luck once again,i have my fingers crossed for you.

 

[Guest cjn]

Its been a week of rushing around to get all the paperwork together, (including my partner's original english birth certificate being lost in the post) but we've finally lodged the visa! So I can start our timeline...

 

12/04/10 Police Checks posted; 14/04/10 Medical; 16/04/10 Partner Visa 309 lodged in person and payment taken;

[Peach]

Welcome to the party

[TheOptimist]

Its been a week of rushing around to get all the paperwork together, (including my partner's original english birth certificate being lost in the post) but we've finally lodged the visa! So I can start our timeline...

 

12/04/10 Police Checks posted; 14/04/10 Medical; 16/04/10 Partner Visa 309 lodged in person and payment taken;

 

Good luck, hope you get some great news soon! I hope to have my app lodged by end of July (ish) and am currently doing the running around stuff (as well as moving home in 5 weeks and transferring my job AND going through a divorce. Its all so stressful!

 

Were you told that it would be a 3-4 month wait for the outcome? Where did you lodge your application (if you don't mind me asking).

[emmaroo]

Hi All

 

We will be lodging in July too! We too are just getting all our info together.

 

Good Luck evryone!

Emma

xx

[TheOptimist]

Hi All

 

We will be lodging in July too! We too are just getting all our info together.

 

Good Luck evryone!

Emma

xx

 

Its so scary isn't it. I am at that stage where I am convinced I'll forget something or miss something - its driving me mad!

 

Good luck, and keep in touch with how you get on? Are you using an agent or going it alone?

 

KS

x

[emmaroo]

Its so scary isn't it. I am at that stage where I am convinced I'll forget something or miss something - its driving me mad!

 

Good luck, and keep in touch with how you get on? Are you using an agent or going it alone?

 

KS

x

 

Hi KS

 

Yes, its horrible not knowing what the outcome will be! We are still not sure if we are going to use an agent or not, are you?. I am convinced Ill forget something!

 

Fingers crossed for us all!

 

:cute:

[Guest cjn]

Good luck, hope you get some great news soon! I hope to have my app lodged by end of July (ish) and am currently doing the running around stuff (as well as moving home in 5 weeks and transferring my job AND going through a divorce. Its all so stressful!

 

Were you told that it would be a 3-4 month wait for the outcome? Where did you lodge your application (if you don't mind me asking).

Thanks! We lodged in London. We're on a time limit as my British visa runs out in June so we'd really like to leave quite soon after that. The London embassy said to speak to our case officer and they may be able to help speed things up.

 

good luck with yours! Sounds like you're juggling a lot. Great that you're getting organised so early, wish we had done that! I naively didn't anticipate it would take 3-4 months.

[Guest somsy77]

Hi Katherine and Emma,

 

Dont worry if your forget something, your CO will ask for it. And are given nearly 7 weeks to provide most papers. In case of health and police checks they will wait for longer if you inform them about delays etc.

 

In case you haven't forgotten something and they are asking for something you don't have, then you need to say why you cant obtain the same.

 

I am applying for an extension of my student visa here in the UK and that's real scary as if you forget something, there's no way you can get anything in . It costs double to lodge in person, but there's no way I am lodging that via post, as they wont even speak to you on the phone unless the passport's been with the home office for several months! And they dont do ANYTHING via email! Frustrating, sorry for whinging about this! not related to this forum at all!

[TheOptimist]

Thanks! We lodged in London. We're on a time limit as my British visa runs out in June so we'd really like to leave quite soon after that. The London embassy said to speak to our case officer and they may be able to help speed things up.

 

good luck with yours! Sounds like you're juggling a lot. Great that you're getting organised so early, wish we had done that! I naively didn't anticipate it would take 3-4 months.

 

Thanks! I don't feel very organised though - in fact I wonder if allowing too much time creates additional barriers and means you just have more time to freak out!

 

Fingers crossed for you

[TheOptimist]

Hi Katherine and Emma,

 

Dont worry if your forget something, your CO will ask for it. And are given nearly 7 weeks to provide most papers. In case of health and police checks they will wait for longer if you inform them about delays etc.

 

In case you haven't forgotten something and they are asking for something you don't have, then you need to say why you cant obtain the same.

 

I am applying for an extension of my student visa here in the UK and that's real scary as if you forget something, there's no way you can get anything in . It costs double to lodge in person, but there's no way I am lodging that via post, as they wont even speak to you on the phone unless the passport's been with the home office for several months! And they dont do ANYTHING via email! Frustrating, sorry for whinging about this! not related to this forum at all!

 

Thanks for your words of support! Its reassuring to know we won't be struck off automatically if we make any minor oversights!

 

Wow - poor you, sounds like an expensive business, but I'd be doing the same as you, its too important to risk posting!

 

Good luck - and don't worry about whinging, it happens to the best of us :laugh:

[Guest somsy77]

Hi K,

 

Are you lodging the Aus visa in person ? I just posted that in via special next day delivery as didn't have my passport or any originals in there. Only had certified copies of passports and birth certs, etc.

 

Could have lodged in person I suppose, but heard it makes no difference now to processing times. Plus I would have had to take a morning off, and I had taken a couple of days off to sort out medicals, and the Indian PCC, so figured I'll just post the 309 in.

 

By the way, even slightly bigger oversights (like leaving out certified passport copy or bills or even a stat dec by friends) will just get you an email from the CO asking for the same, so dont worry.

 

This is from having read others' posts and also to a certain extent my own experience as I had sent in bills for 11 months and 20 days or something like that: they wanted updated bill copies for the last few days making up the 12 months.

 

Good luck,

Somsy

 

Thanks for your words of support! Its reassuring to know we won't be struck off automatically if we make any minor oversights!

 

[Guest JayCook77]

My Fiancée and myself front loaded my Visa with everything so I thought... We forgot just one thing which we were emailled about, My Fiancées Certified Passport copy... How silly are we LOL.... But knowing its just this ONE thing I need has taken some stress off me. Its been posted to me by my Fiancée but due to the Airspace closures I predict it will be slightly delayed, Should have been here this week but as yet it hasn't arrived. Every day waiting adds just a little more stress and worry to my life, But hopefully soon its gonna be here and I can scan it into my computer as Backup and post it off to Aus House in London... Then its just a case of more waiting but hopefully by now they have gone through ALL the other paperwork I sent and are just waiting for this to clarify that the Photo's of my Fiancée are actually her and then it will go into processing for a date... So looking forward to receiving that email from my CO...

[Guest somsy77]

Hi Jay,

 

Wont be long now. My CO said 3-4 months processing time from date of application, so this additional time shouldn't make any difference.

 

Good luck.

 

So looking forward to receiving that email from my CO...

[Guest JayCook77]

Hi Jay,

 

Wont be long now. My CO said 3-4 months processing time from date of application, so this additional time shouldn't make any difference.

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks, it seems like forever to get this last piece of paperwork.... I am almost in tears.

[Guest]

I agree the waiting is NOT fun!

 

Ive promised myself Ill hold off until mid May to email my CO if I havent heard anything. Im just in a permenant panic that he'll (A) request more information which will drag the process on even further (our flights are booked for 26th July) or (B) we just wont get the visa! Worrying is not fun, bit its definatly something im very good at :biggrin:

[Peach]

After the worrying comes anger, then denial. Then after 3 months hard waiting the boredom sets in.

[Guest JayCook77]

post arrived, no post from Australia, dammit !!!!!

[wellieboots]

I sent a very polite email to my CO this morning just asking if he could confirm whether my application was still on track to be processed within the 3-4 month timeframe and could he give me a very rough idea of when I might expect to hear from him.

 

Not sure if he will even reply but I just said that we were struggling to make plans without knowing what the timeline might be (which is perfectly true, my OH is a bit focused, and he likes to have all his ducks in a row, so he won't even talk about plans to move until we get the email!)

 

keep your chin up every one x

[Peach]

From British Expats: Spouse Visa Circle - Page 65 : British Expat Discussion Forum

 

Meh, applied after me, got his visa before me. No fair!! :tongue:

[Peach]

Some news... I cracked and phoned my CO again. She confirmed that all the conditions of my visa were met and that I would be getting a subclass 100 permanent partner visa. But, as I have no plans to travel until 2011 I won't be getting the visa until July!!!! So PARTY on the one hand MORE WAITING on the other!!

[fleabo]

Some news... I cracked and phoned my CO again. She confirmed that all the conditions of my visa were met and that I would be getting a subclass 100 permanent partner visa. But, as I have no plans to travel until 2011 I won't be getting the visa until July!!!! So PARTY on the one hand MORE WAITING on the other!!

 

Hey Peach - that sounds a bit like the conversation I had with her the other week!:arghh:

 

Congratulations!