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

[Peach]

LOL. I wish I could feel any the less frustrated...

[Guest FedUp]

On a different note my husband spoke to my CO today who told him that my visa will be granted on the 1st July!! I don't quite understand why he can't grant it now though?? He said he would be sending a letter requesting passports! It's all rather confusing!!!:err:

 

Congratulation, Rebrol. At least now you know how long you'll have to wait and you can start planning.

 

I guess most of us still waiting have to wait until July to hear anything due to the quota.

[Guest epollard74]

I heard today that when applications are processed in the UK they are sent to Australia for final approval. Learnt that from a legitimate source. No wonder the process takes so long.

 

Apologies if you already knew this. It was news to me!:yes:

[Guest somsy77]

I didnt mean to sounds like I was telling you off sweetie... Just that poor Garysgirl would go send off the yahoo / communication stuff, fully expecting to meet the what the CO asked her, and then she'd be disappointed wouldn't she? Just trying to make sure things dont get even more frustrating than it already is for her! Fact is I asked her to speak to a migration agent, since she seems to be falling short by a few months with actual bills...

 

Good news with your visa 1st July, not too far off now. When were your tickets booked for ?

 

xx

 

oooh I feel like I've been told off!!:wink:I do aplogize I had not seen the e-mail that was sent to Garysgirl!

 

On a different note my husband spoke to my CO today who told him that my visa will be granted on the 1st July!! I don't quite understand why he can't grant it now though?? He said he would be sending a letter requesting passports! It's all rather confusing!!!:err:

[Guest somsy77]

Didnt know that, Thanks Epollard. But that means the onshore ones should take less time, seems like they take long as well...

 

I heard today that when applications are processed in the UK they are sent to Australia for final approval. Learnt that from a legitimate source. No wonder the process takes so long.

 

Apologies if you already knew this. It was news to me!:yes:

[Guest garysgirl63]

I didnt mean to sounds like I was telling you off sweetie... Just that poor Garysgirl would go send off the yahoo / communication stuff, fully expecting to meet the what the CO asked her, and then she'd be disappointed wouldn't she? Just trying to make sure things dont get even more frustrating than it already is for her! Fact is I asked her to speak to a migration agent, since she seems to be falling short by a few months with actual bills...

 

 

xx

 

Thanks so much somsy, im really naive with all this....we didnt really think about the visa process much before applying...didnt realise it would be quite so daunting :arghh:

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing.......

 

Good news though, I forgot I had an old credit card registered to our home address which with the other paperwork would cover all but 2 months of the 12 ( and im working on those)....but, and its a big one! as I only had online statements(and the website wont let me print off the last 3 months because there has been no transactions, wtf!), I have had to email them and ask for copies to be posted to my Aust address. Hope it all gets back to me in time.....

[Guest somsy77]

Sweetie that's good news!!! Even if the statements come back late, just let CO know they are on their way... Did they give you a month or something like that to get the stuff together?

 

Oh yay. Such a relief!!

 

Cant you screenshot and print the statements off? Or put in a dollar or something and print it off.... ! Doesn't have to be every bit of the 3 months.... if the previous line shows sometime in March and the next line shows sometime in June i.e today... obvious you've had the account for in between ?

 

Sorry sorry just jumping from thought to thought, just so happy you got stuff to show them!! :hug:

 

 

 

Thanks so much somsy, im really naive with all this....we didnt really think about the visa process much before applying...didnt realise it would be quite so daunting :arghh:

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing.......

 

Good news though, I forgot I had an old credit card registered to our home address which with the other paperwork would cover all but 2 months of the 12 ( and im working on those)....but, and its a big one! as I only had online statements(and the website wont let me print off the last 3 months because there has been no transactions, wtf!), I have had to email them and ask for copies to be posted to my Aust address. Hope it all gets back to me in time.....

[Guest garysgirl63]

On the online bank they just show up as statement dates....wont let me see them as there are no transactions????? randomly it will let me see, download and print off Jans, but not dec, feb, march...etc

 

Good idea about putting some money in there, at least I will get to print of Junes!!

[Guest somsy77]

Just happy for you.... I was worried abt the lack of bills... this looks ok now !!:jiggy:

Good luck sweetie. Just let your CO know if some of the docs are going to take a while to get together, and ask for more time.

 

xx

 

On the online bank they just show up as statement dates....wont let me see them as there are no transactions????? randomly it will let me see, download and print off Jans, but not dec, feb, march...etc

 

Good idea about putting some money in there, at least I will get to print of Junes!!

[rebrol]

Thanks Somsy - I kinda got you only meant good things! Absolutely right when you say it is important to get things right as we all know how bloomin frustrating the whole process can be!!!

 

We are headin out to Sydney on 13th August. We have sold house, handed in work notice and sent packages so almost, sort of organised!! (As much as you can be with two kids!!) When you headin out there?

[Guest rachandjon]

Hi Garysgirl, I wrote a long message that got lost this morning :mad:

But in essence, I had the same email as you (but for only some of the months of the previous year) and I would say it is definitely bills or bank statements, at least one a month, for both of you if not joint. Saying that, my OH couldn't cover every month (one or two missing, not consecutive) and I wrote a letter explaining we had most things paperless now, my husband doesn't save letters,etc. And we got our visa! So don't stress, but do try and track down your visa statments and any other official latters (from doctor, work, etc) to fill out the months. Cheers.

[Guest somsy77]

Lol @ kinda got that I only meant good things. Your funny you are

 

Good luck with the move, OH's sis lives in Sydney, she only went this year. I am moving to Brissy, sometime in October. Have a PhD to finish and that's pretty much hopefully done, so October sounds good. Will know this month, when exactly as I want to book tkts, etc.

 

 

 

Thanks Somsy - I kinda got you only meant good things! Absolutely right when you say it is important to get things right as we all know how bloomin frustrating the whole process can be!!!

 

We are headin out to Sydney on 13th August. We have sold house, handed in work notice and sent packages so almost, sort of organised!! (As much as you can be with two kids!!) When you headin out there?

[Guest]

Just to let everyone know, I'm sure most of your are aware already. We sent an email off just asking where our CO was with things and got the following.

 

Dear Charlotte,

 

For the 2009-10 program year the Government has allocated 60,300 places in the Family Stream (including 45,000 places for Partner visas, reflecting their high priority). The planning levels for each visa category within the Family Stream reflect the priorities allocated to these categories. The Department has a responsibility to ensure that the numbers of visas granted overall and within each visa category are in accordance with the agreed planning levels. As a visa category approaches it's planning level, this means that some cases may not be finalised as quickly as our clients or the Department would want. We have a responsibility to ensure that visa grants within the Family Stream reflect the priorities set by the Government and we will manage this in the most fair and reasonable way possible.

 

I appreciate that you would like to have your application finalised. I thank you for your patience and wish to assure you that every effort is being made to finalise your application as soon as it is possible to do so.

 

So no doubt we will probably all be pushed ito next years quota now so not much movement until July.

[Guest triksta]

Wonder if this is part of the reason why AH is dragging it's feet and keen to push applications into July? : Australian Immigration - Legislation Change Update

 

 

Nooooooooo....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sincerely hope that everyone who has already applied for visa will not be required to do this.....!!!! :skeptical:

[Guest FedUp]

Nooooooooo....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sincerely hope that everyone who has already applied for visa will not be required to do this.....!!!! :skeptical:

 

I don't think (if I didn't say I'm 100% sure) that anyone who applied before the 1st july wil have to do it. But anyone who applied after the 1st July will definitely have.

[Peach]

the wording is ambiguous : "These amendments will apply for applications for a visa made, but not finally determined, (within the meaning of subsection 5(9) of the Migration Act 1958, before 1 July 2010"

 

So although it doesn't state which visa subclasses this might apply to, it does say it could be retrospectively applied to visas which are currently in process...

[rebrol]

Argh not sure this is true. If you read the media release on DIAC website I think it will apply to applications not yet finalised. However, my husband spoke to our CO yesterday and asked him bout this. The CO said that he had not heard about this!!! So who knows????

[Guest FedUp]

Argh not sure this is true. If you read the media release on DIAC website I think it will apply to applications not yet finalised. However, my husband spoke to our CO yesterday and asked him bout this. The CO said that he had not heard about this!!! So who knows????

 

This is strange! How is a CO not aware of this (?!) as normally this kind of change will be circulated within all immigration offices.

[rebrol]

Think it probably means that it won't apply to partner visa applications - the DIAC release doesn't state which subclasses it will apply to so perhaps this makes sense!!

[emmaroo]

Hello

 

Going to ask what may seem like a silly question but Ill ask anyway!

 

Do you get an email confirming that DIAC have received your application and its been logged or is the 1st contact from your CO?

 

Thanks

Emma

[Guest epollard74]

Hello

 

Going to ask what may seem like a silly question but Ill ask anyway!

 

Do you get an email confirming that DIAC have received your application and its been logged or is the 1st contact from your CO?

 

Thanks

Emma

 

 

Basically, the first contact from your assigned CO is the confirmation that your application has been received.

[Guest]

Application submitted 2nd June, further information requested last week and email received today to advise they have all the info necessary and a decision will be made between 4th August and 4th September.......2-3 months is better than the 3-4 months I expected.

 

Now need to try and be patient whilst joining you all playing the waiting game!! Will be checking on here to keep up to date with you guys that have applied at the same time as me........

:confused:

[Guest FedUp]

Application submitted 2nd June, further information requested last week and email received today to advise they have all the info necessary and a decision will be made between 4th August and 4th September.......2-3 months is better than the 3-4 months I expected.

 

Now need to try and be patient whilst joining you all playing the waiting game!! Will be checking on here to keep up to date with you guys that have applied at the same time as me........

:confused:

 

Congrats! You must have a fast working CO.

It's been 4 weeks since my CO was assigned, and I believe he has everything about 2 weeks ago but I still haven't got any indication from him that whether he has all the necessary info or not.

 

How long it took the rest of you to receive such email informing you that they got all the necessary info?

[Guest welshn]

Sorry to read about all the delays for the offshore spouse visas. Seems the same is happening here and i've been here 3 years now.

 

Not had much news from the DIAC...until yesterday. Basically I've finally been assigned a case officer and my visa will be granted within the next month. Here's a quick snapshot of the situation.

 

UK citizen living and working in OZ for 3 years and have been with Australian partner for 2 years, living together, all criteria met etc. Lodged a HUGE detailed document file at the DIAC in Sydney in Feb 2010, aussie partner was then 5 months pregnant with our child. All this and more was put into our case file, police checks all clear, medicals all clear, we did not miss anything! Baby has now been born and we are to send a birth certificate to the case officer to finalise the visa i guess.

 

It's been the longest, most stressful period as we've been waiting for something to happen. I've been here for all this time in a more than committed relationship and we were told that there has been a freeze on all in country and external spouse visa applications. maybe not for all offices but certainly for sydney.

 

We had a very helpful case officers assisstant who basically collected all our final documents and put is in the queue for assessment. It's still not been granted...but we've been assured that as it was lodged in feb it will be granted in the next 60 days and wont go over the 6 month mark.

 

Partner being australian and our new child was born in australia yet it's not speeded anything up. Obviously we wanted it to be sorted before the baby was born really...no real rush i guess but the with the amount of evidence we have provided it would of been hard to do once the child was born and we'd of kept putting it off. I wanted to ensure that it was all sorted so that my partner didnt have to worry about what my future was going to be in australia.

 

Good news is that once granted it will go straight to permanent and not temporary so the 2 year period is not going to be assessed now and once it's done...it's done for good.

 

Hope everyone else is keeping positive and patient.

 

Thanks

[emmaroo]

Hi

 

What is the average time you have to wait for a CO?

 

Million dollar question I know but hey ho!

 

Thanks

Emma