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

[jomac]

Hi jomac and attypodian - hope you don't mind me intruding on your conversation, but it's exciting to see others are working on the same time scale as myself. Application posted on the 25/3/11 and an email today (1/4/11) from my case officer (WP) asking for some more paperwork and meds.

I was hoping to be able to hand my notice in at the end of May, which meant working until July but by reading the majority of posts it does seem like applications are taking the full 5-6 months. I'll now have to rethink plans for putting house on market.

Be great to keep up to date on how your visa is processing too!

 

Hi Tracy

 

Of course you are very welcome to join in the conversations about our time line and keep us up to date with your progress, it's great to see how we are all getting on with our applications. I'm busy packing up my stuff now as I have been given permission to go out there on a tourist visa and we leave in 4 weeks today, all being well. Not selling my home though, and only working freelance now, so it's going to be a busy few weeks here!

Where are you headed once you get the visa?

 

Jo :jiggy:

[TracyC]

Hi Jo. We will be going to Sydney. My OH has a brother and Mum over there who he'd like to be near to. I go through stages ranging from excitement and ' I can't wait' to OMG 'I'm a bit scared'.

We will have to sell the house to free up the money to move, but also, I think I'll feel a bit happier having some money available for 'emergencies'.

Look forward to seeing how we all progress

Tracy

[jomac]

Hi Jo. We will be going to Sydney. My OH has a brother and Mum over there who he'd like to be near to. I go through stages ranging from excitement and ' I can't wait' to OMG 'I'm a bit scared'.

We will have to sell the house to free up the money to move, but also, I think I'll feel a bit happier having some money available for 'emergencies'.

Look forward to seeing how we all progress

Tracy

 

I feel the same as you! At the moment, I am OMG, I'm scared, because it's suddenly all happening now, but also cos Gold Coast couldn't be more different from london. Would much rather Sydney. My hubby also has family that he wants to be near to, but sometimes a bit full on for me! Also sad to be leaving family and friends, but aren't we all I guess?! :confused:

[Guest mjandmum]

I feel the same as you! At the moment, I am OMG, I'm scared, because it's suddenly all happening now, but also cos Gold Coast couldn't be more different from london. Would much rather Sydney. My hubby also has family that he wants to be near to, but sometimes a bit full on for me! Also sad to be leaving family and friends, but aren't we all I guess?! :confused:

 

Hi Jomac and co

Leaving behind family isnt so bad. I was in Oz for the past 2 years before coming back to sort my visa at the beginning of March and I thank god for skype! I talk to my mum twice a week - probably more than I did when I lived a couple of hours away in the UK. It was tough having my first child without her but it just made me take more pictures and videos to send back home for her. I have the odd day when I think I wish I could just have mum pop over but when I do, I send her a text and catch up online.

And being scared is all part of the excitement. I have never had a moments doubt or regret about my decision to move not even when I was missing family and friends. In fact you end up thinking - why cant they all just come here?! Believe me, its all worth it. I've loved every minute of it there and cant wait to go back to what I now call HOME. :daydreaming:

 

I guess I'm sitting on a similar time line to you guys. My CO was assigned 23rd March and we've just responded to a request for a medical saying its on its way as I'd had it done when I got back here at the beginning of March. I look forward to getting a more concrete date from my CO soon.

[Guest Sam C]

Hi mjandmum, jomac, TracyC and attypodian!

 

It's exciting to see we are all on a similar timeline! Good luck with everything in the next few weeks - meds, PC's and all that!

 

TracyC where abouts in Sydney are you looking? That's where we are headed!

 

Last one's a rotten egg?

[jomac]

Hi mjandmum, jomac, TracyC and attypodian!

 

It's exciting to see we are all on a similar timeline! Good luck with everything in the next few weeks - meds, PC's and all that!

 

TracyC where abouts in Sydney are you looking? That's where we are headed!

 

Last one's a rotten egg?

 

Hey Sam,

Good to have you part of the crew! Keep us updated on your progress. Good luck with it all, us lot on the same time line might have to start our own thread!

 

Jo

[attypodian]

Hi All,

 

I must be the rotten egg at the moment as we don't have a CO!

 

I'm the Aussie and I've still had my moments of "are we doing the right thing?". I've even wondered "What if I don't like it?" which is completely irrational as it's my country! I guess I've gotten used to my life here a little and made friends which I'll still have to do all over again in Brissy. At least one of my besties is in Bris so I've got one already.

 

We'll be putting our house on the market about mid May (and when we've finished painting the kitchen, dining and hallway!). Trying to give it a longer chance to sell. We're thinking of buying a place to rent out so we have some UK money coming in and are still on the ladder, buy all depends how much we sell for (if it sells - fingers crossed).

 

Atty

xoxo

[TracyC]

Hi All!

Sam C - I'm not entirely sure where in Sydney we'll end up (where we can afford!) but OH's family is in Castle Hills. Been browsing on realestate.com at Cherrybrook, Baulkham Hills, but also Mount Annan (south west) as you seem to get so much more for your money. What about you?

 

mjandmum - w here in Oz have you lived/going back to? I'm already practising on the Skype with my mum and she's only an hour away at the moment. Just did group calling with her and my sister(who's in NZ) and that worked great.

 

Atty - where abouts in Hampshire are you? I am between Southampton and Portsmouth and the housing market in my town seems pretty good at the moment - so I am fingers crossed that it will sell OK. However, timing is everything as I'm not prepared to move out with my 2 little ones into rented accomodation. I am being optimistic thinking that any potential buyer will be happy to wait until I'm ready to go?!

 

Tracy

[Guest mjandmum]

Hi All!

Sam C - I'm not entirely sure where in Sydney we'll end up (where we can afford!) but OH's family is in Castle Hills. Been browsing on realestate.com at Cherrybrook, Baulkham Hills, but also Mount Annan (south west) as you seem to get so much more for your money. What about you?

 

mjandmum - w here in Oz have you lived/going back to? I'm already practising on the Skype with my mum and she's only an hour away at the moment. Just did group calling with her and my sister(who's in NZ) and that worked great.

 

Atty - where abouts in Hampshire are you? I am between Southampton and Portsmouth and the housing market in my town seems pretty good at the moment - so I am fingers crossed that it will sell OK. However, timing is everything as I'm not prepared to move out with my 2 little ones into rented accomodation. I am being optimistic thinking that any potential buyer will be happy to wait until I'm ready to go?!

 

Tracy

 

Hi TracyC

I was in Adelaide which is where my OH is from and his parents so will be going back there. I've made a few friends through him and then I found some fellow Brits in the same position through searching the groups on FB. It's nice to have people in a similar situation to you who understand what its all like, plus sometimes you just need a dose of Britishness! lol

[amanda74]

Congrats!!!! One less thing to worry about now.

 

Well done,

[amanda74]

How long are you gonna get the tourist visa for? I think I'll need to do the same things as my husband has been offfered his dream job in Melbourne which he'll need to start in 2 months. Better be nice to my CO!

[amanda74]

Oh my goodness, what a lot to deal with! Congrats on the new job. Got to be careful of employers hearing about plans for travel etc. I had to pack in my job in Jan so they could find a replacement, but they let me do lots of freelance work which is great.

 

My case officer is AB and has already responded with my request to travel to Australia in May while my spouse visa is being processed. I think he says we can go!

Yes we front loaded and they have my meds and cleared them.

 

Have a great weekend and Good luck with Monday! :eek:

 

Oops, forgot to quote the post I was replying to. How long are you gonna get the tourist visa for? I think I'll need to do the same things as my husband has been offfered his dream job in Melbourne which he'll need to start in 2 months. I'll move to Scotland and stay with my parents for a month or so (and give them their final fix of their 18 month old granddaughter). Hopefully our furniture will have arrived by then and OH will have secured accommodation for us. My head's wasted trying to process all this change!!:arghh:

[amanda74]

Hey guys,

 

Just an update. Very excited, we got an email confirming all required info had been recieved and the estimated grant date is "around 14/06/11"!!! That's 5 months to the day I walked into AH and gave them a huge package and paid the fee. Fingers are tightly crossed that we're granted on or around that date, from what I've seen flights to Aus are more expensive in July than June. Good luck and take care all :smile::smile::smile:

 

Congrats!!! One less thing to worry about now.

 

The time'll fly by and before you know it you'll be boarding that flight to Oz. :biggrin:

[Guest nbt]

Hi everyone,

 

I was just wondering for those of you that have already had your visa's granted (congrats!), is it just an electronic visa? or did you have to send your passport back into have a visa sticker inserted?

[Peach]

Hi everyone,

 

I was just wondering for those of you that have already had your visa's granted (congrats!), is it just an electronic visa? or did you have to send your passport back into have a visa sticker inserted?

 

These days it is electronic, but a lot of folk push to get the sticker anyway (much easier to show someone that asks to see your visa).

[jomac]

Oops, forgot to quote the post I was replying to. How long are you gonna get the tourist visa for? I think I'll need to do the same things as my husband has been offfered his dream job in Melbourne which he'll need to start in 2 months. I'll move to Scotland and stay with my parents for a month or so (and give them their final fix of their 18 month old granddaughter). Hopefully our furniture will have arrived by then and OH will have secured accommodation for us. My head's wasted trying to process all this change!!:arghh:

 

Hiya Amanda,

 

I have asked if we can go on a tourist visa, and I already have a 3 month visa valid from when I was there in August last year, but allows multiple entry for 12 months. I will be leaving there in July for a few days with my husband to go to Singapore for his work, then returning again to Australia, where I plan to stay until my spouse visa is granted. I expect I will have to apply for another 3 month tourist visa by then as my current one will be out of date. Beginning to sound complicated now, I may just apply for a new 3 month tourist visa now that is valid for 12 months!!

I was very clear about clarifying with my CO that I was allowed and his response was:

 

I can confirm that you are able to travel to Australia if you are granted a tourist visa whilst your application is being processed and this will not affect your migrant visa application.

 

I guess the important thing in that sentence is IF you are granted a tourist visa. (and he wrote in another email that I will be assessed against the visa criteria for that subclass - but I haven't heard of anyone being refused a tourist visa!)

 

He also clearly stated that I must leave Oz for 3 days for my spouse visa to be granted and I can go anywhere in the world for that.

It's a lot of messing around and personally, I would be satisfied to wait in London til the spouse visa is granted, as we have to take our daughter out of school 8 weeks before the end of term, but my husband wants us there. My head is done in too!

 

I notice you too have a child. Is she a registered aussie citizen by descent yet? They will not continue with my application til we have registered our daughter or showed them her aussie passport.

 

You may be able to apply for a 6 month tourist visa, best to ask CO your options. I emailed my one the day I first heard from him as others have reported not hearing back for ages.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Jo

[Guest mjandmum]

Hi mjandmum, jomac, TracyC and attypodian!

 

It's exciting to see we are all on a similar timeline! Good luck with everything in the next few weeks - meds, PC's and all that!

 

TracyC where abouts in Sydney are you looking? That's where we are headed!

 

Last one's a rotten egg?

 

Hello all on my timeline

 

Well I've just heard my medicals have been posted on to AH on the 31st March before I could call today to attach my file reference number unfortunately so fingers crossed they get married up with my application and not lost in the system at AH!

 

My ongoing discussions with the migration agent re whether to push for permanent or just stick to the temporary visa have reached a conclusion. As time is of the essence now, we've decided not waste valuable weeks/months trying to gather additional evidence. Afterall the only major difference is that we wont qualify for certain benefits and as I have no intention of wanting to claim them, then we figure we'll deal with the permanent paperwork in 2 years time.

 

So now there is nothing stopping the CO taking pity on us and giving us a more firm idea of approval date. Fingers crossed for us all that is sooner rather than later. At the very least I'm praying for before 30th August as thats our son's first birthday and we desperately want to be home with daddy to celebrate! All thoughts now go to my father in laws health and hopes for a positive outcome on his cancer scare as I try and support my OH and his parents from afar :unsure:

[amanda74]

Hiya Amanda,

 

I have asked if we can go on a tourist visa, and I already have a 3 month visa valid from when I was there in August last year, but allows multiple entry for 12 months. I will be leaving there in July for a few days with my husband to go to Singapore for his work, then returning again to Australia, where I plan to stay until my spouse visa is granted. I expect I will have to apply for another 3 month tourist visa by then as my current one will be out of date. Beginning to sound complicated now, I may just apply for a new 3 month tourist visa now that is valid for 12 months!!

I was very clear about clarifying with my CO that I was allowed and his response was:

 

I can confirm that you are able to travel to Australia if you are granted a tourist visa whilst your application is being processed and this will not affect your migrant visa application.

 

I guess the important thing in that sentence is IF you are granted a tourist visa. (and he wrote in another email that I will be assessed against the visa criteria for that subclass - but I haven't heard of anyone being refused a tourist visa!)

 

He also clearly stated that I must leave Oz for 3 days for my spouse visa to be granted and I can go anywhere in the world for that.

It's a lot of messing around and personally, I would be satisfied to wait in London til the spouse visa is granted, as we have to take our daughter out of school 8 weeks before the end of term, but my husband wants us there. My head is done in too!

 

I notice you too have a child. Is she a registered aussie citizen by descent yet? They will not continue with my application til we have registered our daughter or showed them her aussie passport.

 

You may be able to apply for a 6 month tourist visa, best to ask CO your options. I emailed my one the day I first heard from him as others have reported not hearing back for ages.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Jo

 

Hiya,

 

We got our daughter's certificate by descent and Australian passport in Feb. It only took about a week to process each so your application shouldn't be delayed too long.

 

My CO has been really efficient so far and replied to my e-mails immediately. Could just have been a fluke but here's hoping he's always like that. My husband has his final 'informal chat' with his soon-to be-employer tonight at 11pm (8am over there), thank god for skype although he's not an evening person so a few Red Bull are on my shopping list today! Fingers crossed it all goes well for him and I sort out a tourist visa this week.

 

I agree with you that it would be more straight forward staying put until the spouse visa comes through and if this job offer falls through we'll be doing just that. The tourist visa route just adds to the headache :wacko:

[pinup]

hi all,

 

Just putting the final touches to my subclass 300 application. Its taking forever!! OH is in Syndey last time we saw each other was November, so if we get it in early/mid April we'll be looking at September/October nearly another year apart! eeeeeeeek. We might fit in another trip or I may go over early. Anyway, I'm hoping you can help me with a few niggling questions...

 

We are putting together our 888 forms with 3 declarations from his side and 3 from mine. I left Oz in March 08, so only got to know his pals/family very briefly, so although we've been in touch via social media etc, I'm a bit worried about the big gap in time having not seen them since then? (OH has been visiting here, but I havent gone back to Oz yet). I'm wondering if we should just do 2 each, or 3 from me and one from his Dad, or do they even take much notice once its done?

 

Secondly, We have (much to my annoyance) been using our mobile phones to communicate as OH has no computer (LUDDITE), its a running bone of contention. He finally broke and got an iphone 4 but hes struggling with its efficiency!:wink::wink: But ultimately it means that now we are both experiencing difficulty getting proof of calls made over the course of the 3 years so we're really reliant on that information to form the grounds of our 'proof of relationship'. We've been on the phone constantly to our respective service providers with the usual lack of customer service making it very difficult. What we were both told is that we can get a letter from our service providers saying calls have been made between the two numbers between 2008-2011, but no itemized call details, do you think that will be enough?

 

Ta very much, total pain in the gizzards this form filling business!!! Looking forward to having it done so I can enjoy the rest of my time in Dublin, the recession is doing wonders to make it quite fun and vibrant, wont want to leave!

[attypodian]

Hi pinup,

 

I would say if you have all the 888's just submit them. I ended up with three from Oz (one from my mum and two from my best friends). My mum and one best friend have only met my partner twice, and my other best friend only met him once for a few hours at the airport, but they can still paint a picture of our relationship as they saw it plus how I talked about him in emails etc. We had his folks do one here which more represented them seeing us consistently so I think the four stat decs together show our relationship as a whole.

 

I would try and get the letter from your phone companies saying there have been calls and explain in your stat dec why there isn't an itemised account. Some info is better than none and I'm sure they'll come back to you and ask for more if they need it.

 

Good luck with the rest of the form filling.

[attypodian]

Hi All!

 

Atty - where abouts in Hampshire are you? I am between Southampton and Portsmouth and the housing market in my town seems pretty good at the moment - so I am fingers crossed that it will sell OK. However, timing is everything as I'm not prepared to move out with my 2 little ones into rented accomodation. I am being optimistic thinking that any potential buyer will be happy to wait until I'm ready to go?!

 

Tracy

 

Hi Tracy,

 

We're in one of the villages close to Basingstoke and a few houses have sold in our street for what seems like a low price and they were on the market for ages. We need to see some estate agents to see what the best thing to do it either sell or rent it out. I would prefer to sell and buy something smaller to rent out as our current place is quite big with a big garden and I think it would be too much for a renter to bother with.

 

I can understand you not wanting to move to rental accommodation with two little ones. It's a gamle and like you say all about timing. I'm sure you could stall the process somehow :wink: because a friend of mine is buying at the moment and it has seriously taken him about 4 months and he's still not moved in (he's a first time buyer, no chain, and the person is selling a rental) so there must be ways of making the process last longer!

 

Atty

[pinup]

Hi pinup,

 

I would say if you have all the 888's just submit them. I ended up with three from Oz (one from my mum and two from my best friends). My mum and one best friend have only met my partner twice, and my other best friend only met him once for a few hours at the airport, but they can still paint a picture of our relationship as they saw it plus how I talked about him in emails etc. We had his folks do one here which more represented them seeing us consistently so I think the four stat decs together show our relationship as a whole.

 

I would try and get the letter from your phone companies saying there have been calls and explain in your stat dec why there isn't an itemised account. Some info is better than none and I'm sure they'll come back to you and ask for more if they need it.

 

Good luck with the rest of the form filling.

 

Thanks a million Attypodian! Your're so right much better to paint the whole picture! We have mine done, and waiting for his from Oz so I might go with 3 from me and two from him. Phonewise, yep good idea to just say why we don't have the itemised bills. We are going to submit some emails but just a smattering to give an idea of dates and so on, same with photos we think.

 

Thanks again for your help!! So good to be on the forum helps maintain sanity levels, hope there'll be some more subclass 300's in the April gang!

[jomac]

Thanks a million Attypodian! Your're so right much better to paint the whole picture! We have mine done, and waiting for his from Oz so I might go with 3 from me and two from him. Phonewise, yep good idea to just say why we don't have the itemised bills. We are going to submit some emails but just a smattering to give an idea of dates and so on, same with photos we think.

 

Thanks again for your help!! So good to be on the forum helps maintain sanity levels, hope there'll be some more subclass 300's in the April gang!

 

Hey Pin up,

 

I thought I would add my bit. We submitted 3 different 888s 1 from a friend of mine in london, 1 from a friend of Hubby who lives in London and 1 from hubby's aunty in Oz, who we have stayed with on many occasions. I included numerous photos, dated and named the people in them and where it was to show we spend time in both places, with family members and friends too.

I also had lots of our emails in my archive and took screen shots of my inbox just to show the subject heading, dates and who they were between. That way, you don't need to disclose any personal content. I only sent in a few pages from over the years as there were loads. I also photocopied joint invites, cards and letters we had received, as well as any other documentation I thought would show we are a genuine couple. I agree about the phone calls, ask provider to write a letter. As a long shot and you probably have tried, but what about online billing as that keeps itemised bills for over a year? Or how about copies of bank statements to show the cost of the phone bills? If you are anything like us, your extortionate bills will reflect your long distance calls!

 

Hope that helps!

 

Jo

[jomac]

Hiya,

 

We got our daughter's certificate by descent and Australian passport in Feb. It only took about a week to process each so your application shouldn't be delayed too long.

 

My CO has been really efficient so far and replied to my e-mails immediately. Could just have been a fluke but here's hoping he's always like that. My husband has his final 'informal chat' with his soon-to be-employer tonight at 11pm (8am over there), thank god for skype although he's not an evening person so a few Red Bull are on my shopping list today! Fingers crossed it all goes well for him and I sort out a tourist visa this week.

 

I agree with you that it would be more straight forward staying put until the spouse visa comes through and if this job offer falls through we'll be doing just that. The tourist visa route just adds to the headache :wacko:

 

Good luck with the job chat. Let us know how you go! Thanks for letting me know about the time frame for the descent and certificate. We will apply later this week, when my hubby arrives from Oz. I asked my CO about applying for a 6mth tourist visa, and he seems to think it's ok to do that, but I ahve to admit, I'm either really thick, or his emails are answered very ambiguously, so feel like I'm not really getting a straight answer!!

:confused:

[Guest LoznWill]

hi all,

 

Just putting the final touches to my subclass 300 application. Its taking forever!! OH is in Syndey last time we saw each other was November, so if we get it in early/mid April we'll be looking at September/October nearly another year apart! eeeeeeeek. We might fit in another trip or I may go over early. Anyway, I'm hoping you can help me with a few niggling questions...

 

We are putting together our 888 forms with 3 declarations from his side and 3 from mine. I left Oz in March 08, so only got to know his pals/family very briefly, so although we've been in touch via social media etc, I'm a bit worried about the big gap in time having not seen them since then? (OH has been visiting here, but I havent gone back to Oz yet). I'm wondering if we should just do 2 each, or 3 from me and one from his Dad, or do they even take much notice once its done?

 

Secondly, We have (much to my annoyance) been using our mobile phones to communicate as OH has no computer (LUDDITE), its a running bone of contention. He finally broke and got an iphone 4 but hes struggling with its efficiency!:wink::wink: But ultimately it means that now we are both experiencing difficulty getting proof of calls made over the course of the 3 years so we're really reliant on that information to form the grounds of our 'proof of relationship'. We've been on the phone constantly to our respective service providers with the usual lack of customer service making it very difficult. What we were both told is that we can get a letter from our service providers saying calls have been made between the two numbers between 2008-2011, but no itemized call details, do you think that will be enough?

 

Ta very much, total pain in the gizzards this form filling business!!! Looking forward to having it done so I can enjoy the rest of my time in Dublin, the recession is doing wonders to make it quite fun and vibrant, wont want to leave!

 

 

Hi Pinup!!

 

Totally hear you about the computer... my OH didn't have one for ages, was a big bone of contention between us. He finally got one, and now I feel like an IT Help Desk. :biglaugh::biggrin: If I have to explain over the phone how to send a message via facebook or gmail one more time.....:jiggy:And after all that, we've tried Skype (reason he got the laptop) only to find the signal strength is not good enough - so back to the internet shop. What is has meant though is that we now have computer game duels, look at facebook together and can email a little more easily.

You can also download your skype logs??? App on the internet and it's free.

With Form 888's - I had similar to you. OH knew my family pretty well, but i'd never got the chance to meet his friends/relatives. I sent in 888 from his parents, his local bar manager who I talk with on the phone, one from a mutual friend of both of us, then from my side I sent 5! I even got my chiropractor to write a letter and say she'd met us and heard about our relationship.

Phone records - Ive pre-paid so all my calls are itemised online... but is there an app on the iphone for you to itemise calls?

Anyway, good luck with it all and let us know how you go!!

 

We've now got our medicals done and waiting for the clinic to send over!!

 

Ps. Am heading to Ireland next week - SO BLOODY EXCITED!!!!!!:v_SPIN::wubclub::biggrin::Randy-git: