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

[attypodian]

Hey all,

Quick auestion how much is the medical (assuming all you need is the normal examination and xray)? Just so i can get an idea of how much i have to save to get this all done....

Good luck to all who are waiting!

Kx

 

Bridge Clinic in Maidenhead are quoting £200 for full medical, HIV blood test and chest x-ray. OH has his med booked for 9th of May.

xo

[Guest sinead]

Hi Sinead,

I had my medical yesterday at the Mater and I didn't get a copy either. Cloak and dagger stuff just to keep your nerves going. The waiting room was jumping! Have you decided on a shipment co. yet? That's my job for next week as we're waiting on my OH's job offer in writing so until then neither of us can hand in our notice. It should be sorted out by the end of this week though.

 

I'm still waiting on a stat dec from one of my OH's friends Out of 3 guys, none of them remembered to attach their passport to the form so I couldn't send any of them in with application. One guy then found out his passport was out of date so my OH had to ask another of his mates. He sent it last week......... without a copy of his passport. Hopefully it'll arrive tomorrow and I can get in sent ot London, after that it's a matter of sitting tight, like you and many others. ':mad:

 

I'm gonna e-mail my CO after I've sent in the additional info so if I get a rough grant date I'll let you know.

 

Hi Amanda,

 

Ive had LOADS of quotes!! the shipping companies keep bloody stalking me!! they wont leave me alone now!!:arghh: I just wanted to get a rough estimate so i knew how much money had to be set aside!!! The cheapest i got was Careline.... they were cheapest by about a grand!! a lot of Irish seem to use them aswell.. So ill probly go with them, but not going till sp/oct... hows about you?

[Guest katiebobbles]

Hey attypodian and Peach,

Thanks for the quotes...... wishing you both luck for your apps.... May my paperwork commence!!!

Kx

[Guest LoznWill]

Hi All

 

Just an update... received news today that visa has been assessed and due to be granted 15th August!! Whoooo hooooooo!!!! A long wait but still so happy!!!:jiggy::wubclub: Am with my partner for the next 3 weeks so that makes up some of the time!! :yes:

 

Our timeline...

 

9th March: App sent from Australia

11th March: App sent from Ireland

17th March: Money taken

22nd March: Email asking for 2 more docs & meds

30th March: Meds done

7th April: Meds sent

12 April: Email advising assessment complete and visa due for granting 15th August

[Guest sinead]

Hi All

 

Just an update... received news today that visa has been assessed and due to be granted 15th August!! Whoooo hooooooo!!!! A long wait but still so happy!!!:jiggy::wubclub: Am with my partner for the next 3 weeks so that makes up some of the time!! :yes:

 

Our timeline...

 

9th March: App sent from Australia

11th March: App sent from Ireland

17th March: Money taken

22nd March: Email asking for 2 more docs & meds

30th March: Meds done

7th April: Meds sent

12 April: Email advising assessment complete and visa due for granting 15th August

 

OMG THATS BRILLIANT!!!!:wink: I sent my app from Ireland to.. Only had medicals done 7th April... Did they send them for you or did you send them??? im all excited now thinking about it!!! who was your C/O???? I havnt heard anything yet!!!!! Sent mine in just before you...

[Guest dadoftwins]

After 4 months, 3 weeks and 6 days, we finally received THE email granting my wife's visa. What a feeling!!

 

Thanks to everyone from the site's input and support over the last few months and good luck with your applications!!! I'm off to book some flight tickets.

[Guest LoznWill]

OMG THATS BRILLIANT!!!!:wink: I sent my app from Ireland to.. Only had medicals done 7th April... Did they send them for you or did you send them??? im all excited now thinking about it!!! who was your C/O???? I havnt heard anything yet!!!!! Sent mine in just before you...

 

Hiya!! yip yip very excited!! Planning on quite a few pints tonight when OH gets home from work! Is so nice being able to share this with him in person, instead of over the phone!! And so nice to share with all of you!! Still I won't be calm until I get the official official notification of visa all approved sometime in August.:spinny:

 

With meds - the clinic will send them off for you. It takes around 5 working days for the results to be returned, and then they will courier off for you. Ours rang us to say they were being sent which was really really nice of them. Our CO was SV - who had had a bit of a bad rap on here, but to us she has been nothing but prompt, informative and polite...:smile:

 

Good luck with everything and please do keep us updated on how you go!! :yes:

[Guest sinead]

After 4 months, 3 weeks and 6 days, we finally received THE email granting my wife's visa. What a feeling!!

 

Thanks to everyone from the site's input and support over the last few months and good luck with your applications!!! I'm off to book some flight tickets.

 

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! Congratulations!!!! delighted (also jealous,lol) !!!!!! Cant wait till i book tickets!!!!! BEst of luck with everything now!!!!!!

[Guest sinead]

Hiya!! yip yip very excited!! Planning on quite a few pints tonight when OH gets home from work! Is so nice being able to share this with him in person, instead of over the phone!! And so nice to share with all of you!! Still I won't be calm until I get the official official notification of visa all approved sometime in August.:spinny:

 

With meds - the clinic will send them off for you. It takes around 5 working days for the results to be returned, and then they will courier off for you. Ours rang us to say they were being sent which was really really nice of them. Our CO was SV - who had had a bit of a bad rap on here, but to us she has been nothing but prompt, informative and polite...:smile:

 

Good luck with everything and please do keep us updated on how you go!! :yes:

 

 

OOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! you hae me all excited!! I have DP, he seems nice enough, not really heard alot of people talk about him but he's efficient, polite and pretty prompt with everything!! maybe ill get an e-mail in a week or so!! We might get them around the same time!! where you off to and when?? When you gonna book tickets?

[Guest LoznWill]

OOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! you hae me all excited!! I have DP, he seems nice enough, not really heard alot of people talk about him but he's efficient, polite and pretty prompt with everything!! maybe ill get an e-mail in a week or so!! We might get them around the same time!! where you off to and when?? When you gonna book tickets?

 

Heya! It is all very exciting... I really can't believe how much my heart nearly burst with happiness! Even though it's an estimate it gives us something to work towards and to hang on too. Not knowing is the worst, so I really go give blessings for them at least giving us an estimated date!!

 

My OH is in Cork, but will be heading to Melbourne to join me... We've decided we will only book tickets once the visa has been formally approved, but will save the money from now so that when we get the go ahead we can go and book straight away. Maybe that's a bit cautious but I'd rather do it that way to ease my own anxiety!! lol lol! I'm really really hoping its just under the 5month mark as my sister is getting married on the 15th so would love if OH could come a few days before that... fingers crossed!

 

Ok, going to meet OH from work now... OMG, so exciting being able to do that!

 

Thanks to everyone on here also... it has made the whole process so much more bearable and I'll still be on here until I get that final approval that's for sure!!

 

Where are you headed???

[Guest Tillyloola]

Hi All

 

Just an update... received news today that visa has been assessed and due to be granted 15th August!! Whoooo hooooooo!!!! A long wait but still so happy!!!:jiggy::wubclub: Am with my partner for the next 3 weeks so that makes up some of the time!! :yes:

 

Our timeline...

 

9th March: App sent from Australia

11th March: App sent from Ireland

17th March: Money taken

22nd March: Email asking for 2 more docs & meds

30th March: Meds done

7th April: Meds sent

12 April: Email advising assessment complete and visa due for granting 15th August

 

 

I'm so glad that you got a confirmation of a date thats awesome and it gives you something to work to.

 

I would assume that mine may be around the same date as my lodgement date is a week before yours but I have DP as my co, so I am unsure on when timescales that he works on. I really want to e-mail him now and ask for an approximate date, but I harassed the hell out of the guy when I was looking to come over to Oz on my ETA. I think I'm best leaving it until I have to inform him that I have gone back home and then I can ask the million dollar question.

 

Congratulations as well to DadofTwins.

[Guest DaneD]

I'm so glad that you got a confirmation of a date thats awesome and it gives you something to work to.

 

I would assume that mine may be around the same date as my lodgement date is a week before yours but I have DP as my co, so I am unsure on when timescales that he works on. I really want to e-mail him now and ask for an approximate date, but I harassed the hell out of the guy when I was looking to come over to Oz on my ETA. I think I'm best leaving it until I have to inform him that I have gone back home and then I can ask the million dollar question.

 

Congratulations as well to DadofTwins.

 

I was assigned DP as my case officer on March 2nd. I asked him about a confirmation date and his reply was, "As it stands applications are taking aprox 5 months to finalise so it probably will not be until July before I am ready to finalise your application."

[amanda74]

Hi Amanda,

 

Ive had LOADS of quotes!! the shipping companies keep bloody stalking me!! they wont leave me alone now!!:arghh: I just wanted to get a rough estimate so i knew how much money had to be set aside!!! The cheapest i got was Careline.... they were cheapest by about a grand!! a lot of Irish seem to use them aswell.. So ill probly go with them, but not going till sp/oct... hows about you?

 

Hiya,

 

I'm loosing track of the companies I've asked for quotes. They all seem to be around the same price but I noticed on the quote from Crown that the shipping time is only 35 days which seems a lot quicker than the other guys. I'm swaying towards them only because of the shipping time. My OH's new employer e-mailed him yesterday to say they'll contribute $10,000 towards relocation costs so we're delighted with that. I asked him if I could fly business class with it........you can imagine his response!!! Cattle it is then. $10K doesn't stretch that far but it's a great help. I'm not complaining. :biggrin:

I hope to hear from my CO (AH) next week. My OH will need prob go out in May and we'll follow later on a tourist visa. I want to wait until the shipment arrives before going. Where are you heading to in Oz? We're going to Melbourne. I'm beginning ot get a bit nervous about the whole thing. We've spoke about it for sooooo long and now it's finally happening it seems like a dream.

[TracyC]

To all those who have had their Visa granted.... firstly congrats!!! and secondly (and possibly stupidly!) when they give you a date for your Visa - is that ABSOLUTELY definite? ! and not subject to change. With so many plans to make (when/if I get a date) I don't want to hand in my notice at work and sell the house only to find out that the date given may actually change. Are you all making plans with your Visa grant date as a 'set in stone' date?

 

Thanks

Tracy

[Guest Tillyloola]

To all those who have had their Visa granted.... firstly congrats!!! and secondly (and possibly stupidly!) when they give you a date for your Visa - is that ABSOLUTELY definite? ! and not subject to change. With so many plans to make (when/if I get a date) I don't want to hand in my notice at work and sell the house only to find out that the date given may actually change. Are you all making plans with your Visa grant date as a 'set in stone' date?

 

Thanks

Tracy

 

Unfortunately, the DIAC will never commit themselves to a definite date and any given are approximates. That said, grants are usually given around that date but some have been known to come in a bit earlier as well as later.

 

I think that you can use any dates given as a base guide so that you at least have a date to work towards.

[Guest Suzec14]

Can someone please tell me why the notification comes through about 2months after lodgement of Partner Visa, but the valid date is 4 months away?

This quote ....

Please can somone explain? Am new here. Thanks

 

 

 

 

A very helpful thread thanks guys.

Here's my timeline....

 

Application Submitted: 27/02/11

Payment Taken: 01/03/11

Case Officer Assigned: 07/03/11

More Info Requested: 07/03/11

More Info Submitted: 08/03/11

Evidence Returned: 10/03/11

Police Checks and Medicals Requested: 16/03/11

Police Checks and Medicals Submitted: 04/04/11

Informed visa will be granted in August 2011!!!: T o d a y! 12/04/11

[Peach]

Can someone please tell me why the notification comes through about 2months after lodgement of Partner Visa, but the valid date is 4 months away?

This quote ....

Please can somone explain? Am new here. Thanks

 

It is because Australia House are only allowed to grant a certain number of visas per month and there are more applications than there are visas - so a queue builds up.

[kali]

Hi everyone,

 

I sent my police checks to London and have had the medicals (as requested) but I have not heard anything since. Is this normal? It's only been 12 days. Also I sent my police checks directly to DP as his name was on the letter instead of the designated courier office. I'm ever so slightly concerned as I forgot to make a copy of police checks. I feel like a child needing someone to hold my hand at every stage of this visa process! I swear I'm normally an autonomous adult :tongue:

[Guest Suzec14]

I thought the partner visa was not subject to "limits" on numbers as some other visa types are ....

[maybeamy]

That is quite normal, they will only contact you, if there is a problem, but if you need confirmation that they have received all your additional information, just fire of an email, asking if they have now recieved everything that they need, and your co will get back to you normally within 24hours.

 

Hang in there, I know it's tough, I also had the pleasure of a 5 months wait, with no contact from my co, so I understand the stress and constant checking of email's syndrone, finally got here Sept 10 and have been loving every minute of it since.

[kali]

thanks maybeamy. I suppose it's when I've never done anything like this before it's hard to know if I.m doing it right. I'll keep in mind that no news is good news.

 

I'll sit back now and be extra patient :cool: Whereabouts are you? You said you're enjoying it which is always nice to read

[Peach]

I thought the partner visa was not subject to "limits" on numbers as some other visa types are ....

 

They're not supposed to be. But if you push them to hurry up, you'll often get a message like this:

 

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.

 

Remind them that family visas aren't subject to quotas and you'll get told it is a resource issue.

[Guest Suzec14]

Delivery of a balanced Migration Program in line with the government's objectives requires careful management. When demand for places in the Migration Program exceeds the number of places available, a number of mechanisms are available to the government, including cap and queue mechanisms, suspension of processing, priority processing and increasing points-test pass marks.

Cap and queue

 

The Migration Act 1958 (the Act), allows the Minister to ‘cap’ or limit the number of visas which can be granted each year in a particular visa subclass.

This limit, or cap, applies only for the migration program year in which it is introduced. When a cap is reached, applicants then wait in a queue for visa grant consideration in a following year, subject to places becoming available.

This means that when the number of visas set by the Minister for a visa class for the migration program year has been reached, no further visas can be granted in that program year.

Family Stream

 

Partner category visas:

 

• Partner (subclasses 309/100 and 820/801) visas cannot be capped.
  
• Prospective Marriage (fiancé) (subclass 300) visas may be subject to capping.
  

 

Seems like they make up the rules as they go along ......

 

 

QUOTE=Peach;1052190]They're not supposed to be. But if you push them to hurry up, you'll often get a message like this:

 

Remind them that family visas aren't subject to quotas and you'll get told it is a resource issue.

[Guest Suzec14]

Application sent by post ...... Saturday 9-04-2011

Bankcard debited ............ Monday 11-04-2011

[Guest Sam C]

Thanks Sam. I don't anticipate any probs with my medical but if there's anything you think I need to know then a quick 'heads up' would be great.

Have a great time snow boarding!!!

 

Hi TracyC and everyone!

 

Just back from my medical in London (W. End), truly if you know you're healthy there's nothing to worry about. Mind you I've read that people have been in and out within 30 mins, today it took about 1hr 15 - mostly spent in waiting rooms. Dr and radiographer were nice and everyone seemed pleasant. I got copies of my receipt for my migration agent and also requested a copy of my results - that's an expensive bit of paper!

 

All I'd advise is that you drink a load of water before getting there so you're "ready" for the urinalysis - which is the first part of the process, then X-ray, then examination and blood test.

 

Before I left I was told everything was fine and all they were waiting on was the HIV test and the X-ray results. It all should be at AHC in next 4-5 days.

 

Hope that helps shed some light on the med situation.

 

P.S. Received my PC last week and that's all clear too - tis a good week!