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

[Cheesecake12]

I contacted with my CO today and asked her about my medicals. She said she received my clear medical just 2 days after I completed them and there is no outstanding matters in my application and she will contact with me as soon as she has news for me. She is a really good CO. Answered every question I had and she is always very straight forward. :biggrin:

 

Hi Nikcos.

 

can I ask who your c/o is? I applied at the exact same day as you. just wondering if you had spoken to your c/o and if they had mentioned anything about what seems to be the updated processing time on the immigration website.

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/about/charters/client-services-charter/visas/5.0.htm

 

I think it said 8/9 months before for the 309/100 visa if i remember correctly but it seems to be 5/6 months now.

[msoks27]

Hi Nikcos.

 

can I ask who your c/o is? I applied at the exact same day as you. just wondering if you had spoken to your c/o and if they had mentioned anything about what seems to be the updated processing time on the immigration website.

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/about/charters/client-services-charter/visas/5.0.htm

 

I think it said 8/9 months before for the 309/100 visa if i remember correctly but it seems to be 5/6 months now.

 

 

Hi cheesecake12 seems to be a few of us in the same timeframe at the moment, I recently spoke with my CO but forgot to ask on up to date processing times as was so stoked that im being processed for subclass 100!! I dont really want to hassle my CO (DP) who has been really helpful to date and dont want to rock the boat! Fingers crossed it has moved from 8-9 months to 6 months so I can start planning the big off.. good luck

Edited June 17, 2013 by msoks27

[Cheesecake12]

Hi cheesecake12 seems to be a few of us in the same timeframe at the moment, I recently spoke with my CO but forgot to ask on up to date processing times as was so stoked that im being processed for subclass 100!! I dont really want to hassle my CO (DP) who has been really helpful to date and dont want to rock the boat! Fingers crossed it has moved from 8-9 months to 6 months so I can start planning the big off.. good luck

 

I want to email my c/o (LG) and ask. I do think i have bugged her enough with questions in the past and i also dont want to rock the boat. it would be nice to know which subclass im a being processed for as im going for a goverment job that requires me to have the 100. It would also be nice to know about the new processing times as waiting sucks lol.

 

Congrats on the subclass 100 btw.

[catatemyfish]

My partner applied on the 20/02 and we too are hoping that the visa approval time is closer to the 6 month mark than the 8-9 quoted. There seems to have been a few people recently who have got their visas within this time-frame so fingers crossed that this is a sign that the approval times have reduced and they have not simply been lucky and exception to the rule. If you look at the spreadsheet there are a few people who applied around the end end of January and on into mid-February so if 5-6 months processing time is indeed the new time-frame then hopefully we should start to see approvals for these people come through in the next few weeks.

[Nikocs]

My CO is KP. I think I am being processed for subclass 100.

[Guest]

Current processing time frame is still 8-9 months. Its listed as this on their website for starters. CO states in their contact email after you submit what the current processing time is also and its 8-9 months still afaik (unless your CO tells you different in more recent submissions now but have not heard this). So work to this, don't live in hope for it being done in 6 months because others have been processed within this time. Or expect it to happen sooner because you have children with your partner/spouse or have been with them for a long time. Doesn't matter a jot to immigration or your CO how long you've been married or how many kids you have together, it won't speed up the application time.

 

http://www.uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/immi_processing_times.html

 

If, and its a big if, but if a partner visa is granted sooner than the current given wait time it is purely down to chance.

 

FWIW my most recent email with my CO told me to still expect the 8-9 month timeframe regardless. I applied in Jan so am half way through the timeframe. I just don't stress about it, it is what it is and if it happens a bit sooner so be it, but I don't expect nor am I planning for that.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Guest

[Guest Joe Hall]

Hey, thanks for your reply,

 

Yup, so sent in the Maltese passport and got an email back now saying that CO needs her brith certificate with both parents names on. As she had to send the original birth certificate to the Maltese embassy to get the passport, this means sending of to Oz for another one. Sure we will get it in the next few weeks to be honest so no stress.

[kmarees1986]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to this forum, thought I would share my details. Im the Aussie, my husband is British. We have a complicated application as my husband has a substantial criminal record. We are currently apart as I have come home to have our baby hoping to get him over ASAP on a tourist visa which was lodged 18/06:

 

Application Lodged by our Migration Agent, front loaded with criminal conviction documentation and character references: 01 May 2013

CO Assigned and additional year of relationship plus medical request to be done by 11 June 2013: 14 May 2013

Medical completed: 03 June 2013

 

No more updates as yet but i'm not expecting to hear back now for months. We are expecting the S501 Notice of Intention to Refuse at some point which we will deal with the help of our migration agent.

 

We were also told 8-9 months by our CO but being a complicated application I am preparing for it to take longer.

[Guest]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to this forum, thought I would share my details. Im the Aussie, my husband is British. We have a complicated application as my husband has a substantial criminal record. We are currently apart as I have come home to have our baby hoping to get him over ASAP on a tourist visa which was lodged 18/06:

 

Application Lodged by our Migration Agent, front loaded with criminal conviction documentation and character references: 01 May 2013

CO Assigned and additional year of relationship plus medical request to be done by 11 June 2013: 14 May 2013

Medical completed: 03 June 2013

 

No more updates as yet but i'm not expecting to hear back now for months. We are expecting the S501 Notice of Intention to Refuse at some point which we will deal with the help of our migration agent.

 

We were also told 8-9 months by our CO but being a complicated application I am preparing for it to take longer.

 

Welcome to the forum. Good luck with your application. Sounds tricky but hopefully your migration agent will be able to assist it along.

 

I don't know he'll get a tourist visa if he has a substantial record. I'm not sure what the criteria are or if you have to declare convictions when applying etc. It may be he is only given a 3 month one and no further leave to remain or some such on it also. Here is hoping for you it all goes smoothly and he can head over.

[bluewaterz]

Hi all,

 

I have recently applied for a partnership visa (de facto), I am Italian and I have been living in the UK since 2010. My Australian partner and I lived together in England for 2 years until her visa expired and she had to go back in April last year. After several months I managed to gather together all the documentation to make sure nothing was missing and avoid a delay in the processing time. (Complete forms, police checks both from Italy and UK, statutory declaration, loads of proves that we lived and shared a life together, proof of a genuine relationship etc.)

The application has been lodged at the end of March, CO (LG) assigned on the 5th of April and medical examination taken on the 3rd of May. CO has confirmed all the documentation and results have been received and everything is fine underlining that processing time remains 8/9 months so it should be granted hope in November/December.

I was thinking to resign from my current job in September and go back to Italy, (I know I shouldn't do it as it is not 100% sure but I was going to do it anyway) for one month at least to spend time with relatives and friends before eventually leaving and then go to Australia and wait the visa confirmation. (I'll go to New Zealand and back in order to activate it).

I'd like to know if anyone does know more or less how much time before (the visa is granted) the interview will be scheduled as it is going to be in the UK and most important thing if is that compulsory, so I can have at least a big picture on my mind and organise that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Thanks for your precious time!!!

 

Hey! you are very similar to us!we are currently

in greece and bulgaria with our realitves waiting it out.

We saved up,quit jobs and flew end of may. we return to yhe uk end of aug to wait for the grant(hopefully we wont wait more than 3weeks. I will do some shifts at a bar my friend managers. fi.gers crossed we get early grants

[kmarees1986]

Welcome to the forum. Good luck with your application. Sounds tricky but hopefully your migration agent will be able to assist it along.

 

I don't know he'll get a tourist visa if he has a substantial record. I'm not sure what the criteria are or if you have to declare convictions when applying etc. It may be he is only given a 3 month one and no further leave to remain or some such on it also. Here is hoping for you it all goes smoothly and he can head over.

 

Becuase he has the criminal record we couldn't apply for the eVisitor, we had to lodge a paper application with evidence under the subclass 600 Visitor Visa - Tourist Stream. So with that we included similar evidence as to what we provided with our main application to substantiate his character. I know there is a big risk it could be denied based on the criminal stuff, but if you don't try you'll never know. Hopefully our CO can see missing the birth of his child is a severe punishment, so we'll see. I want him to be able to come for as long as possible but if we can only get the shorter term one I will take whatever we can get! I'll let you know as I am sure there will be more people in this situation.

[Guest]

Becuase he has the criminal record we couldn't apply for the eVisitor, we had to lodge a paper application with evidence under the subclass 600 Visitor Visa - Tourist Stream. So with that we included similar evidence as to what we provided with our main application to substantiate his character. I know there is a big risk it could be denied based on the criminal stuff, but if you don't try you'll never know. Hopefully our CO can see missing the birth of his child is a severe punishment, so we'll see. I want him to be able to come for as long as possible but if we can only get the shorter term one I will take whatever we can get! I'll let you know as I am sure there will be more people in this situation.

 

Good luck with it all. You've returned to Australia for the birth of your baby you said in a previous post. Was there a visa reason you decided not to remain in the UK till your partners visa was sorted and to give birth or did you just want to be back there? I don't know that having a baby will carry weight on a visa application, never had to deal with that as we had ours here in the UK and are moving well after the event. As you said, I am sure its been the situation for others. I can't recall about anyone on here with quite the same circumstances, baby or criminal convictions, not both. Keep us posted and really hope it works out for you guys.

[Loubear72]

Hi ya we have just been through exactly the same thing I am an Aussie resident and I came to Oz in Nov 6 months pregnant, my fiancé is British and has a criminal record he applied for a tourist visa so he could be here for the birth we applied for his residency in November and as it was going to take 9 months he had to apply for tv in the mean time.

It was taking so long for the tv and getting near my due date I got the hospital to write a visa letter to say I needed him here for support as soon as they received the letter they granted him the tv and then whilst on a trip back to the uk as his 3 months were up we had an email from our agent to say his 300 was going to be granted on the 7 month mark,I was so worried because of his record but its all turned out lovely and we are very happy in Melbourne with our beautiful baby girl. All the best and for the birth I'm sure it will be fine

[hhayes89]

Contacted RE, she confirmed she had received my medicals and all is well with my application. Great news...I'm flying out Thursday and after 6 months I'll finally be reunited with my fiancée. I was also granted a working holiday visa as advised by my CO to enable me to work whilst I await the grant...Australia here I come.

[littlekitty]

Becuase he has the criminal record we couldn't apply for the eVisitor, we had to lodge a paper application with evidence under the subclass 600 Visitor Visa - Tourist Stream. So with that we included similar evidence as to what we provided with our main application to substantiate his character. I know there is a big risk it could be denied based on the criminal stuff, but if you don't try you'll never know. Hopefully our CO can see missing the birth of his child is a severe punishment, so we'll see. I want him to be able to come for as long as possible but if we can only get the shorter term one I will take whatever we can get! I'll let you know as I am sure there will be more people in this situation.

 

Good luck with the process kmarees1986, my fiancé has a juvenile conviction, which he had to explain from start to finish in a statement, and explained how he has changed. He also had another conviction on his UK criminal record that was a mistake. It took us weeks to clear up the mistake with a lot of back and forth with UK police etc. the stress of that, and the stress of having to apply for the paper 676 so he could come over to visit was exhausting. It's terrible to think that a mistake he made in the past put his future in Aus at risk. He is now here in Aus on his PMV, but the conviction follows him- he was questioned and made to wait at immigration when we came back from activating his PMV. I hope everything is okay for you guys, especially with the baby on the way. Good luck with it all!!

[Guest]

Hello - Here is our application story.

I am French but I have been in the UK for 20 years. I am married to an Aussie and we have a little girl. We send our application in January and received our acknowledgement on the 7th of February. I did my health checks and my police check on the 12th of April. The police check came back fine but the health check were referred due to Post Natal Depression in 2011 and UTI. I still have not heard back from them. I have bugged my case worker (LG) on a monthly basis but still nothing.

Did anyone get their visa in less than 8/9 months? I know we are half way through the 'official' processing time but it feels like we are limbo!...anyway I am sure you are all in the same positions or if you have your visa you have been in that position too. Tips and advice welcome. Have a great Sunday!

[Guest]

Hello - Here is our application story.

I am French but I have been in the UK for 20 years. I am married to an Aussie and we have a little girl. We send our application in January and received our acknowledgement on the 7th of February. I did my health checks and my police check on the 12th of April. The police check came back fine but the health check were referred due to Post Natal Depression in 2011 and UTI. I still have not heard back from them. I have bugged my case worker (LG) on a monthly basis but still nothing.

Did anyone get their visa in less than 8/9 months? I know we are half way through the 'official' processing time but it feels like we are limbo!...anyway I am sure you are all in the same positions or if you have your visa you have been in that position too. Tips and advice welcome. Have a great Sunday!

 

Hello and welcome

 

Don't fret overly about your medical being referred. Its a pretty regular thing and most of them are passed fine once someone casts an eye over them. I'd not bug your CO overly either. TBH they can't tell you anything about your medical as its all done electronically and it goes straight to Aus once referred. Its up to someone there then to rubber stamp it or request more info etc. The average wait time for referred medicals is about 3-4 months. But they are done in time for the 8-9 month time frame of the partner visa grant.

 

Yes some people have had their visas granted quicker but plan on 8-9 months and don't expect it to be sooner. TBH you are probably wishing away something that won't happen and at least if you work to the 8-9 month time frame you know what is what. It isn't really limbo if you know this is the time frame and plan accordingly.

[Tulip]

I'm almost in the exact same position, did my med on the 13th of May (three months after lodged on the 4th of Feb, as requested by my CO) and I too have been referred for minor things. I haven't been bugging my CO, I did ask her recently whether my med had been cleared yet and she said she would let me know when it had, so I'm just keeping quiet now and waiting.

[Guest]

Thank you so much for your reply. I found the wait so frustrating. I am not good at this at all. We find it hard because all our family is overseas and have little support here. We shall enjoy the last months we are living in the UK and hope for some sunshine. :-)

[sjn87]

iv been asked to do my medicals, which i should hopefully sort out next weekend

 

isnt this all going a bit fast for me? im not complaining, i just thought i would do alot of sitting around waiting

[Guest]

iv been asked to do my medicals, which i should hopefully sort out next weekend

 

isnt this all going a bit fast for me? im not complaining, i just thought i would do alot of sitting around waiting

 

Your visa is slightly different to the partner visa iirc. If you've been asked to do your medical now then go ahead and get it done. You'll have been given a HAP number etc for the booking.

[lucyh88]

Checked with my co today two weeks after taking meds, they've been received and are fine, nothing further is required apparently. Just another 7-8 months to wait now, exciting!

[capslovesit]

We received my partner's visa yesterday, about a month earlier than expected! we were originally given the 8-9 month time frame when we applied in November so we weren't expecting it til mid-July. Also an added surprise, she granted us the 100! We've been together 4 years and aren't married or anything so I wasn't really expecting to get that at all! Our CO was RE and the only contact we had with her the entire time was her first email to say she received our application and when to have the medicals/police checks done. Will be booking flights today!

[andyandloz10]

We received my partner's visa yesterday, about a month earlier than expected! we were originally given the 8-9 month time frame when we applied in November so we weren't expecting it til mid-July. Also an added surprise, she granted us the 100! We've been together 4 years and aren't married or anything so I wasn't really expecting to get that at all! Our CO was RE and the only contact we had with her the entire time was her first email to say she received our application and when to have the medicals/police checks done. Will be booking flights today!

 

 

Thats quality news....im in same boat as you so i hope for the same :-)

[kmarees1986]

Hi ya we have just been through exactly the same thing I am an Aussie resident and I came to Oz in Nov 6 months pregnant, my fiancé is British and has a criminal record he applied for a tourist visa so he could be here for the birth we applied for his residency in November and as it was going to take 9 months he had to apply for tv in the mean time.

It was taking so long for the tv and getting near my due date I got the hospital to write a visa letter to say I needed him here for support as soon as they received the letter they granted him the tv and then whilst on a trip back to the uk as his 3 months were up we had an email from our agent to say his 300 was going to be granted on the 7 month mark,I was so worried because of his record but its all turned out lovely and we are very happy in Melbourne with our beautiful baby girl. All the best and for the birth I'm sure it will be fine

Oh Loubear you just gave me a glimmer of hope!! The TV has gone from being processed in 7working days to us being told it could take up to a month and due to some complications with my pregnancy I am at risk of early labour - i'm 36 weeks this week and can literally go anytime. I will definitly get a letter from the hospital, that is a great idea.

 

And to snifter - unfortunatly my experience in the UK was not totally a pleasant one and as soon as I found out we were pregnant, the only sensible option forus was to get to Australia. My husband has no real family in the UK apart from his elderly mother, whereas I have a massive family unit here is Australia and I felt we need the extra support and love. Plus, I have been terribly homesick for a long time. We thought we would get out 309/100 visa submitted about 2 months earlier than what we did - raising the cash for the fee and our migration agent fees proved challenging and also collabroating character statements from my husbands clost friends took a seriously long time. Then we applied for a Sponsored Family Tourist Visa which was rejected based on my ineligibility to be a sponsor (poor advice recieved and misinterpretation fo the guidlines for sponsors). So now we are down to the wire - its touch and go and my fingers are still tightly crossed, but hope is fading thats for sure.