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

[Guest]

This thread has given me faith that my husband's visa might come through quickly...once we apply, anyway. I'm taking him on a 1 year tourist visa in January (moving to Brisvegas), and haven't yet got his spouse visa application in...:eek:...we're nearly there though. We've been together 14 years, married nearly 9 years and have 2 kids, so imagine we're pretty low risk.

 

Any thoughts about whether it's better to apply online or by paper? A friend told my husband online didn't work so he's been pursuing the paper version and all that entails, but it certainly doesn't read like there's any problems with the online system from this thread. Any tips gratefully accepted. :hug:

 

 

Apply online if you are happy to. It means colour scanning your official documents like passports, marriage cert etc rather than having them certified iirc. If you've already compiled all the evidence and have it certified, applying by post is also fine. Neither way is automatically quicker in its process once its lodged.

 

Keep in mind you need to send a paper application via registered post, not a courier. The info on postal applications is on the Aus High commission website for London.

[Guest]

Our stats, applied Oct 28th. Uploaded majority of docs, just uploading final ones over the next week.

[Guest]

This thread has given me faith that my husband's visa might come through quickly...once we apply, anyway. I'm taking him on a 1 year tourist visa in January (moving to Brisvegas), and haven't yet got his spouse visa application in...:eek:...we're nearly there though. We've been together 14 years, married nearly 9 years and have 2 kids, so imagine we're pretty low risk.

 

Any thoughts about whether it's better to apply online or by paper? A friend told my husband online didn't work so he's been pursuing the paper version and all that entails, but it certainly doesn't read like there's any problems with the online system from this thread. Any tips gratefully accepted. :hug:

 

+1 for doing online if you haven't already done so (just joined so forgive me I'm just reading through threads). It's super easy and you can upload doc after paying if you're still waiting on having things certified/copied or searching the house high and low for them :laugh:

[Guest]

Apply online if you are happy to. It means colour scanning your official documents like passports, marriage cert etc rather than having them certified iirc. If you've already compiled all the evidence and have it certified, applying by post is also fine. Neither way is automatically quicker in its process once its lodged.

 

Keep in mind you need to send a paper application via registered post, not a courier. The info on postal applications is on the Aus High commission website for London.

 

I didn't realise the part in bold/italics was the case! Our poor friends who had to write out certifying every doc (we had them copied and then scanned in colour) ahh well, belts and braces I guess!

[benemar]

Hi everyone,

 

Since someone was asking, we applied in mid-July and we are still waiting!

 

This forum has been so helpful to us and I thought it was about time to share our experience: I am the applicant, I'm Italian and my husband is Australian from birth. Our case is pretty straight forward - we are a young couple but we have been together for 4.5 years and we have been married for 3 and a half. We have lived in the UK most of the time and we have applied from London. We have provided plenty of evidence covering every aspect of our relationship from when we first met until shortly before we sent our application in.

 

The application was sent on the 14th of July 2016, our CO contacted us on the 1st of September 2016 and asked for Police Check and Medicals - we provided them within 12 days. We are waiting now but hopefully it shouldn't take much longer! I can see that some people who applied at the end of June have got their visa granted now and that makes me feel quite confident, but I don't want to get my hopes up too much (especially cause it seems to me that most of those cases are of couples who have been together for much longer and have kids too).

 

Fingers crossed for all of us!

Edited December 3, 2016 by benemar
forgot to say that we aren't British but we live in the UK

[ashabree]

 

@koalakate, @carahunter4 & @snifter, thank you so much for your responses (and sorry for my delay writing back). We've still yet to hear . I was worried we'd not uploaded enough information. It might just be us not knowing much about the system, but I didn't think it was easy to understand what you should/shouldn't do. I know we'll get processed when it's our turn, but waiting for any kind of communication is excruciating . Probably best to focus all my energy on Christmas now. Whoop!

[carahunter4]

Hi all,

 

Welcome @Ozzie and @benemar

@ashabree, I thought the system was complicated to understand once I started to upload everything too. I've just decided that if they need anything else they'll ask and I've got plenty of back-up info I can provide. I am also focussing on Christmas now, I do love it :smile:

 

I've been keeping an eye on other threads and it does seem like there is some kind of delay at the moment. Up until July time people were getting CO's or requesting medicals/police checks after a couple of months but it seems to have suddenly halted. Don't know if they are focussing on other visa's for a while or something and then perhaps they'll catch the partners back up - who knows! It's frustrating having people about a month ahead of me that still haven't heard but at least I know there's no chance of getting mine until after so not anticipating any contact any day soon! At least into the new year now. I'm just hoping to have my medicals and police checks requested before we want to put the house on the market in spring time because at least we know it's just a formality after that.

@koalakate how are you doing?

[Guest]

Hi all,

 

Welcome @Ozzie and @benemar

@ashabree,

 

Thanks @carahunter4

 

I've made a list of things we needed to supply and ticked it off. However, we didn't do the 80 or the 1221 as from what I've read they might only be for HR countries or if they do ask, we can fill out on request. I wasn't sure about having to write a statement (each partner and sponsor)? We haven't done that yet but from looks of it our case won't be looked at for a while. (They must be amassing a huge amount of money with all the $6k applications!!).

 

Did you and your partner write a statement each? It's just odd as we've included all that info online in our account so seems odd we need to do this, scan and add the same info?

[koalakate]

We are are still waiting!!! No news about the medical etc. it seems very odd. I've emailed them today to see if I can gleam any more information. Will let you know.

 

 

Hi all,

 

Welcome @Ozzie and @benemar

@ashabree, I thought the system was complicated to understand once I started to upload everything too. I've just decided that if they need anything else they'll ask and I've got plenty of back-up info I can provide. I am also focussing on Christmas now, I do love it :smile:

 

I've been keeping an eye on other threads and it does seem like there is some kind of delay at the moment. Up until July time people were getting CO's or requesting medicals/police checks after a couple of months but it seems to have suddenly halted. Don't know if they are focussing on other visa's for a while or something and then perhaps they'll catch the partners back up - who knows! It's frustrating having people about a month ahead of me that still haven't heard but at least I know there's no chance of getting mine until after so not anticipating any contact any day soon! At least into the new year now. I'm just hoping to have my medicals and police checks requested before we want to put the house on the market in spring time because at least we know it's just a formality after that.

@koalakate how are you doing?

Edited December 6, 2016 by koalakate

[koalakate]

Ps a July visa was granted yesterday on another forum hence why I'm sending an email.

[Chloerose]

Ps a July visa was granted yesterday on another forum hence why I'm sending an email.

Ps a July visa was granted yesterday on another forum hence why I'm sending an email.

 

 

Hey guys... new to this forum. I am a June applicant, 25th, CO allocated and Medicaid requested late July. Nothing since then and now just waiting!

 

very frustrating!

[carahunter4]

Hi @Ozzie yes we did write and supply a statement each which we attached. It did seem odd that we then had to fill in a load of similar details though. To be honest I only wrote a short bit on the form and then wrote 'see statements'!! I hope all our info is ok but I'm sure if not they'll let us know.

 

Thanks @carahunter4

 

I've made a list of things we needed to supply and ticked it off. However, we didn't do the 80 or the 1221 as from what I've read they might only be for HR countries or if they do ask, we can fill out on request. I wasn't sure about having to write a statement (each partner and sponsor)? We haven't done that yet but from looks of it our case won't be looked at for a while. (They must be amassing a huge amount of money with all the $6k applications!!).

 

Did you and your partner write a statement each? It's just odd as we've included all that info online in our account so seems odd we need to do this, scan and add the same info?

[carahunter4]

We are are still waiting!!! No news about the medical etc. it seems very odd. I've emailed them today to see if I can gleam any more information. Will let you know.

 

Hi @koalakate, you have been waiting for a very long time now! But I've been trawling the forums and cannot find anyone that has had a case officer allocated or been requested medicals since July. It makes me think that they have put partner visa's on hold for a while?? Perhaps they'll just suddenly get going again. I really hope you get a decent explanation this time. You could ask on the migration agent thread to see if any of them know what's happening? It would just be nice to know why they seem to have suddenly slowed down. I'm happy for now focussing on Christmas but I'm not looking forward to January and February if there's still no news as they are such crap months anyway!

[carahunter4]

Hey guys... new to this forum. I am a June applicant, 25th, CO allocated and Medicaid requested late July. Nothing since then and now just waiting!

 

very frustrating!

 

Hi @Chloerose welcome to the board. Looks like you got a CO allocated just before things started to go quiet, hopefully you should be ok with getting your visa. It's the waiting for the CO that seems to be the problem at the moment. Hoping you get your visa very soon, keep us updated.

[ChimneyJ]

Hi Everyone.

 

I had the 309 and 100 visa’s granted yesterday, just over 4 months since applying.

 

A bit of background: I’m British, living in the UK with dual citizen Australian-British husband/sponsor for the last 8 years (married for 7 years). No children.

 

My visa timeline is below -

Agent Used: No

Visa sub class: 309/100

Applied online: 30 July 2016 (sponsor’s form and evidence uploaded within a week)

Case officer assigned: 27 September 2016 (additional document, police check and medical requested)

Police check and additional document submitted: 25 October 2016

Medical submitted: 2 November 2016 (undertaken on 27 October)

Visa granted (both the 309 and 100): 5 December 2016

 

Other than medical and police check the only extra document we were asked to supply was my husband/sponsor’s proof of acquiring British citizenship (he naturalised in 2012).

 

In mid-November I realised that I should have had a button on my immiaccount which wasn’t there, to notify them that I had uploaded the requested police check / medical / requested document. So when I realised, I just sent my case officer an email and he left a voicemail the next day to confirm they had everything they needed and we were just waiting for a visa grant date.

 

It also took me longer than I had hoped to do both the police check and medical. I found it difficult to find an endorser for my UK ACRO police check (I didn’t realise I needed one until I went to request the check) and my “local” panel doctor only take appointments for Thursdays and they were already booked up for a couple of weeks.

 

None of this seemed to delay the visa grant though, it’s come through much quicker than I was expecting!

 

We haven’t made any fixed plans for moving and it is looking like we might just go to Australia for a holiday in early 2017 to validate the visa and then move over there sometime later.

[carahunter4]

Hi @ChimneyJ Thankyou for the update and congratulations!! That was very quick!

 

Is there anyone out there who has had contact from their case officer/been requested medicals police checks in August? Thanks

 

 

 

Hi Everyone.

 

I had the 309 and 100 visa’s granted yesterday, just over 4 months since applying.

 

A bit of background: I’m British, living in the UK with dual citizen Australian-British husband/sponsor for the last 8 years (married for 7 years). No children.

 

My visa timeline is below -

Agent Used: No

Visa sub class: 309/100

Applied online: 30 July 2016 (sponsor’s form and evidence uploaded within a week)

Case officer assigned: 27 September 2016 (additional document, police check and medical requested)

Police check and additional document submitted: 25 October 2016

Medical submitted: 2 November 2016 (undertaken on 27 October)

Visa granted (both the 309 and 100): 5 December 2016

 

Other than medical and police check the only extra document we were asked to supply was my husband/sponsor’s proof of acquiring British citizenship (he naturalised in 2012).

 

In mid-November I realised that I should have had a button on my immiaccount which wasn’t there, to notify them that I had uploaded the requested police check / medical / requested document. So when I realised, I just sent my case officer an email and he left a voicemail the next day to confirm they had everything they needed and we were just waiting for a visa grant date.

 

It also took me longer than I had hoped to do both the police check and medical. I found it difficult to find an endorser for my UK ACRO police check (I didn’t realise I needed one until I went to request the check) and my “local” panel doctor only take appointments for Thursdays and they were already booked up for a couple of weeks.

 

None of this seemed to delay the visa grant though, it’s come through much quicker than I was expecting!

 

We haven’t made any fixed plans for moving and it is looking like we might just go to Australia for a holiday in early 2017 to validate the visa and then move over there sometime later.

[Chloerose]

Very quick, congratulations! I wonder why July applicants are getting approved so quickly. Not sure if there are other June applicants still waiting. How does the queing system work? Does anyone know?

 

just a bit of history for us - married for years, no children, I am the sponsor with dual citizenship (Spain/aus) hubby is from South Africa, both been in the U.K. For 4 years since we met.

 

Hope it's nothing to worry about with the delay!

[koalakate]

I'm wondering if the Visa 100's are being approved quickly? Do you qualify? I think you will hear very soon. I will let everyone know when I hear back from the London Office.

[Chloerose]

Sorry should have said married for 4 years.. no kids.. also have a job offer back in oz that I've uploaded, not sure if we qualify for the 100...maybe it's because of our dual citizenship!

[MaggieMay24]

 

Sorry should have said married for 4 years.. no kids.. also have a job offer back in oz that I've uploaded, not sure if we qualify for the 100...maybe it's because of our dual citizenship!

If you provide evidence of marriage/de facto for 3 years (or 2 years with a child), then you qualify for the 100.

[Chloerose]

Thanks so much, then I guess we qualify.. hope it's nothing to worry about that we haven't heard then. Not sure about other June applicants .. haven't heard from any on any forums

 

thanks for your advice and comments

[koalakate]

I've seen June applicants on other forums who are still waiting (applied the last week in June). You both must have a slower/busier CO and I must be in the extra slow pile!! Fingers crossed you hear before Xmas!

 

Thanks so much, then I guess we qualify.. hope it's nothing to worry about that we haven't heard then. Not sure about other June applicants .. haven't heard from any on any forums

 

thanks for your advice and comments

[Chloerose]

Oh great that makes me feel much better! I couldn't find anyone else after the 23rd June, and we are the 25th..I will keep you all updated with it!

[Guest]

Who fancies trying to get role in the IMMI department (not as a CO!) but just to actually know how things (timelines etc..) work there! :laugh:

 

Thanks @carahunter4, I think we'll just write a short statement and then put 'see online account information' or something - it's exactly the same info.

[ashabree]

I think we're in the same pile as you @koalakate... Still not heard anything. I will get my husband to give them another call - hopefully he wont be on hold for 45 minutes again...

 

@ChimneyJ - CONGRATULATIONS! Amazing and very quick. I hope all the planning goes well.

 

I've seen June applicants on other forums who are still waiting (applied the last week in June). You both must have a slower/busier CO and I must be in the extra slow pile!! Fingers crossed you hear before Xmas!