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

[Guest ST86]

Hi all,

 

Got my passport back on Monday with 309 visa inside, such a relief! Here's my timeline, as requested in another thread. Sorry if the detail is a bit excessive but when I was applying myself I always preferred as much info as possible, so here goes:

 

25th November '09 - Initial Application sent (from Dublin).

2nd December '09 - Received email saying application received & requesting further evidence of living with partner for 12 months.

6th January '10 - Documents sent (Was on holiday for most of December so this added a few weeks to the process).

15th January '10 - Received email requesting medical and police certs (Had already supplied one from Ireland but, stupidly, not from my 1 year WHV in Oz).

9th Febraury '10 - Received email saying that the panel doctor "had not completed form properly". Quickly followed by me going ballistic to the doctor's secretary over the phone...

15th February '10 - Received email to say that everything had been sorted out with the medical form.

16th February '10 - Received email saying application APPROVED!

22nd February '10 - Sent passport to London.

1st March '10 - Received passport, complete with visa stamp

 

 

So all in all, slightly less than the three months I had expected to be the minimum waiting time. Would have been a lot quicker too, if I had been a bit smarter regarding the paperwork I needed to send and hadn't spent most of December abroad.

 

Annoyingly, I booked flights for early April just before I got approved, thinking that it would take longer for the visa to come through! Would leave tomorrow if I could, but overall I'm just glad that the whole process turned out well and is over. Hopefully now life in Australia will prove to be worth it!

[Guest lindawob]

HI ALL!!

congratulations ST86!!

I still have no news...

I called my CO this motning and her answerphone says she is away for 10 days

so called he supervisor that says that there is a massive workload so they are working on the applications in cronological order and it takes 3 MONTHS!!!

He also says that I have provied all they need( which I knew)but they might nd up asking for more in the last stages....WTF???

I amnow super stressed because I am snding everything to OZ and we are going to stay with my mum in italy for 2 months but what if they ask me for something and ca't gewt hold f it??

this is very very stressfull!

what shall I do?? do you think I should al my CO when she is back and ask f she can make sure everything is there?I mean this cha says is all there but who knows!!

[Peach]

By any chance are your COs initials SV? :-)

[Guest lindawob]

No they are WP she is new i think..why??

[Peach]

Looking through this thread the folk that get the SV lady seem to suffer slow process times (me included!) :-)

[Quinkla]

 

New steps added in:

 

 

Dec 4 – visa application submitted

 

 

 

Dec 8 – visa application acknowledged

Dec 9 – xray

Dec 16 – medical

Jan 22 – told I had failed the medical but no reason given

Feb 2 – told that there may have been a mistake in processing the medicals and an incorrect conclusion may have been reached; case had been referred to Senior Medical Officer

Feb 17 – visa granted

 

 

 

Feb 18 – sent off passport

 

 

 

Feb 22 – passport returned with sticker

 

 

 

Mar 19 – leave UK

 

 

 

Mar 22 – arrive in Australia

 

 

 

Mar 29 – start new job

 

 

 

[Guest lindawob]

well with the WP it might be too!!LOL good luck! i just read your blog...if what the manager told me today is anything to go by you would be getting yours very soon xxx fingers crossed !!!!

[Guest sarahjean]

Has anyone else had the horrible waiting times through the Berlin office?

 

They processed payment of our prospective marriage visa over 5 weeks ago and still not even a case officer? We have heard nothing. Even emailed the embassy to see what was going on and they did not reply, that was 2 weeks ago?

 

We are apart from each other, so it is pretty stressful. In that last 10 months we have only seen each other for 2 1/2 months.. so I am dreading the thought of this visa taking 5 months or something like that!

 

I would like to hear if anyone had maybe not heard from their case officer until they required more info or if they had approved it.. as that is what I am hoping for! If it is still sitting in a pile waiting to be looked at after 5 weeks, I am worried!

[Guest]

Hi Sarah,

 

I am afraid we did - it took more than 6 weeks to receive our case number and the only way we got one was by calling them and e mailing them repeatedly.

 

I think they are completely overloaded with cases (they look after visas for at least 10 countries) and tend to take their time.

 

They also processed our payment right away (for the temp/permanent visa) and it took about 2 months before work was finally done.

 

e mail me at giota.karagiannis@zurich.com if you'd like to know more about our story. What I recommend is making sure you have collected all the information that is requested on the immigration web site and send them reminders requesting the status of your application.

 

It will all work out and will all be ok, you'll just need to be patient (and persistent). We got confirmation of our visa after 9 months.

[Guest Jojingle]

Joanna (40) and Mike (36)

Defacto visa

Application posted 24 March - fully loaded exc medicals

CO asigned 29 March

Medicals requested 29 March

Plan to live in Perth WA

 

So excited!!!! Hope it comes through within 12 weeks - have booked the wedding for October and would like to get there mid september.

[Guest JayCook77]

Hi all

Started getting paperwork together back in Sept 2009, Had my Character check and my medical sorted Jan 2010.

All apperwork Bar Fiancée's Passport sent off to Aus House London Mar 25th 2010

Application number and CO assigned 27th March 2010

Will keep you posted as to my outcomes during processing.

I have a thread if anyone want to speak to me.

 

Cheers

Jay

[helenccc]

Hi Guys,

 

Just sharing my time line so far:

 

2nd March 2010 special delivery post application from Ireland

5th March 2010 CO acknowledged app and requested meds and the pcc which i had forgotten to put in envelope

8th March posted pcc

16th March had meds done in Dublin

30th March informed by email that meds are fine and application is going through internal processing.

 

Will keep you's posted

 

Helen x:laugh:

[Guest cjn]

Hi there,

 

I've heard its possible to lodge a 307 defacto visa in person at the High Commission for a faster approval. Has anyone done this or has any more information about it?

[Peach]

Hi, do you mean a 309? People have previously received a faster response by 'front loading' their visa application with medical results and police certificate (i.e. have them done upfront before the case officer requests them). This used to be quicker way of getting the visa (not sure whether handing it in or posting made a material difference). That said, no one (posting on this forum) who has applied offshore in 2010 has got their visa yet. Australia House are quoting a 3-4 month waiting time.

[Guest cjn]

Yes i meant 309, thanks for your reply. That's devastating news! Was hoping to leave in 3 months!

[Peach]

It is a pain in the bum, it seemed that everyone who applied in December 2009 got a fast turnaround. But since then the breaks have gone on. My application went in mid-Jan and my case officer tells me not to expect a visa before May (and I've been with my partner for 9 years, have a child together and a joint mortgage - so pretty straightforward I'd say). When I last phoned, she did ask me if I'd had a flight date I was working back from - which I didn't - but I got the impression that if she might have been able to get things moving.

 

It is a bit of a gamble, but three months still is possible. You never can predict if things will start moving quickly again. Any how welcome to the forum Have you got your application already prepared?

[fleabo]

It is a pain in the bum, it seemed that everyone who applied in December 2009 got a fast turnaround. But since then the breaks have gone on. My application went in mid-Jan and my case officer tells me not to expect a visa before May (and I've been with my partner for 9 years, have a child together and a joint mortgage - so pretty straightforward I'd say). When I last phoned, she did ask me if I'd had a flight date I was working back from - which I didn't - but I got the impression that if she might have been able to get things moving.

 

It is a bit of a gamble, but three months still is possible. You never can predict if things will start moving quickly again. Any how welcome to the forum Have you got your application already prepared?

 

Just to second what Peach has said. My CO has told me a May approval beckons. I have the same CO and same application date as Peach (early Jan), with similar circumstances (11 years married, 3 kids, front-loaded with the works). I too was asked if I had a flight booked...

 

Good luck and get cracking on the application!

[Guest cjn]

Thanks Peach and fleabo. I'm Australian and my work visa will run out in June, so that's why i'm hoping my partners visa will come through and we can move! I've perhaps only been paying attention to the positive stories from friends who've had their applications processed in 6 weeks or so! Fingers crossed it won't be much longer than 12 weeks. Will update this forum with our progress. Thanks!

[Guest]

Jeez the waiting is so nerve racking isn’t it?! It actually makes me feel a little bit like I might vomit when I think that we might not get it in time (our flights are booked for 26th July), timeline as follows:

Application sent front loaded with medicals and police checks – 16th March

Email from CO requesting more information - 30th March

Requested information sent – 1st April.

Just waiting to hear back, when I emailed him to advise we had flights booked he said not to move them until closer to the date. I don’t even know if we can move them! Oh well our plan is just to keep calm and wait and see what happens – only thing we can do I suppose!

Good luck everyone J

[Guest jayde]

Breathe in, breathe out, its my new mantra, we dont have flights booked but our plans look like they will need to be remade, its very stressful I agree.

 

I can just imagine the celebrations when they finally come through and keep thinking positive thoughts (well after a few days where i really lost it)

 

good luck

[Guest cjn]

Hi daisyd, can I ask what further information was requested? How did you get your medical and police check? Did both the British and Australian citizen have to submit these? Good luck and thanks! Courtney

[Guest]

Hi daisyd, can I ask what further information was requested? How did you get your medical and police check? Did both the British and Australian citizen have to submit these? Good luck and thanks! Courtney

 

I applied for my police check via the online forms and had my medical done in Knightsbridge in February. These both came back clear. Police checks were sent with the application and medicals were sent by the clinic to Australia house. Only I submitted these, not my Australian partner.

Re. additional information, my partner and I met in a house share. We were dating a while before we started sharing a room.

They asked for stat decs from 2 housemates confirming we were a couple, stat dec from our landlord confirming we were a couple and that we shared a room and finally a stat dec from ourselves confirming when we started sharing a room – this was tricky for us, mainly due to the fact that wed been pretty much sharing from the start of the year!

We just picked the date that we officially rented my old room and went for that!

[helenccc]

Hi Guys,

 

Just letting you know as well that I am the aussie and had to get police checks from oz as there are chidren involved in the application. Both children are mine and both have citizenship and aussie passports although born in ireland. I think it is something brought in recently for child protection although not 100% sure. As for the waiting i am so impatient. We have flights booked even sooner and there seems to be such a slow down on application approvals. Starting to discuss the wat ifs. Dont thiink we can change flights as they were cheap ones but not cheap enough just to lose. We have discussed going anyway with OH on a tourist visa and just leaving country when visa is approved but this will be a costly option also. OH is going to email CO at end of mth and see if we can get a clearer picture of the when. Will keep you's all posted and cant wait to hear of things moving along for all of you that applied before us

 

Helen x :arghh:

[Guest]

Hi Guys,

 

Just letting you know as well that I am the aussie and had to get police checks from oz as there are chidren involved in the application. Both children are mine and both have citizenship and aussie passports although born in ireland. I think it is something brought in recently for child protection although not 100% sure. As for the waiting i am so impatient. We have flights booked even sooner and there seems to be such a slow down on application approvals. Starting to discuss the wat ifs. Dont thiink we can change flights as they were cheap ones but not cheap enough just to lose. We have discussed going anyway with OH on a tourist visa and just leaving country when visa is approved but this will be a costly option also. OH is going to email CO at end of mth and see if we can get a clearer picture of the when. Will keep you's all posted and cant wait to hear of things moving along for all of you that applied before us

 

Helen x :arghh:

 

Yeah I think that’s the case, we have no children so no worries there. My partner works at a school and we got payslips and confirmation of employment from them, but no police checks or anything like that.

We have discussed the tourist visa option. Flights are booked, and whilst not extortionate price - tourist visa might be a cheaper option.

How does this work then? When you say leave the country could it be somewhere nearby like NZ? How long do you have to leave for, and how could you get your visa put into your passport if you aren’t in the country as youll need your visa to leave and get back in?

Let us know how you get on Helen, good luck. x

[emmaroo]

Hi

 

So, I am a right in thinking that at the moment it is 3-4 months processing time?

 

Thanks

Emma

:cute: