jamesw7 Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Hi - new joiner, so hoping to get a little info from users. My new wife (English) and i (Australian) are hoping to move to Australia in Dec/Jan this year and are not sure of the best option for applying for a spouse visa for her: 1) Off - shore - been told this takes 12 months, but last few posts seems to indicate it can take 4 months if front loaded at Aus House in London? Is that right? 2) There is a small chance she may be able to work for the same company as in UK - can a work request from an Aus based company be used in Application to get some sort of priority 3) If we do lodge it and then leave the UK before it is granted - is that ok? Appreciate she cant work until it arrives, but is there some sort of restriction on her even entering the country? thanks in advance - will pore over the older threads while waiting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Hi James I have moved your post o a thread of its own, you were lost on page 477 of the thread you originally posted on. I hope you will be seen here and get more answers. Now for my couple of comments for you, You can post "off Shore" such as in the UK or "On Shore" from within Australia. Cheapest route is from the UK, the visa is cheaper and takes around 6 to 8 months (last time i saw a time line) . If you apply from the Uk and your wife travels to Australia she will have to leave Australia for the visa to be granted as an "off Shore" vise she has to be out of Australia when granted. If she applies in Australia then the visa costs more and takes longer, but she can stay in Australia for it to be granted. If she travels to Australia on a tourist visa with the intention of staying in the country then she has entered illegally because the tourist visa is only intended for temporary stay. Immigration could take a dim view of this and class it as misuse of a visa, I know some do it and nothing has happened, but always worth thinking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GeorgeD Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Hi - new joiner, so hoping to get a little info from users.My new wife (English) and i (Australian) are hoping to move to Australia in Dec/Jan this year and are not sure of the best option for applying for a spouse visa for her: 1) Off - shore - been told this takes 12 months, but last few posts seems to indicate it can take 4 months if front loaded at Aus House in London? Is that right? 2) There is a small chance she may be able to work for the same company as in UK - can a work request from an Aus based company be used in Application to get some sort of priority 3) If we do lodge it and then leave the UK before it is granted - is that ok? Appreciate she cant work until it arrives, but is there some sort of restriction on her even entering the country? thanks in advance - will pore over the older threads while waiting. 1) Offshore isn't as long as 12 months (from the UK, other countries may vary). Australia House will give you their current processing tiems if your ask them, but current experience is suggesting around 4-5 months. If you have the info ready to apply, do it now and she may have her visa in time to meet your target move dates. Applying onshore in Oz is more expensive and takes much longer, so she would have no work rights for 10-12 months if she entered on a tourist visa and applied there. 2) The Spouse Visa has absolutely nothing to do with skills or employee sponsorship, so it makes no difference at all in the processing time if she has a job lined up or currently works for an Australian company. Your eligibility for the Spouse Visa is assessed purely on the genuineness of your relationship. 3) Your wife can leave the UK once she has applied, but she should let her Case Officer know her whereabouts, in case they need to contact her for any reason such as requesting additional evidence, etc. To enter Australia she will need a visa which is appropriate for the purpose of her trip. Having applied for a Spouse Visa doesn't give her any rights to enter Australia on it's own. She could apply for an eVisitor tourist visa which gives entry rights for Tourist purposes (and visiting family is a valid use of the eVisitor Visa) and allows her to visit for 3 months. There are no work rights with the eVisitor visa. She doesn't need permission from her CO, but she should advise them she is going to Australia as they can't legally grant the Offshore visa while she is onshore (in Australia.) I visited my wife in Oz on an eVisitor while my application was being processed, and many others here have done the same. She has to leave and be offshore while it is granted (NZ or Bali are fine, she doesn't need to come back to the UK, just be out of Oz). The eVisitor visa is free to aqpply for, but there are other tourist visas for a longer visit, e676 I believe, which have a fee. In either case she needs to leave to be granted her Spouse Visa and then re-enter Australia using it to validate it. Tourists visit the country and then leave. She will be in breach of her visa conditions if she doesn't leave within 3 months on the eVisitor visa. Also be sensible about baggage on the trip...don't have a bag full of interview clothes, trade tools, CVs, qualifications, references, etc, when immigration would expect a tourist to have shorts and t-shirts! This sort of behaviour would give good reason for them to suspect she isn't a tourist. There is no visa which allows an Offshore Spouse Visa applicant to enter Australia and have the application approved whilst in the country. An onshore applicant can stay onshore while their application is procesed, but they stay on the terms of the visa on which they entered, so if it was a tourist visa then there are no work rights. The onshore application is also more expensive and takes significantly longer. I believe the justification for this is that the Spouse Visa is meant to re-unite families, but if they are living together in Australia already then there is no urgency to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoandJon Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I was going to reply but will keep it much briefer - What GeorgeD said! We applied for my husband's visa on 22nd June (well that's when they took the money), got a letter from them with a Case Officer and request for him to have medical on 27th June, and have just been told the visa is likely to be granted in mid November (i.e. 4.5-5 months). His application was front-loaded (i.e. had the police check and loads of evidence already), we've been married since 1st May 2010, and lived together since April 2008 -so I suppose we're probably a fairly straight-forward case. Processing times seem to be a lot more predictable off-shore, looks like you can sometimes get it quicker on-shore, but it might also take a lot lot lot longer. Jon intends to fly out to Oz on 8th Nov in any case (he's checked with CO) - on an ETA if needed, and fly over to NZ as needed when the visa's ready to go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockDr Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 How long have you been living with your wife (before + since marriage)? If it's less than three years, then she'll only get a temporary visa (with full work rights), and the PR part will only be looked at two years from application date. Re: work. If her occupation is on the ENSOL http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2011L01228 or the company is based in regional australia, and the Australian company is willing to sponsor her for a PR visa, the processing times for this are pretty fast (under 6months I think). This may end up being a faster way to PR if you've lived together less than three years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesw7 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 wow, thanks for the level of detail. very much appreciated. since posting the orignal i have reviewed about 100 pages of related threads, so gained a pretty good picture. - We had not even started the packs (hence the questions), but will put in all our information by the end of the month, which may be aggressive, but rather just get it out the way. - This will prob not allow to front load, but general theme seems to be that no longer is as important - just police will be missing, but not sure if that is an issue?? - based on teh 4-5 months am hoping that an end of Aug submission will get us a visa some time in January(fingers crossed) - We are planning on travelling through asia in Dec and Jan, so will tell the case officer, but prob just stay offshore until granted, then enter Australia. - an extra few weeks on a beach hut is no bad thing and keeps us out of NZ:) Anyone aware of threads on content on pack ? - level of detail around photos etc - stat decs contect etc. again, thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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