Post # 1
Member
394 posts
Helper bee
Just exactly like my title says. We applied for a partner sponsor visa for Australia 11 months ago and I’m still waiting while they process my application from Canada. We had plenty of evidence of our “genuine and ongoing committed relationship”, I’m young with good health, no criminal record and have degree in a practical health care field. You would think it would be a no brainer but everybody (I’m on an immigration forum) is waiting around for months.
One of the most frustrating things is having no idea when the visa will be granted, I have no idea if my application is 80% processed or 25% processed.
I realize that I’m incredibly lucky that I get to be with my husband while it’s processing but I’m not allowed to work and if this goes on for many more months, financially it will get difficult.
I get that there are those out there that have fradulent marriages and come to Australia to try to work or get health care or whatever, but I left another first world country with universal healthcare so I don’t know what they might think I could possibly be trying to con my way into.
UGH!
Post # 2
Member
47430 posts
Honey Beekeeper
Tphan: It must be frustrating. Just remember there are lots of people awaiting immigration to Canada to take your place. The public service wheel turns slowly in every country.
Post # 3
Member
510 posts
Busy bee
Waiting for our Australian visas was hell. Australians take too long with pretty much everything lol. I moved from the UK, and it took forever, I thought there must be something wrong for it to take this long, but all came through and I’m.now Australian 🙂 keep holding on!
Post # 4
Member
9207 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
Tphan: Part of the problem is that the public service has been savagely cut under the current government. There is a whole of federal government hiring freeze, so as someone leaves they are not replaced and essential jobs can only be filled by internal applicants.
The other big thing is that asylum seekers, of whom there are a lot, applications get priority because they are asylum seekers and because everyday that they sit in detention is more tax payers money being spent which isn’t good for the governments bottom line.
There is also a huge problem with illegal immigrants, otherwise known as visa over stayers. This is the highest number of people that the department deal with. I wil also point out that most of these people are from other commonwealth or western countries with the UK, Ireland, Canada and the US citizens being the most frequent offenders.
I also want to point out that there are plenty of immigration scammers from every country. Just because you have a similar standard of living doesn’t makes you escape scrutiny.
Post # 5
Member
60 posts
Worker bee
Tphan: I’m so sorry. I went through the process about 4 years ago (America to Australia) and it wast so stressfull. Now my husband and I are trying to get back to the U.S. as he is an Aussie and we need to process his visa that way. It’s been going on a year and still waiting. it feels like we are living our lives in limbo and can’t move on. Hope you hear something soon.
Post # 6
Member
394 posts
Helper bee
julies1949: Yes, remembering to keep things in perspective is keeping me sane.
Rabbit56: sunflowerspice: Thanks for the well wishes ladies, I think I’m coming to the end of my wait now, I’ll update this thread if it comes through sometime soon.
j_jaye: Thank you for your comments.
I never said that I should be without scrutiny, I know that people who over stay their visas as well as those that scam their way into the country just makes it worse for everybody else and puts even more strain on an already stressed system. I’m just expressing frustration at an inefficient system, for example the UK grants similar visa (family sponsored for low risk countries) in a matter of weeks. As well, per the Australian immigration website, they do differentiate between processing times of high risk and low risk countries. Canada is considered low risk and it states the visas are usually processed in four months. Unfortunately those times are woefully outdated by two years and has not updated to reflect that even low risk countries are now taking 12-15 months to process, information that most people are not made aware of until they apply for the visa.
As well, as of January 1, 2015 there has been a 50% price increase on family sponsored visas which was a very unpleasant surprise (luckily I applied much sooner than this). Hopefully the much increased price means that there may be more staff to alleviate the giant case load of each officer and increase processing but I’m not holding my breath.
Post # 7
Member
456 posts
Helper bee
Ugh, I hate dealing with immigration. My passport is currently being held hostage by the home office in the UK and even though they’re violating all sorts of EU laws, there’s nothing we can do to speed up the process. Fingers crossed that you’ll get your answer soon!
Post # 8
Member
949 posts
Busy bee
Tphan: I think a lot of immigration services in various countries have suffered from public sector budget cuts, meaning that there are fewer people to process the same number of applications. A friend of mine is waiting for the Finnish immigration service to process her nationality application, and when I last checked their estimated processing times, they seem to be going up.
Post # 9
Member
9207 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
Tphan: I understand that you are frustrated but you can’t compare one countries rules with another. There are all kinds of complex issues that make immigration different here in Australia compared to the UK. I have absolutely no problem with wait times and the level of scrutiny because in this day and age there has to be. The wait times are also a guide and not an exact which is pretty standard cover your butt government policy.
The increase in price was set out in the budget so no one should be complaining that it was a surprise since it was released to the public just like all the other fee increases (like the now reversed GP co payment).
And you definitely shouldn’t hold your breathe. There has been zero whispers about lifting the hiring freeze and given the deficiet no chance that it will be lifted in this governments term.
Unfortunately since this government slashed vital revenue creating taxes like the mining tax and the carbon tax there is little money and public servants are often doing the job of two or three people. Especially in lower level jobs like processing. It is a sucky situation for everyone invloved. But especially for people sitting in the immigration detention centres or boarder camps in third world war torn countries.
Hopefully the public will realise the issues and vote accordingly. But as you said don’t hold your breathe. Unfortunately the bulk of the voting public are middle income employed people who are loving low interest rates without recognising that low interest rates equals a failing economy.
Post # 10
Member
73 posts
Worker bee
Hang in there! The wait times are like 12 – 18 months now for onshore visas? I’m from the US and just starting the process of gathering all the evidence for the partner visa in Oz… its going to be a long painful wait but thankfully i’m able to work since I came on a work/holiday visa
Post # 11
Member
394 posts
Helper bee
Twty6: have you checked out AustraliaForum.com for their immigration forums? There’s a lot of information about what things you should include for proof and so forth. I wish I had read there more before I had applied!
Good luck to you 🙂
Post # 12
Member
128 posts
Blushing bee
Are you on a bridging visa, OP? You might be able to apply for the right to work if you can demonstrate financial strain. Not sure if they’ve changed the rules since I last looked them up…
Post # 13
Member
394 posts
Helper bee
theblackcat: I don’t think I’m able to apply for a bridging visa as those are usually meant for visas lodged onshore, while I appled for mine off-shore to the Ottawa office. The best bet for me to be working would have been to apply for a working holiday visa, but we truly didn’t expect the wait would be this long (they were advising me 5-12 months) so that was our foolishness. I think to apply for the WHV I’d have to go offshore again and we don’t really have the money for that now.
Post # 14
Member
194 posts
Blushing bee
I know exactly where you are coming from! We’re dealing with immigration too. Mine is from Israel to Canada and I fully understand the wait times as well as why they want to look over every single thing to make sure you’re genuine. That being said, it’s driving me crazy because I’m not able to work. For a workaholic like me, it’s one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to deal with. I volunteer instead so it makes the time pass quicker and I’m very passionate about volunteering so I’m kind of grateful I couldn’t work at the beginning…. But now it’s getting really hard to not be antsy (it’s going to be a year in May since I came to Canada so it’s almost a year that I haven’t worked!!) .
One of the other things is the feeling of not being able to move forward with our lives. We had a civil ceremony in 2013 and we are now planning the big wedding for 2016 and it’s very stressful because I have no clue where we will be in the process at that point but I’m trying to think positive and hope everythings works out in our favor sooner rather than later.
Hope things move forward for you soon. Hang in there!
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This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by tattiibee.
Post # 15
Member
11517 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
Tphan: I’ve heard that AUS is really really strict with their immigration policies, I have friends whoe went for a semester abroad and vacation and they all had issues and ridiculous waits as well.
That really sucks for you. Hopefully it’ll be done soon – just think how amazing it will be when that piece of paper comes through.