Hi everyone, I thought I would post here and see what people had to say about the subclass 309 spouse visa. I married my wife in Feb this year and we put her papers in to be process mid April. So it's just over 6 weeks now waiting, and I am aware that many people wait quite some time.

I'd just like to say that I think a better system could be created, especially knowing that over 90% of couples are genuine. It is a very sad and painful experience to go through, and I'm sure with some thought applied something better could be created.

I am a resident of Australia, my family has been her for 170+ years, and my wife comes from Nanning China. They told us "around" 20 weeks processing time, but of course no guarantee of anything at that point. The waiting is the hardest part, and being apart from my wife is not something I would wish on anyone. Contrary to what our leaders here tell us, Australia does have the resources for Alot more people. We currently produce food and export enough to feed 100 million people.

Anyway, just venting in what is a very frustrating experience.

Hi Frank, welcome to the forum and feel free to contribute to all aspects of Australia, the more people with knowledge, the better the forum can be.

All visa applications can seem to have their harsh side and family visas all the more so for obvious reasons but there are still things like health and character checks that hopefully will keep Australia the lucky country it has been but it is certainly changing and not always for the better.

Immigration legislation has also been developed over many years and like all legislative pieces it can get a bit unwieldy but also becomes a much bigger issue to attempt re-writing.
And then as with all rules we have to abide by, though 90% or whatever of us may be prepared to do the right thing, we still need legislation to know what that should be.

As to resources, yes we do produce food and export some but we also do import much and the recent good rains in many areas aside, our dams are not always in the right places so governments have not been constructing desalination plants for no small reason.
Though to me it is rather stupid policy as against being more diversified with dams locations to facilitate a major water grid and also diversifying population, the shortage of water at time of droughts does emphasise there is a limit to population carrying capacity, quality of life in capital cities being another aspect.

Some people may say Oh well, lets stick in more and more desal plants, they just being high energy users and so where does the power come from!
Sun and Wind? - not always sunny nor windy except for pollies.
Yep, back to burning more coal or gas [ if we have it ] and the pollution.

We currently have a Labor government and Labor governments are supposedly the governments of unions, they having initially been associated with trades.
And yet we have a deputy PM who is also Education Minister proposing that much higher %s of people ought to get university education!
University education in what you might ask and that's if they have the aptitude for it, and then what work will they be doing and there's still a lot of hands on productive work that is needed for all societies to survive.
Yep, employment is another matter and whereas we once rode on the sheep's back, we now have a reources sector very dependent on international economic conditions of which the future is quite uncertain and yet the government wants to do all it can to kill it off.

It is that international trade that allows us to have the life we do now.

So yes, there are many many different aspects of what population is good for Australia and I must say that to say lets have heaps more is in my mind more than questionable.

That's about the longest response I've put in this section but population numbers is to the fore of many peoples minds and so I'll start up a thread in another section.

I wonder how many people are going through some extreme emotional stress from the visa application process? It seems to me a very random process and one case cannot compare to another so it's hard to get a fix on any certainties. But I would think that a straightforward police check, medical check and financial support check would be easy enough, certainly not 20+ weeks (as in my case). Plus if the couple are married, and the government say they want "genuine" marriages, how does it help to split couple apart for such long periods?

My idea is that once they pass the normal checks they get a "pre-qualifying" visa for 3 months, and in that time report to the police once a month where in Australia we can monitor the "genuiness" of a relationship much more than an overseas embassy can from a few pieces of paper. If they pass the 3 month test they would then be given a 2 year visa, etc.

For myself, it is very hard, emotionally very much a strain and to be honest I am tinged with an underlying sadness every day I am apart from my wife. I did not get married so I could continue to live as a single person for an indefinite amount of time, but thanks to our government, that's the life I am living.

If we all have the human right of "being happy", I don't see how this visa process fits in. Trying to hold together a marriage from a long distance is one of the hardest things we can do, that's all I know.

Frank,
You are raising something different again and over on the other section I previously started a thread titled Politics of Immigration.
Feel free to do a cut and paste.

I know how you feel. I have been waiting for four months now. Although I am not apart from my Aussie husband, I can imagine what you must be going through being apart from your wife. I have dual nationality (Italian and Iranian) and have been married for 5 years and have two children. So, since the Iranian part of me raises all sorts of "RED FLAGS", I'm afraid my wait will be longer than most. They are currently doing background checks on me and they told me that process would take between 9 and 12 months (even though the original e-mail from the CO said between 5 and 10 months). I don't know if the the genuineness of my marriage and the fact that we have two children is a high priority for us now that my file is being processing by ASIO.

All I can say, is hang in there and I'll keep my fingers crossed for all of us.

Hi Frank

I'm in the same position. I got married in April and am back in Australia for a month now. Missing my new husband soo much! He's from a high risk country...not sure how long till we see each other again. Yes, every day is tinged with sadness... but it will be worth it in the end... :-)