[Eve1202]

Hi there! I am having a similar situation with my eVisa application. I applied on July 26, it is now August 17 and my application hasn't even been opened, as the status is still "received" (vs "being assessed"). Does anyone have any further advice? I tried calling and submitting a complaint about the long waiting times, but nothing changed. I am very worried - this is an important trip to see extended family and we already bought the tickets, hoping I applied early enough. By the way, I do hold an Eastern European passport...

 

[Eve1202]

Hey there !

Im so sorry to bother you, I saw the thread about your australian tourist visa, almost the exact same thing happened to my partner, he is waiting over a 5 weeks now and still no answer and status of the application is initial assessment, so they even did not check the documents we have send (!!!),
it is same for him, we made travel arrangements before and he had to postpone flight ticket for 2 times now!
Its incredibly frustrating when considering our situation and other conditions I will not bother you with...

So for that please, what was the online form you spoke about ? This one ?

Compliments, complaints and suggestions

We welcome your compliments, complaints and suggestions. The purpose of this form is to collect feedback from clients about their interaction with the Department.

www.homeaffairs.gov.au

If you have any other tip what we can do please tell me, we are desperate.

Thanks a lot !

Hi there,

Did you have any updates on your application? Going through a similar situation here.

 

[antobogdan]

You have to insist with the complaint form, just one didn't do the trick for me. I sent about 7 or 10 until they replied, and after they replied, the grant email came soon

 

[Eve1202]

You have to insist with the complaint form, just one didn't do the trick for me. I sent about 7 or 10 until they replied, and after they replied, the grant email came soon

Thank you! Will bombard them with complaints every day and also try to reach out to higher in the department. So strange though - my Dutch colleague got the same visa approved in a day, and I am waiting for almost a month now, makes me question their whole assessment process.

 

[Eve1202]

Some eastern European countries have a higher grant rate than some Western European countries.

e651 visa Grant Rates for Qtr 4 2021.

Estonia 100.0%
Hungary 100.0%
Lithuania 100.0%
Slovakia 100.0%
Slovenia 100.0%
France 99.4%
Germany 99.3%

Romanian citizens have a higher visa overstay rate, based on US reported figures, and this may affect checking times.

Some eastern European Nationalities have low visa overstay rates, and faster and higher grant times.

Thank you for this information. May I check where is it from? In this case, however, it is not about whether or not the visas get approved, it's about how long Australian Immigration takes to process them. I hold an Eastern European passport and I haven't heard anything about my application from a month ago. This is the second time it happens to me. My Western European colleague, though, recently got the same visa approved in one day. I know another woman who holds the same nationality passport as I do and often travels to Australia. Her application takes weeks to get processed. Her husband, though, who holds a French passport, gets his visa approved in a day. I've heard many more stories like these in person, not to mention those from online forums. It raises a question whether Australian Immigration deliberately makes it harder for certain nationalities to enter the country. Wish they judged by character, and not by nationality.

 

[JandE]

Wish they judged by character, and not by nationality.

If they did judge by character, they would need to check with the applicants country, and that could take a longer time with some countries. There are a numbers of countries that have very fast maybe even automated systems, for checking, while others maybe more manual and might take ages.

 

[Audh123]

Heyy, my Romanian boyfriend is in the same situation rn. He waited for 1 month to get a respond, and his Evisitor visa was refused. Apparently, he didn’t show proof that he has « enough money to sustain this trip ». And they didn’t even send him an email to tell him that some documents were missing. So he reapply again 2 days ago with all the documents they asked for but the flight is next week and he will probably miss the flight bc of late response. Such a shame that discrimation is really present in Australia. Some Canadian, french friends got it in less than 24h without this « money proof », this is so unfair.
Do you know how can I speed up his application process ? Who can I call ? bc this immigration office can only respond by « I cannot tell, idk » it is so annoying.

 

[morevisatroubles]

Well Audh123, I don't know if this makes you happy or not, but I'm from Denmark, and they also aren't processing my application. It's not just Eastern Europeans who are stuck in their system.

I will say though that they didn't ask me for proof that I have enough money. Then again, they'd have to actually look at the application to ask for more information.

 

[omegaman]

Yes that is the form,but i send almost 10 complaints along aprox 2 weeks until they answered

So you got a visa grant, and still complained 10 times?

You have a lot to learn about Australian culture mate. Have a nice visit to our country.

 

[morevisatroubles]

So you got a visa grant, and still complained 10 times?

No, complained 10 times and THEN got a visa that is supposed to be granted in a few days but actually took over a month.

I've talked to the visa hotline, and they were condescending and wouldn't answer simple questions about their own communication. They only really "helped" by directing me to a complaint form, but of course the complaint is not getting processed either. At least try to understand why people are getting frustrated. The system is critically understaffed and is causing people a lot of unnecessary grief.

 

[JandE]

The system is critically understaffed and is causing people a lot of unnecessary grief.

The system is critically understaffed, with many unable to work due to COVID.

This estimated timeframe is based on how long it has taken to process recently finalised applications. It does not guarantee your application will be finalised within this timeframe.

 

[morevisatroubles]

Got it. Thank you JandE for being patient with me. I will keep my fingers crossed that the travel agent can help me out of this mess. Have a nice evening/night.

 

[Eve1202]

Heyy, my Romanian boyfriend is in the same situation rn. He waited for 1 month to get a respond, and his Evisitor visa was refused. Apparently, he didn’t show proof that he has « enough money to sustain this trip ». And they didn’t even send him an email to tell him that some documents were missing. So he reapply again 2 days ago with all the documents they asked for but the flight is next week and he will probably miss the flight bc of late response. Such a shame that discrimation is really present in Australia. Some Canadian, french friends got it in less than 24h without this « money proof », this is so unfair.
Do you know how can I speed up his application process ? Who can I call ? bc this immigration office can only respond by « I cannot tell, idk » it is so annoying.

Hi, I am having a similar situation, except that after five weeks of sending my application, I haven't heard anything at all. Not even about additional supporting documents. So, we might have to delay our trip as well, so sad and frustrating. The only thing I'd say you can try is to make sure you have every document possible attached - maybe a letter from your boyfriend's employer, travel itinerary, and rental contract to prove you indeed live outside of Australia and won't try to stay there illegally. I guess this is what they assume, which is really unfair.

 

[Eve1202]

No, complained 10 times and THEN got a visa that is supposed to be granted in a few days but actually took over a month.

I've talked to the visa hotline, and they were condescending and wouldn't answer simple questions about their own communication. They only really "helped" by directing me to a complaint form, but of course the complaint is not getting processed either. At least try to understand why people are getting frustrated. The system is critically understaffed and is causing people a lot of unnecessary grief.

Hi, I've heard about people applying through the ETA app and getting their visas approved almost instantly. The app doesn't include eastern European nationalities, so I can't confirm myself, but Denmark is there. Perhaps that might speed up the process for you?

 

[JandE]

Hi, I've heard about people applying through the ETA app and getting their visas approved almost instantly. The app doesn't include eastern European nationalities, so I can't confirm myself, but Denmark is there. Perhaps that might speed up the process for you?

90% of ETA's were done in under 24 hours in the past, but they are not showing current times for that visa (subclass 601) at the moment. Not sure why.

 

[morevisatroubles]

I did apply for an ETA but immediately got an outcome notification stating that it "cannot be processed at this time" and that I should get an eVisitor instead.

 

[JandE]

I did apply for an ETA but immediately got an outcome notification stating that it "cannot be processed at this time" and that I should get an eVisitor instead.

Before the borders opened, I think that ETAs may not have been available. When did you apply for the ETA?

 

[morevisatroubles]

The ETA was only a week ago and was just in the hopes that it could go through automatically unlike the eVisitor. If anyone's in the same situation and thinking of trying it, just know that it's definitely possible that it just won't get processed and you wasted 20 dollars. A small amount, but it's good to know.

 

[Audh123]

thank you, that’s good to hear that other people are in the same situation. We attached all these documents and my bf called today and they said everything was ok he just need to wait (his flight is tomorrow so he will probably miss it 😔). We wrote claims, we add a cover letter, call them to speed it up but nothing worked that’s sad. But when a called the immigration they told me they should warn you if some documents are missing, so you should call them and complain really hard bc 5 weeks it’s a lot.

we will probably never go back to Australia again with this bad discrimination experience hahah. What’s your nationality ? I hope you will get you visa soon.

 

[ege781]

Hi all. Can you please help me - my friend applied for eVisitor visa 651 and it was declined. Now she needs to attach supporting documents but we can't find where to attach them?? Can please someone tell where is the place we can do it? Applying for a visa there is no tab called "Attach documents'' or something like this... Please someone let us know (