[damo1089]

We just applied for my parents in law (Vietnam) to come to Australia for our wedding.

Their passports are super fresh, have never travelled internationally, have no bank accounts, no birth certificates and are self employed farmers with no actual 'business.'

All I could really do was appeal to the immigration department on compassionate grounds to let them in for the wedding, and explain in plain writing their compelling reasons to return, which I understand can be made up, so don't carry a lot of weight.

Has anyone ever been successful with a tourist visa off such a weak application? I'm putting our chances at about 5%, but if there are any success stories, then I know that there is a bit of hope.

 

[wrussell]

We just applied for my parents in law (Vietnam) to come to Australia for our wedding.

Their passports are super fresh, have never travelled internationally, have no bank accounts, no birth certificates and are self employed farmers with no actual 'business.'

All I could really do was appeal to the immigration department on compassionate grounds to let them in for the wedding, and explain in plain writing their compelling reasons to return, which I understand can be made up, so don't carry a lot of weight.

Has anyone ever been successful with a tourist visa off such a weak application? I'm putting our chances at about 5%, but if there are any success stories, then I know that there is a bit of hope.

You should not have had an issue with a visitor visa for parents. Applying without professional advice about how to address the Genuine Temporary Entrant and other criteria might have been a mistake.

 

[damo1089]

You should not have had an issue with a visitor visa for parents. Applying without professional advice about how to address the Genuine Temporary Entrant and other criteria might have been a mistake.

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, we'll see what happens. I usually always directly address the compelling reasons to return in my invitation letter for my partner and she always gets a visa. That is really all they are worried about in the end.

There is even a space in the uploadable documents entitled "evidence of return" or something like that.

 

[summer123]

Just following this thread purely out of curiousity to see other responses/advice/suggestions

 

[damo1089]

I was just reading that the average processing times for the 600 are more than one month at the moment.

Usually my girlfriend gets a result in 2 weeks and we are planning a super quick wedding. They (the parents) need to be approved in not much longer than 2 weeks, but I don't suppose that the country of origin or the timeframe required for a visa has any affect on the average waiting time when it is over a month for everyone else?

 

[ampk]

I was just reading that the average processing times for the 600 are more than one month at the moment.

Usually my girlfriend gets a result in 2 weeks and we are planning a super quick wedding. They (the parents) need to be approved in not much longer than 2 weeks, but I don't suppose that the country of origin or the time frame required for a visa has any affect on the average waiting time when it is over a month for everyone else?

I do like the weather this time of year.

 

[CCMS]

They (the parents) need to be approved in not much longer than 2 weeks, but I don't suppose that the country of origin or the timeframe required for a visa has any affect on the average waiting

Country of origin certainly plays a role. Urgency does not. There is no priority treatment, unless there are exceptional or compassionate circumstances, like serious accidents or illness.

Not sure why you would lodge a 'weak" application, without trying to strengthening the evidence ...

 

[damo1089]

Country of origin certainly plays a role. Urgency does not. There is no priority treatment, unless there are exceptional or compassionate circumstances, like serious accidents or illness.

Not sure why you would lodge a 'weak" application, without trying to strengthening the evidence ...

The application is not purposefully weak, it's just the situation that my fiancee's parents are in is objectively weak.

There isn't much more we can do when they run an unregistered cash-based farm as their income source and have nothing that will give verifiable proof of either financial capacity, intention to return or employment status.

Time was not on our side either which didn't help but given more time, nothing could have been done differently.

 

[CCMS]

The application is not purposefully weak, it's just the situation that my fiancee's parents are in is objectively weak.

There isn't much more we can do when they run an unregistered cash-based farm as their income source and have nothing that will give verifiable proof of either financial capacity, intention to return or employment status.

Time was not on our side either which didn't help but given more time, nothing could have been done differently.

I understand. In cases like that all you can do is try and provide as many letters of support as possible and hope for the best. Sometimes the way people live their lives in other countries (or even in Australia in some remote regions) makes it very hard to meet the documentary requirements we have in Australia.