[Skybluebrewer]

Hi Mark

I hope you can reply to this. My partner and I are about to apply and pay for the 820/801 Visa this week. Which we understand is a lengthy process. Our situation is that his working holiday visa runs out April 15th. And as we are only just sending the application where do we stand with what happens if his visa runs out before the bridging visa is issued. And is the bridging visa supplied before we are asked to upload our documents ? His work was planning to sponsor him but that fell through last minute. Which is why is has all been left so late. We are just wondering what happens when his visa runs out, as all this will all still be processing/up in the air.

You fill out the application and then you hit submit and pay. Once you pay, the application has been submitted and only then can you access the section to upload supporting documents.

The BVA is issued immediately after applying but does not go into effect until the current visa expires.

Sometimes it can take a few days for the BVA to be issued if the partner visa takes a few days to process payment.

 

[Skybluebrewer]

One way to donate $7000 to the Australian government is to pay for an application and then not submit any supporting documentation.

The police checks and medicals do not need to be submitted straight away, and in fact immigration states on the website to not upload these things until requested as they have a validity period of only 12 months and visa processing can often, especially for 820s, take longer than that.

But everything else? You absolutely should get that uploaded straight away. If they go and look at your case and see you have no supporting evidence, you'd be lucky not to get a refusal straight away. It's not like you're missing one item and they did you the courtesy to ask for it (which, by the way, they do not have to do).

And yes, the BVA can take a few days so you want to give yourself a couple of weeks minimum before the current visa expires. We paid by credit card and payment went through immediately and so the BVA was granted immediately. If you pay by BPAY and it takes 4 or 5 days to process, or there is an issue and it doesn't go through, you don't want the other visa to run out while you sort it out. But generally, the BVA can be received within hours.

 

[Skybluebrewer]

But from what I can see from others posts it seems like their is some kind of waiting period before applicants are actually asked to upload their documents. As in it's not immediately asked?

I'm not sure exactly what you're referencing but just in case I'll say this, do not confuse the initial 820/801 application and uploading documents with the subsequent 801 eligibility stage where applicants used to be asked to upload documents around the time of their eligibility. This is not the same as the initial application you pay $7000 for and even still, applicants no longer get notified and are required to remember to do it on their own.