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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Hello-

I am waiting for approval of my tourist visa. I applied on January 18th and submitted all of the requested documents. My flight leaves on March 7th. I am getting very nervous that my application will not be reviewed in time.

I am from the United States and I am an attorney. I have a minor misdemeanor conviction from 18 years ago, so I was denied an ETA. I submitted fingerprint results from the FBI and my state, bank statements, declarations, itineraries, etc. The case just says "under assessment".

I have been looking in this forum to see if they tend to evaluate and approve the cases at the last possible minute before the flight. I find that often people do not return to share the results. I am absolutely heartbroken that I might miss this cruise that I have been looking forward to for many months (I know- you think that I should have applied sooner. I did not know I would even need a visa).

As the reality that I might not get approved set in I decided to also apply for a transit visa and booked an onward flight to Cambodia. At least in that way my $1,800 flight to Australia will not be completely wasted and I can have a vacation of some type, although I will not be able to be with my husband and other friends as I had planned. I am not even sure that I will get the transit visa in time.

I am posting here because I need to feel that I have exhausted every possible avenue. I even checked to see if my Congressman can help make an inquiry to see if someone can review the case before my flight. It has already been 43 days.

If I get the tourist visa I will happily throw away the $500 I spent on the flight to Cambodia in order to remain with my husband and go on the cruise and see Australia. I have wanted to see Australia for many years.

Has anybody here had similar experiences where they get their approval just in time to make the trip?
 

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Am I correct in thinking you have E-Mailed immigration?
Am I correct in thinking you have called immigration?
Am I correct in thinking you have checked your visa status to make sure the visa hasn't been granted and you've missed a grant email?

If I'm incorrect in either of these I suggest you do them post haste.
 

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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
I have been calling every day. They just keep telling me that "There is no expedite servie available" and "Cases can take any amount of time on a case by case basis".

I have no idea how to email them. Does anybody know how to do that?
 

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Discussion Starter · #4 ·
I wanted to update that I got my visa today.

I had been calling the America's Service Center and they had been telling me that there was nothing that I could do but wait. Tonight I tried the office in Australia, and after three hours on hold, I finally got someone to look at my case since my flight is about to leave, and I got approved just before midnight.

Thank you, Mania, for giving me some hope that there was actually a place that I could call that could make a difference.

I cannot express the amount of stress that has been relieved to know that I can board the airplane now.

I suppose I should start looking at what I want to see while I am in Australia. I cannot wait. It all seems very ... foreign, and exciting.
 

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Discussion Starter · #7 ·
Thank you, Aussie83. I was wondering the same thing. I tried to withdraww the other app online, but I am afraid that it only removed it from my immi account instead of withdrawing it. I will call the Canadians, since the Australians are probably asleep now.
 
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