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?
