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Offshore Spouse Visa Processing Times at the London Embassy

389K views 2K replies 289 participants last post by  kev747 
#1 ·
Hi All,

I was just wondering if anyone could share their experiences, I have noticed on here people are saying the visa processing times at the London embassy is 9-12 months. I was looking for a migration agent in London and their website says 4-6 months.

I just don't want to get my hopes up if it will be 9-12 months.

Thanks in advance!
 
#40 ·
Applied at London February 20th 2013, money was taken February 21st, got assigned a c/o the 27th didn't hear anything so I chased them up last week she admitted she forgot to send my request for medical I'm on the case for that now she let me know this by email and advised I'm looking at a grant October/November time which is roughly 8/9 months :) hope this helps
 
#41 ·
Thanks guys for sharing your experience. I just received the email this morning from "our" case officer.
We still need to provide a proof of continuous relationship, health check (but not before August) and police checks with in my case will be a bit of a pain, as I've lived in 4 other countries within the last ten years for career purpose. Australia will be my permanent country hopefully :)
But at least there is progress in our application.
Has anyone of you entered Australia on a tourist visa, before the sponsored visa was granted to you? My hubby has received a job offer that he will accept (as he really wants to return to his home country), which means he will move by end of July. Our son and I could come along, me on the tourist visa. This has been clearly stated by the DIAC over the phone and in the FAQ doc that was sent along today.
Do you know if the health checks could be done while in OZ, since I wouldn't want to come back to London for this?

Good luck to you all who are still waiting too!:)
 
#43 ·
Hi there,
We have applied in parallel for our son's citizenship and then passport which were both processed within 4 weeks.
I think we have mentioned this in a separate cover letter we've written.
No, medical clearance and police checks were not submitted along with the initial application. I spoke to their customer service on the phone several times and every time I was advised to send in what we had to start the process.
It was a good advise, because our case officer came back to me and asked to NOT undergo health checks before 7th August. This is due their processing time apparently.
However I don't think it makes a difference, as health check results are valid for 12 months.

Police checks:
Because I've lived in four different countries within the last 10 years due to my career, it took a while for me to gather all police clearances (and it's very expensive).
If you have lived in the same country within the last 10 years, then it should be fine and you can just go ahead to request your police clearance. The UK one is quite expensive - £48 currently.

No guarantee for faster processing times with children, but: if you have children who are Australian citizens and are married, there is a good chance that you might be granted the permanent visa immediately or at least within 2 years. The temporary visa might be waived! I got this confirmed by my case officer :)

It's even written on their FAQ website, just can't find the link right now.

I just think I will do the health check here in London anyway, but will check first how much it would cost to do this in Australia.
We need to travel to Australia in 2 weeks ... (I will hopefully receive my tourist visa 676 which we have lodged separately).

Hope this helps a bit? Good luck with your application!
 
#44 ·
The required arrival date (which you get given once the visa is approved) for Australia is dated 12 months from your police or health check (whichever is oldest) So if you weren't already going to Australia on a different visa - and did your checks immediately then you run the risk of only having a few weeks to close your entire life in the UK down before having to go to Australia.

In terms of timing - it may take a bit longer but on the back end you have a few months in which to set up in Oz - and for those of us staying here til the visa is granted - thats quite helpful.
 
#45 ·
Our Visa Saga

My partner and I began the process at the beginning of this year. He is from the UK and had been living with me in Aus while working on a working holiday then a 457 visa. At the time his 457 visa ended with his work contract we had not been living together for 1 year. After a brief visit home he came back on a tourist visa but with no luck finding a new employer to sponsor him we decided it was best for him to go to NZ and apply once the year mark had been reached. We sent off our application on the 7/1/13 and received confirmation of it being lodged on the 16/1/13 and a time frame of 8-9 months for processing. We noticed straight away that our CO was not very open with information, mainly getting generic responses and links to websites. We were told to wait 3 months before sending off the police checks and medical, which we did at the end of April. Two days ago we decided to email our CO to check whether the 8-9 months was still a good estimate of the processing time. An automated out of office response was returned stating our CO would not be available for another month! This was not the first time she had been out of office so we decided to forward our request to an email mentioned for 'emergencies' in the auto response. That same day another CO responded saying that our visa would be processed between now and the next month. Being the second last day of the month we were sceptical as to whether they meant in the next couple of days, however the next morning we received an email saying our visa had been granted. I find it hard to believe the timing of our email was a coincidence. In total our visa application took 6 1/2 months, less than the suggested time frame of 8-9 months, but still a long time to wait when it seems our visa was just sitting there waiting to be processed.
 
#46 ·
I find it hard to believe the timing of our email was a coincidence. In total our visa application took 6 1/2 months, less than the suggested time frame of 8-9 months, but still a long time to wait when it seems our visa was just sitting there waiting to be processed.
Congratulations first of all!!!
I agree with you on the processing time and that things just 'sit' there. I had to wait more than 12 working days for the e676 visa and all it took was a call from the migration agent I happened to know to the dept of immigration - within 30 min of the call, that visa was granted. Considering the application fees for visas have been increased, it doesn't seem fair that it takes longer to process a visa application. I was also confirmed that the onshore lodged application takes currently 'only' 4 months.

My case officer in London is now out of office for a month. On the brighter side, my last background check from the USA (4th out of 4 I had to submit) has arrived!! Yay!
Now I need to get the health check done and it will be all just a matter of waiting. Hoping also that we get lucky and our visa get granted earlier than the expected 9 months processing time😊.
 
#47 ·
complete apps or wait for requests for medical and police checks?

Hi everyone, we are applying soon and just wanted to ask people's thoughts on the processing time and your experience - I've heard some people say its best to submit a complete application, with medicals and police checks included - BUT - since these documents only last for a year before becoming no longer valid, and since the average processing times are now being given as 12-18 months, would it be best to hold off doing the police and medical checks until they are requested? I'm worried we will submit a complete application and then nobody will look at it until the medical and police documents have already expired!
 
#48 ·
London is no longer allowing you to front-load these things, I believe. I think they now make you wait until they request them, about halfway through. London processing times are about 8-9 months, last I heard. 12+ months is for high-risk countries (you are applying from one or have lived in one 12+ months) and/or onshore applications.
 
#49 ·
That's right CG, once the application is submitted and a CO assigned, they email to let you know when you should get the police and medical done (from my experience this was 3-4 months from application date) - as they do the medicals online over here, you need the HAP ID before you can even book it.

We were quoted 8 - 9 months for processing too.
 
#51 ·
Ah, this is the London embassy thread so I assumed you were applying through London... :)
 
#53 ·
I'm off to Australia tomorrow morning and I am itching to call the Australian High Commission to check if everything is ok with my application before I go.

I need a sanity check please - I know that it is far too early to have any decision. The last contact I had with my CO was to let them know I would be in Australia and their reply was thanking me, and that it was too early to tell me when my visa would be finalised (this was in July & and all my email said was literally: "I am going be in Australia from this date to this date").

Should I give them a ring? :eek:
 
#54 ·
You might annoy them a little, but since you have an actual question to ask as opposed to just "when will my visa be ready?" I think you could get away with it.. :)
 
#61 ·
Yes, London is like clockwork! Everybody at 8-9 months. There have been a few here and there getting them at 7, but don't expect that - because what you expect never happens with immigration, lolol.
 
#63 ·
I never got a definitive answer on that issue - on whether you could redo your police checks or medical in the hopes they'd base your initial entry date on the new date of those instead. I can't remember - did you contact DIBP to ask? I just want to make sure you don't make plans thinking you'll have much more time and then they still make the initial entry date what it was originally..
 
#65 ·
That's actually really great info! Thanks for sharing it! :) I think if we don't have our visa soon I'll have our MA contact them and ask about redoing my police checks as they expire in November... maybe that will make them look at my application again, too...
 
#120 ·
CollegeGirl - just to add to the collective knowledge, it does appear that re-doing your police/medical moves the first entry date.

I submitted police checks in June, but I re-did it when the medical was done in September. The inital entry date is now in September, rather than June, so they have used the later certificate.
 
#66 ·
OK. It wasn't as exact as I thought. I asked specifically if we could re-do the police check to extend as I hadn't realised it was the limiting factor for the visa. She responded that we could send the police check, and she recommended we do it at the same time as the medicals.

I inferred the rest. But as it was in response to a specific request that is what I thought it meant.
 
#67 ·
Hey,
I'm new to this so not 100% on what I do!
My husband is from the UK and our paperwork was received last week (I know from Australia post delivery tracker not their confirmation).
So is the process
- Official confirmation of receipt
-Assigned CO
-Approval (eventually)
We submitted a "decision ready" application with medicals and police checks included from advice by our agent. So are we looking at 8months or 5 months as outlined on the departments website?
We got our legal paperwork done early and have planned (and paid for) our "official wedding" in late February. We were told that we won't need to cancel it because it will be approved before then- thoughts?
 
#68 ·
You applied offshore? Actually, the London embassy instructs all applicants to wait until their CO requests medicals and police checks, so I'm afraid you might have gotten rather poor advice from your agent. London is taking 8-9 months to process all partner/PMV visas at the moment, with only a sparse handful getting through at 7 months. The reason they're asking people to wait on the health/police checks is that your initial entry date (the date by which you have to enter Oz) is one year after your medicals or police checks, whichever is first, and since they are taking 8-9 months, you might now only have a couple of months to make your arrangements and get into Australia.
 
#69 ·
what happens if you decide to go to Oz

Hey all,

Do you any of you know what would happen if you were to go to Australia even though you are awaiting your offshore visa to be granted - would you just have to come back when your visa comes through? and so in the meantime get a tourist Visa?

We just applied a few weeks ago and no CO yet. My partner is Australian and has just at the end of the summer decided to do his teaching over there. I dont expect to see a visa untill easter at the very earliest but we dont want to be apart and is masters in education starts in March so he will have to go home early Feb! Any advice is welcome please!:p
 
#70 ·
Responded to that question elsewhere. :)
 
#71 ·
Processing times

All,

I thought I would share my recent experiences to help those in need:

31, male, UK citizen, good job, good health, no convictions, married to an Australian citizen

20.03.13
Applied for PARTNER (PROVISIONAL) (Class UF) PARTNER (PROVISIONAL) (Subclass 309) visa

10.10.13
Visa granted

Advice:

• Plan your application
• Take your time
• Budget
• Be patient

All the best
 
#72 ·
All,

I thought I would share my recent experiences to help those in need:

31, male, UK citizen, good job, good health, no convictions, married to an Australian citizen

20.03.13
Applied for PARTNER (PROVISIONAL) (Class UF) PARTNER (PROVISIONAL) (Subclass 309) visa

10.10.13
Visa granted

Advice:

• Plan your application
• Take your time
• Budget
• Be patient

All the best
Chris_Smith - thanks do much for sharing! There is light at the end of the tunnel for us! :D

Sent from my iPhone using Australia Forum app
 
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