Frequent questions received by Down Under Visa involve what happens when the visa is ready to be granted and the applicant is in Australia at the time. Will they grant it?
What I’m referring to is offshore partner visa (Subclass 309) and fiancée visa (Subclass 300) applications lodged in Manila. We frequently organise tourist visas for our partner visa clients to make the waiting time more bearable.
Anyway, back to the question. What happens when the processing is finalised, and the applicant is in Australia at that time? Does this cause a problem? What happens? Will they grant it, and can the applicant just stay in Australia? How long before they grant it? I’ll answer all of these.
What happens?
Firstly, they can’t grant an offshore visa unless the applicant is “offshore”, which is migration-speak for “outside Australia”. No exception to that, because it’s written into law.
What happens is that they will send us an email telling us that the application is ready to be finalised. No, they won’t say “granted”, because it must be finalised before they can say that. And they will ask us to tell them when the applicant will be “offshore”, ie outside Australia. At this point we will email you and ask you when.
Does this cause a problem?
No, not at all. All perfectly within the rules. And no pressure to hurry back. Although of course you could reasonably expect an earlier grant if you come back earlier, but no need to cut your stay short if you don’t want to.
Can the applicant just stay in Australia?
Again, no. Must be offshore. No exceptions.
How long before they grant the visa?
Our advice to clients is: Anything from a day or two to 6 – 8 weeks!
Most of them are granted within a week. However some take longer. Why? No idea. But sometimes they take longer, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
During the processing of the visas, I have to say our clients are getting more patient and more understanding. We used to get sometimes several per week “spitting the dummy” and lashing out at us. We understand the frustration, but it doesn’t make it any easier to cope with. I think that regular BLOG posts are making clients feel they have not been forgotten about, and this was part of the reasoning behind increasing their number and regularity.
However some of our wonderfully-patient clients tend to “lose it” when they get to the final stage, and we end up bearing the wrath.
To those clients at the final stage? Please be patient. You really are at the light-at-end-of-tunnel point, and whilst it may take a few weeks longer than you would like it to, your visa is about to be finalised. You are almost there, and it could happen at any day. Be sure to plan the last step for a possible stay of 6 – 8 weeks. The applicant should visit her family, because she won’t see them for probably a long time. Take advantage of that time.
CFO (Commission for Filipinos Overseas)
When the visa is granted, you need to:
- Attend the CFO pre-departure seminar in either Manila or Cebu City
- Get a sticker in your passport
Use the waiting-time to attend the seminar. You can do that before the visa is granted. Then come back for the sticker once the visa IS granted. That last part is really quick.
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Hi Jeff,
I’ll just take this opportunity to ask this.
My wife has done her seminar ages ago, while i was there over Christmas just gone.
We have asked you for a tourist visa as well. You have told me that she will need a C.F.O. stamp, one for the tourist and then a further one once the 309 is finalized, (so 2 stamps in total). My question is: Does she need to attend another seminar as well, to get her final 309 stamp???
Cheers Jeff
Ian
No CFO sticker needed for tourist visas, Ian. Only for the partner visa.
Seeing as she’s done the seminar, she will just need to go back and get a sticker in her passport once the visa is granted. Fairly quick and easy.
Hi Jeff
I want to ask is about the CFO pre-departure seminar. If my fiancee is granted a visa how hard is the seminar? My partner to be is stressed out thinking that they may put her under pressure concerning me. This worries me despite I have told her to be strong.
Also what if they ask her why she wants to marry in Australia and not Philippines? (taking into consideration that I was once married in Philippines before and your advice was to me was to apply for a fiancee visa because annulment in Philippines is too expensive and difficult as they may not acknowledge my Australian divorce) how would my fiancee answer that? She is scared that the CFO may discourage her being with me and now I am scared too as I have come so far with this visa application accompanying three visits to Australia from my partner to be ( one prior fiancee visa application and 2 other 3 month stays on multiple entry tourist visa while waiting for fiancee visa grant. She goes home on June 20).
I am not getting cold feet rest assured of that BUT I am worried of my partner to be as I want everything to be of smooth sailing and us to be together permanently.
The seminar is not hard, Wayne. Most of it is common sense stuff. And if they DO happen to ask why she wants to marry in Australia, she just has to say that it’s what the two of you prefer to do. I can’t see them asking this, as they probably get about 1/2 and 1/2 spouse and fiancee visas. Marrying in Australia is far from unusual. And your situation is also far from unusual. She has absolutely nothing to worry about.
Good day, I always read the downundervisa blog and find it most interesting. Jeff very kindly arranged a tourist visa for my male partner to visit me here in Australia. We got it within days and he is with me in Australia as I write this. Over a year ago, and prior to applying for a tourist visa with downundervisa I initiated a partner visa application. I have submitted lots of documentation, (they still want more!) and my partner had an interview with them in Manila. One of the biggest mistakes I have ever made is not allowing a service such as Jeff’s handle our partner visa too. It is in its late stages of assessment so nothing we can do now. But I would suggest to anyone strongly that they allow Jeff and his service to handle your partner visa application. Why? Because the process is biased, arbitrary and inconsistent and it is my view that they put higher credibility on an application handled by someone like Jeff who also gets all of the paperwork straight. Although Jeff mentions repeatedly that the department of immigration acts within the strict framework of the law, the system is full of subjective assessment and interpretation of the law. Some can get a partner visa in a few months, some have got it in weeks, and others have sweated for years. There is no consistency. Also, having studied this subject I have seen immigraton agents state that they have seen partner visas be granted with a minimal of information and supporing documents and others with lots of supporting documentation fail. It may also relate therefore to the quality and type of documentation and you need someone to advise you on that. Hopefully my partner and I, who have been in a relationship for 5 years and are completely genuine, will get the partner visa. But I would have felt far more conifident to have left it in the hands of someone like Jeff and with the experience with my partner’s tourist visa I highly recommend him.