We at Down Under Visa applied for a LOT of visas before Christmas. 30-something. Can’t remember exactly how many, but it was a lot.

And I have to say the Australian Embassy in Manila did a sterling job of processing MOST of those before Christmas. Some only took a few days. The end result was a lot of happy people, many of whom got to spend Christmas together. 

Those that did not get granted before Christmas though, some are still waiting.

If you are among those who are still waiting, please be patient. We don’t know the inner workings of the visa department in the Embassy. We know nothing of their workload or their staffing levels or any of the other factors affecting how long applications take to be processed. It does not mean “they must be going to refuse”. We just had a pre-Christmas tourist visa approved during the week. It took over a month, but it was still granted.

With their kind permission (and encouragement), this was what they told us:

Hi jeff just a quick thank you note for the fantastic work that you and your team has done, Imelda’s tourist visa has arrived this week and will be soon off to Australia again. Once Imelda has completed all the requests by Immigration for her Partner Visa.  Again the professional service that you provide is fantastic and Imelda and myself would like to encourage many other couples that if they are really serious about wanting to come to Australia to give themselves the best opportunity by checking out Jeff and his team at Down under visa’s.

 Regards Imelda & Ricky.