ChazB

Hi All,

I wasnt sure where to post this, so apologies to the mod if this gets bumped, but its not a very common question I guess....and is kinda Australian visa related!

Basically I am looking for some help and advice on how to go about obtaining a UK general visit visa for my gf...

Some background for you: I am British but a Permanent Resident in Australia. She is Indonesian, staying with me on a 12 month multiple entry tourist visa in Australia at the moment.

I've checked processing times for UK visas, etc and see that I cannot apply more than 3 months in advance (I am planning on an April 2011 visit to England). Also I have had some advice from the UK consulate in Indonesia that "essentially" an applicant for a UK tourist visa can apply at any UK consulate, but "should generally" apply in their home country. This seems a bit wishywashy to me hence why I am posting here for some extra feedback (whilst accepting it is not legall advice of course!).

Anyway, its not convenient for her to apply in her home country - we dont plan on being there for more than 2 weeks before April next year and given that her passport will be with the UKBA for 2-3 weeks,if not more, upon application; its a risk that she would be stuck waiting for her passport before she could come back to Australia with me.

So (long story!)...what I'd like to know is if people have had any issues applying for a UK visa whilst NOT in their normal country of residence, i.e on holiday somewhere else like Australia. The only headache I can foresee is having to go to Canberra to pick her passport up when ready. But that is a lot more convenient than going to Indonesia and waiting for 2-3 weeks!

Thanks in advance for any replies,
ChazB.

Bermudashorts

Hi Chaz, actually it really isn't Australian visa related.

It seems more Uk visa related, we don't tend to know much about the UK visas in this part of the forum. You could ask a mod to move it to the MBTTUK forum, there are often people in there that wish to return to the Uk with their non-Brit OHs.

Dorothy

Have you looked at the Home Office website? Do Indonesian nationals require visas to visit the UK?

If it were me I would not take the advice of the consulate. They are not there to provide visa/immigration advice and quite often what they tell you is not correct at all.

ChazB

Thanks for the reply Bermudashorts.

Yes I have looked at the UKBA website, and yes Indonesian nationals do require a visa. However it says you "should normally apply from your country of permanent residence" or something wishy washy like that...I think I will have to bite the bullet and just ring up and ask (its just a really expensive number to call and will take me ages to get through to a human!)...I just wanted to ask here in case anyone else had experience of a similar situation thats all.

And I realise its not Australia visa related, thats why I put I didnt know if it was the right place to put it, but couldnt see a better forum on here - and really just wanted to see if anyone else in Australia had been here.

Thanks again for taking time to read and reply anyway.

Pollyana

I'll move it to the UK forum, but leave a link in here - that way you get two bites at the cherry

pennylessinindia

try posting on www.immigrationboards.com will get lots of help on there