Well, we're almost there. We've received an email from our case office stating that the letter for approval of our visas is on it's way to us.

Attached to the email was a one page document which gives guidlines on sending your passports to Australia House in London. It states on there that "You will need to ensure that each person granted a visa has their own passport".

Problem for us is that my son is on my wifes passport and it still has several years to run. I've been working on the assumption all along that this would be okay ? Infact DIMIA and my agent must both known this as they requested photocopies of our passports right at the beginning of the process

Has anyone else been in a similiar situation and managed to get a mother/child passport through the process okay ?

I really don't want to have to take a day off work and sit in the passport office at Peterborough all day

A day off at the passport office rather than delaying the Visas even longer seems preferable to me!!

Id get you son his own passport anyway, UK passports are more expensive in Austalia. It is also going to soon be the case that no children are allowed to travel on their parents passport and must have their own. I am not sure but I think the USA are bringin in this law in October this year. Others will soon follow suit.

Kala

Hi there,

Definately get indivdual passports prior to inserting Visa's at the moment if you apply at a PO etc it will only take about ten days to get the new passports back.

This will save no end of agro later on.

Paul J

Congrats first on the visa.

Could you let us know your timeline?

Badri

Hi
My daughter was on my passport but I purchased a new one for her. When my visa letter arrived I just sent the new and old one to London and they placed the visa in her new passport.
You dont have to send the letter and passports straightaway. I think there was a 2 week gap between letter arriving and new passport arriving.
Hope this helps
Irene

Kev
My kids new passports took a week by post but you might have to have a day out in Peterborough though as arent you flying soon?

Could you not go to the passport office in London?

Damn and blast - I was hoping that people would offer up stories of how they had their kids on their passports and managed to get the visas put in with no problems

Oh well, with only 16 working days to go before our flight, it looks like I will have to get a new passport sorted out for the nipper and then send them all off to Aus House to get the visas put in. Cutting it fine really aren't I

Just one more question though - doesn't this mean that my son's passport number will then be different to the one that DIMIA already know about (i.e. my wife and son's combined passport) and presumably will therefore be stamped into the visa sticker ? Won't this cause problems ?

BTW, my timeline :-

Class : 136 Skilled Ind
Engaged agent : 27/02/2003
Lodged with DIMIA : 01/10/2003
Police check : 31/12/2004 (great way to spend a new yrs eve )
Medicals : 27/02/2004 (wifes b'day - well she did get a day out in London)
Got visas : 24/09/2004 (well we almost have I suppose)

19 years worth of stress and waiting packed into a 19 month migration !!!

Hi there!!

We have had a similar situation to you (kids on my passport) only DIMIA requested my children to have their own passport in the aknowledgement, therefore allowing plenty of time to sort it out. Seems a bit unfair that they have left it until this late stage to tell you about it.

Anyway I did this the other day, went to the main GPO, were they do a 'priority check and send' service and guarantee the passports are returned to you within 14 days. Just to let you know as well there is a small charge for this service. You will need to submit relevent forms, birth certificates and the person whos passport your son is on.

For more help you could contact the passport adviceline (24hrs) on Tel 0870 521 0410 or visit website www.passport.gov.uk Due to your circumstances it might be wise to phone them as your case is very urgent, best of luck,

Cheeky

Thanks for the advice everyone. Once again the peopel on this board ar a million times more useful than my agent has provied to be !

I will taking the kiddie down to the post office tomorrow to get his passport photos done, then off to the police station to get them cerifified and then back to the PO to sort out the application from.

My reckoning is 10 days for passport + 5 days for Australia House to do the visas = 15 days. We have exatcly 15 working days left before we fly ! :scared:

Fingers crossed !!!

Best of luck mate, heres some karma!!!!!

Cheeky

Kev
We sent details of the new passports to our agent when we got them. Just let your agent or case officer know that you are getting a new one. We did not have any probs.

Pay the charge at the post office to get your passport back quicker though as it is definately worth it - ours went on the Wednesday and came back on the following Tuesday.

Officially DIMIA should not have a problem with putting kids visas in parents passports. That policy might have changed recently.

But in this era, having children on parents' passports really is not the choice of someone who enjoys a simple life (it's a no-no for visiting or transiting the US on the visa waiver scheme from 26 October, for starters).


It shouldn's cause any problems. Make sure your case officer in Adelaide knows about the new passport number as soon as you have it. Your agent should be able to help with this.

Jeremy

And bear in mind the situation that a work colleague of mine found himself in some years ago. On holiday in Thailand with his family, he received news that his mother was gravely ill in England. The family all wanted to fly back as soon as possible but they couldn't get seats all on the one flight. The children were on the mother's passport and this caused all sorts of heartache and complications. The travel arrangements turned out all right in the end (they returned via India with about four stops en-route, and arrived back in England in time to see mother/grandmother before she died), but it was extra stress that they could all have done without at an already stressful time.

Passport processing is really quick at the moment anyway!

I have just renewed both of my daughters passports and they only took a week to come back - delivered by hand by courier.

Golden Dreamer.