NAC

Does anyone know if it is possible to turn up at the AHC and have your passport stamped after you Visa Grant? what documentation do you require - is it just a letter you get granting your visa? The reason I ask is that our Visa Grant is taking longer than expected and we are possibly going to be very tight on time prior to going out in June. To prevent any risk of getting lost in mail etc I thought we could maybe attend at the AHC in London in person thus saving time. Just don't know if it is possible or not

Carolyn

louise4

Hi NAC, yes you can have visa's placed in your passport in person (or you could, no idea if it has changed). we got all ours put in and i must admit it does save on the old fear of passports getting lost. prob worth a call to AHC to enquire if you still can.

louise

Amazulu

I don't think you can do it at the AHC, have to do it by post (think this changed last year).

worzel

I spoke to someone from the AHC at the Earls Court jobs expo last year and she said it has to be by mail now. (Special Delivery both ways). It only took us 8 days though.

NAC

Thanks everyone for your replies. Had hoped that we could go in person but never mind. If the visa would only come I could stop worrying
Oh, Visa, where are you????

Carolyn

meljor

Ooh thats very interesting as hubby was going to take a trip to london for our visas. Weve just had news that our sponsor/assurer has had centrelink interview and bond now all sorted so were just waiting to hear now. Are we nearly there yet!

JAJ

The AHC do not normally evidence visas in person. However if you have an urgent need to travel to Australia and can prove this then *fax* them and ask for instructions. They may be more flexible in that case.

Trying to call them is a waste of time.


Jeremy

NAC

Thanks Jeremy, useful info to remember should we need it.

Carolyn

lynnlovessun

Carolyn if it make you feel better I got my passports back today - only 4 days from posting them!!!!! You just follow their instructions and send them special delivery including a special delivery return SAE.

Lynn

Bra

We got our visas approved one week before we were due to go on holiday in December 2004 to validate and go on a fact finding mission. We tried to fax Australia House but got no reply so luckily as my husband works in London he went up there with our visa letter and passports explaining that we were going on holiday in five days so could he wait to get the visa put in. But they explained that you have to post them there is no way that they could take them by hand but that you could collect them by hand once the visa was put in the passport the following day. He went straight to the post office over the road and posted them and the next day went back to collect them only to find out that our immigration officer in Adelaide had put in my daughters date of birth the wrong way round and therefore the visa could not be accepted as it is all computerised. They managed to sort it out overnight and the next day, the day before we were due to travel we got our passports back with our visas in, You can imagine how stressful all of this was. But the story doesn't stop there. After a three day stop over in Hong Kong we got the the Quantas check in desk in Hong Kong and checked in which is where they check your visas only to tell us that now my daughters passport number on her visa was incorrect by one digit so they had to check with Adelaide to make sure it was OK to let us on the plane which after a tense hour they did confirm it was ok. So make sure you check before you go all the numbers on your visa tie in with your passport number.

NAC

Can't even begin to imagine how stressful that must have been If our Visa comes next week we will be ok but time is getting tight and I would just be terrified that they were to get lost or something.
Lynn - glad you've go yours ok and to have them done in 4 days is great. I just worry about the day that never happened.
I really need to chill

Carolyn

JAJ

This is the standard procedure in London for cases where travel is urgent. It's better to send the passports by courier, rather than post, however.

And in the light of the hassles you had, it is very important to check all the details on the visas once they are obtained.

Jeremy