Mummy

I have found the flight that I want to book on - leaving on 30th June and returning on Christmas Eve with Singapore Airlines costing £1144 for 2 adults and 1 baby. (Have to come back for Christmas say the grandparents! )

Would I be really stupid to book that flight now when I haven't heard about the visa yet? I am getting really really desperate and frustrated at having to wait now - there is so much to do before June and I want to get on and start doing it (including quitting work - I have to go back for 1 month to keep my maternity pay).

What happens if I miss out on this years quota? Would they start up immediately in June with the next lot?

What I am thinking is if we haven't heard by the time of the flight we could go on a tourist visa for 3 months, then have all our post redirected to my parents house and when the confirmation arrives, post the passports to the parents who then get the visa added and posted back to us, then we take a trip to NZ and return to Oz on the PR visa???? Possible? Or wild fantasy and I should just wait for the visa letter?

HiddenPaw

Hmm, it's a good price, especially for Xmas eve.....but it's a risk. I'll have to sit on the fence for this one! What's the penalty for changing your departure date? And if, say, you ended up having to wait till October (sorry, don't mean to depress you), would you still want to come back for Xmas? (When we moved out to Oz a friend wanted us to come back for a wedding 3 months later.....we just didn't have the money or inclination to take a trip home so soon after we'd got there.) But I could understand with a baby, seeing the GPs at Xmas is important. How is the little one?

I think you would have to tell DIMIA you were in Oz if you went on a tourist visa - if you were to send your passports for visa stickers via your parents, they would be able to see from your passport anyway that you had entered the country but not left.

Good luck

biggy

Maybe I am wrong, but should you not be outside Australia when the decision is made on your visa application !!!!! so you would need to inform DIMIA of your plans so they in turn could tell you when they are likely to make a decision on your application........this mite even give you an excuse to find out how far your application has progressed, by enquiring about the tourist visa ......or perhaps I am just talking crap...which i di frequently!!!!!

Mummy

This is a good point - they might get suspicious!

Mummy

Yes I think you are right that we have to be outside Oz. Damn. I think I will leave it for another month and if I still haven't heard I may enquire then.

Thanks

Grayling

I think it would be very risky to be present in a foreign country without your passport regardless of other considerations.
Best wait I think.

G

Ev'n'John

I'm no expert on these matters - but I'm sure many people have gone to Australia on short-term visas while waiting for the permanent one. I think you have to get the visa stamped outside Australia - so a long weekend in New Zealand would be necessary. But I'm sure if you informed DIMIA of your movements it would be OK? Try looking on the Visas/Immigration forum - this sort of thing used to come up all the time?

Good luck,
Evelyn.

MrsDagboy

I thought the same - Im sure that Owieb did exactly the same thing? But he went to somewhere in asia.

Speaking of, where is that man, he hasnt been around for weeks .

Pretty sure that BP knows the answer as well (to the visa question, not the "where is Owieb" question LOL )