Pierre

I am pulling my hair out and waiting to be with my wife in Australia, and I
am afraid she won't like me bald.
I have never been so frustrated with any beauracratic process in my life.
I complied completely with all the visa requirements as far as forms pics
physicals etc., only to be turned down because the immigration agents
claimed that since my wife and I do not live together, we are not a lasting
couple according to some immigration code.
When I heard this I went through the ceiling. FOR GOD'S SAKE MAN, WHY DO
YOU THINK I AM APPLYING FOR IMMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA???? COULD IT BE THAT I
WANT TO BE WITH MY WIFE AND HAVE THE ABILITY TO SUPPORT HER WITHOUT GETTING
ARRESTED FOR IMMIGRATION VIOLATION????
When I phoned the australian immigrations office in Washington D.C., and was
finally (by some miracle) able to speak with a live human being and
eventually the officer and her supervisor assigned to my case, I was told
that all of the paperwork had been sent to Canbarra and they no longer had
anything to do with it. I was told my only recourse was to have my wife
request a Tribuanl Hearing, which she did in May, 2002. Finally, over a
year later in July, 2003, she went to Perth for the hearing, after being
grilled for three hours by three immigration agents was told that she would
be notified of the results. It is now mid-September and there hasn't even
been a postcard. My second wedding anniversary will be this January. Since
my wedding, I have been able to see her once for a couple of weeks in May,
2002. I can't afford to lose my job by making frequent $3500u.s. trips
there and risking the possibilty of losing my job here in the states for
taking time off work. Not to mention that I need to save money for when I
do go to Australia, that is if I ever get a visa.
Now my wife tells me that some people (sound like terrorists to me) were
able to somehow gain entry into the Australian immigration main office and
steal the hard drives from their computers. I can only imagine some
terrorist outfit with all of my
personal data getting credit cards in my name to finance their next
terrorist attack.
In the meantime, my wife is working her tail off trying to care for her two
little girls from a previous marriage. while her ex-husband, who holds the
veto power for her bringing the children to the U.S., is off in another
city some 400 miles away, not sending any child support.
So you can imagine my frustration in all of this. If the immigrations
service there has some kind of secret test to insure that their immigrees
are patient, I should have passed it with flying colors by now.
I hope someone out there reads this and can email me at
[email protected]. Any suggestions or information would be greatly
appreciated.
Best Regards,
Pierre

George Lombard

Hi Pierre,

It isn't unusual for the Tribunals to take so long in making a decision.
All you can really do is contact the Tribunal registry and ask politely
whether a decision is imminent. For the MRT the longest I have ever had to
wait for a decision is six months. I'm sure that doesn't help much :-(

For all MRT partner cases we try very hard to have the decision corrected
without a hearing, and one way to do this is by preparing the kind of
detailed paperwork that can only exist in a genuine partner case. While
it's too late to avoid the hearing, if the time is weighing heavily on you,
it would be a good idea to collate more recent phone bills, letters, travel
documents etc and forward those to the Tribunal now.

Cheers

George Lombard
--
www.austimmigration.com.au


"Pierre" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am pulling my hair out and waiting to be with my wife in Australia, and
I
    > am afraid she won't like me bald.
    > I have never been so frustrated with any beauracratic process in my life.
    > I complied completely with all the visa requirements as far as forms pics
    > physicals etc., only to be turned down because the immigration agents
    > claimed that since my wife and I do not live together, we are not a
lasting
    > couple according to some immigration code.
    > When I heard this I went through the ceiling. FOR GOD'S SAKE MAN, WHY DO
    > YOU THINK I AM APPLYING FOR IMMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA???? COULD IT BE THAT
I
    > WANT TO BE WITH MY WIFE AND HAVE THE ABILITY TO SUPPORT HER WITHOUT
GETTING
    > ARRESTED FOR IMMIGRATION VIOLATION????
    > When I phoned the australian immigrations office in Washington D.C., and
was
    > finally (by some miracle) able to speak with a live human being and
    > eventually the officer and her supervisor assigned to my case, I was told
    > that all of the paperwork had been sent to Canbarra and they no longer had
    > anything to do with it. I was told my only recourse was to have my wife
    > request a Tribuanl Hearing, which she did in May, 2002. Finally, over a
    > year later in July, 2003, she went to Perth for the hearing, after being
    > grilled for three hours by three immigration agents was told that she
would
    > be notified of the results. It is now mid-September and there hasn't even
    > been a postcard. My second wedding anniversary will be this January.
Since
    > my wedding, I have been able to see her once for a couple of weeks in May,
    > 2002. I can't afford to lose my job by making frequent $3500u.s. trips
    > there and risking the possibilty of losing my job here in the states for
    > taking time off work. Not to mention that I need to save money for when I
    > do go to Australia, that is if I ever get a visa.
    > Now my wife tells me that some people (sound like terrorists to me) were
    > able to somehow gain entry into the Australian immigration main office and
    > steal the hard drives from their computers. I can only imagine some
    > terrorist outfit with all of my
    > personal data getting credit cards in my name to finance their next
    > terrorist attack.
    > In the meantime, my wife is working her tail off trying to care for her
two
    > little girls from a previous marriage. while her ex-husband, who holds the
    > veto power for her bringing the children to the U.S., is off in another
    > city some 400 miles away, not sending any child support.
    > So you can imagine my frustration in all of this. If the immigrations
    > service there has some kind of secret test to insure that their immigrees
    > are patient, I should have passed it with flying colors by now.
    > I hope someone out there reads this and can email me at
    > [email protected]. Any suggestions or information would be greatly
    > appreciated.
    > Best Regards,
    > Pierre

Jamie

Pierre,

I'm in a similar circumstance with Washington, and like you I've
waited for 2 years to be with my wife.

We finally received a positive response in August, without a hearing
and now we are waiting for the file to go from Melbourne to
Washington. The file has not been received and it has been 2 months!

Be patient and good luck,

james
"George Lombard" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>.. .
    > Hi Pierre,
    >
    > It isn't unusual for the Tribunals to take so long in making a decision.
    > All you can really do is contact the Tribunal registry and ask politely
    > whether a decision is imminent. For the MRT the longest I have ever had to
    > wait for a decision is six months. I'm sure that doesn't help much :-(
    >
    > For all MRT partner cases we try very hard to have the decision corrected
    > without a hearing, and one way to do this is by preparing the kind of
    > detailed paperwork that can only exist in a genuine partner case. While
    > it's too late to avoid the hearing, if the time is weighing heavily on you,
    > it would be a good idea to collate more recent phone bills, letters, travel
    > documents etc and forward those to the Tribunal now.
    >
    > Cheers
    >
    > George Lombard
    > --
    > www.austimmigration.com.au
    >
    >
    > "Pierre" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > I am pulling my hair out and waiting to be with my wife in Australia, and
    > I
    > > am afraid she won't like me bald.
    > > I have never been so frustrated with any beauracratic process in my life.
    > > I complied completely with all the visa requirements as far as forms pics
    > > physicals etc., only to be turned down because the immigration agents
    > > claimed that since my wife and I do not live together, we are not a
    > lasting
    > > couple according to some immigration code.
    > > When I heard this I went through the ceiling. FOR GOD'S SAKE MAN, WHY DO
    > > YOU THINK I AM APPLYING FOR IMMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA???? COULD IT BE THAT
    > I
    > > WANT TO BE WITH MY WIFE AND HAVE THE ABILITY TO SUPPORT HER WITHOUT
    > GETTING
    > > ARRESTED FOR IMMIGRATION VIOLATION????
    > > When I phoned the australian immigrations office in Washington D.C., and
    > was
    > > finally (by some miracle) able to speak with a live human being and
    > > eventually the officer and her supervisor assigned to my case, I was told
    > > that all of the paperwork had been sent to Canbarra and they no longer had
    > > anything to do with it. I was told my only recourse was to have my wife
    > > request a Tribuanl Hearing, which she did in May, 2002. Finally, over a
    > > year later in July, 2003, she went to Perth for the hearing, after being
    > > grilled for three hours by three immigration agents was told that she
    > would
    > > be notified of the results. It is now mid-September and there hasn't even
    > > been a postcard. My second wedding anniversary will be this January.
    > Since
    > > my wedding, I have been able to see her once for a couple of weeks in May,
    > > 2002. I can't afford to lose my job by making frequent $3500u.s. trips
    > > there and risking the possibilty of losing my job here in the states for
    > > taking time off work. Not to mention that I need to save money for when I
    > > do go to Australia, that is if I ever get a visa.
    > > Now my wife tells me that some people (sound like terrorists to me) were
    > > able to somehow gain entry into the Australian immigration main office and
    > > steal the hard drives from their computers. I can only imagine some
    > > terrorist outfit with all of my
    > > personal data getting credit cards in my name to finance their next
    > > terrorist attack.
    > > In the meantime, my wife is working her tail off trying to care for her
    > two
    > > little girls from a previous marriage. while her ex-husband, who holds the
    > > veto power for her bringing the children to the U.S., is off in another
    > > city some 400 miles away, not sending any child support.
    > > So you can imagine my frustration in all of this. If the immigrations
    > > service there has some kind of secret test to insure that their immigrees
    > > are patient, I should have passed it with flying colors by now.
    > > I hope someone out there reads this and can email me at
    > > [email protected]. Any suggestions or information would be greatly
    > > appreciated.
    > > Best Regards,
    > > Pierre
    > >
    > >