goinghomesoon

Hi

Am new to the site and hoping one of you kind people will help me out

I am Australian by birth and have 3 children, all Australian citizens by descent. My husband is Irish. We will be applying for a Spouse Visa.

Can you tell me how long it takes for the application process to be completed, from lodging the forms initially to when the visa is actually granted. Does my husband need a medical? Can it be lodged online? Should it be a onshore or an offshore application.

Any other hints, tips or information would be very much appreciated. Thanks for your help.

medwaymark

Hi and welcome to BE.

The good news is that the spouse visa is one of the easiest to apply for. My wife's took two weeks to come through from the day we posted it, so it can be very quick.

Your husband will need a medical and police checks, but your children will not. I think the whole process cost us about £1000. Don't think you can do it online. Think you can complete the forms online and then print them off. If you are in the UK you are offshore.

I would recommend you drop in to the spouse visa circle thread which you can find in the Barbie. There are people who have applied more recently than me.

If you pop in to the above thread, let us know where you are going to....

sloane46

Hi there is a thread all about this sure someone will come along and put the link in it is under the barbie forum called the spouse thread I think. just a quick answer to some of your questions: yes your husband will need a medical, can't be lodged online and you are better off applying offshore as they prefer this see their website www.immi.gov.au Some people have got their spouse visas back in 2 weeks (when they have frontloaded their applictaion with medical and police check) but on average it seems to take a bit longer than this. I was born in Aus too and have 4 kids aussie by descent Just in the process of getting medical sorted for oh and then will be posting application off and hopefully heading to Victoria next June. Good luck with your application and if I can help you any further just let me know.

medwaymark

Spouse Circle Thread

penky

Hello

My spouse visa also took 2 weeks to come we are in the UK still so dont know much about submitting it from Oz. Your husband will need a medical, a chest xray and police checks.

you cant lodge it online (as far as Im aware anyway) I filled in the forms online and printed them off but I dont think you can do that any more (none of the links I had for them work and on searching the http://www.immi.gov.au/index.htm website cant find them)

The forms can be printed off and filled in by hand, from

here

Form for Applicant (ie non aussie partner)

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/47sp.pdf


Form for the Sponsor (the aussie partner)

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/40sp.pdf

Also ;

You may have it already but this online booklet may help ;

A" How to" Guide About The Spouse Visa can be obtained here, you can download it and print it if you want (its about 30 pages tho from memory!)

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/books1.htm

goinghomesoon

Gosh, that was quick. Thanks everyone for your replies. I feel much better now - I had a huge panic earlier today when I was under the impression it could takes months and months to get a spouse visa through.

We are currently living in Ireland and will be moving to Cairns in January. I am from Tasmania but the sun is calling me to beautiful Cairns My brother is there and he absolutely loves it.

So, am I right in thinking the best plan is to get the medical and the police check organised for my husband, then lodge it all together at the one time?

Thanks again for your help.

penky

Hello

I bet your excited about going home !!

I think most people frontloaded their medicals and police checks (ie sent at the the same time) for the spouse visa, because the turnaround is usually so quick, ceratinly thats what i did and a lot of other people on here.

you only have a year from the date you have police check/medical to validate the visa for the first time but if your goin in january it should be fine.

The police check can take 40 days to come so best to send off for it early if you are applying soon, sometimes there is a waiting list of a couple of weeks for the medical as well but depends who does it in your area.

hope this helps x

RachelH

Hi goinghomesoon - I applied for my spouse visa on Wednesday (well posted it then) and got an email granting it today! So I reckon you can safely say it is one of the fastest visas you can get! I sent off for my police checks early August, they arrived mid Sept. I had my medical and x ray 22nd August.

the pursers

Ahhh, Rach cannot resist being just a trifle chuffed about her visa...we are all chuffed for her!!

Welcome to BE, I'm sure you'll find it of help, we certainly have - think I would have had a nervous breakdown by now if it wasn't for BE!

Try having a look at the colebecks' spreadsheets - here. It will give you an idea of spouse timelines.
Although lots of people like Medway Mark and of course Rach are really lucky (coz they are thoroughly nice good people ), I should point out that I applied July 16th and am still waiting on my decision. There are most likely 2 reasons for this, which may or may not apply to you!:
1) I had a blip on my criminal record from many years ago. I'm not an axe murderer or bank robber or anything, so it shouldn't cause me to be rejected, it just holds things up!
2) I've only got one kidney. Again not a problem, but I have been caught up in the BIG LONG queue in Sydney as my meds had to be referred to the Docs in Oz. Apparently a referral happens with any medical issues they need to investigate further (mild asthma upwards I'm told!).
So, it can vary, there are no guarantees on how long it might take.
Wishing you lots of luck, my hubby can't wait to get home, I'm sure you feel the same!

RachelH

sorry you're right - I should stop going on about it....I didnt realise you had been waiting so long - so I will shut up now!