Just Ranting
 

OH put his UK spouse visa application in 8 weeks ago and we still have no word from them! It is really starting to get me down. :(

Day after day my daughter is receiving phone calls from recruiters with jobs for him and here we are stuck in bloody Sydney because of red tape!!! :curse:
Another BE member in New Zealand posted here weeks ago saying they had the same spouse visa processed and granted in 4 weeks. What the hell are they doing in Canberra for gods sake :mad: There is no point phoning them as they refuse to give out info on visas being processed, so here we are, sitting on our hands living in limbo with our whole life on hold.

I am starting to worry that by the time we get it all the jobs will be gone!!

Just needed to get it off my chest. Thanks

Re: Just Ranting
 

Do they issue an interim letter to say they received your application? Or can you 'track' it on a website (you can with US visa applications) So at least you know they have received the application? It must be so frustrating to just be waiting in a sort of vacuum as you don't know when they are going to approve...

Susie.

Re: Just Ranting
 

Hi Susie

They dont send you anything, but in desperation, we did ring them up a few weeks ago as i was worried that they hadnt received it. They did tell us it was there with them, but thats when they informed us that they are not allowed to give out information on applications being processed so we can't phone them again.
It is just ridiculous. My daughter has just told me there have been 2 more phone calls for him today!

Its nearly 2am here and once again i cannot sleep from worrying about it all.

Re: Just Ranting
 

I guess the only good thing is that if the phone calls for jobs have been coming in for the last few weeks, they will keep on coming....Hope the visa comes thru asap for you guys. Then I guess you have to start all the fun stuff with movers etc... I am just starting into that now....Wish I could press a button and be magically 'moved' without all this hassle!

Re: Just Ranting
 

That sucks, Flea.

How much would it cost your husband to fly to Canberra and go to the office? Not to throw a scene, but to put a human face on the situation.

This is the UK consulate? Have you thought of e-mailing the MP for the area where you want to live back home? Explain that your husband wants to return and he has nursing skills that are in demand, but the paperwork's stuck.

Either might shake things up.

Bev

Re: Just Ranting
 

Hi Bev

I'm not sure it would make any difference. It is the British Consulate. They seem to be very secretive and the height of unhelpful officialdom. If i thought it would help we would go there. I guess i could look into it, but dont want a wasted trip.

We will give it another week or so and then start to knock on doors.

Ther whole thing is ridiculous. We met and married in the UK. Lived there 2yrs together as man and wife before leaving. He has never claimed a penny off the government. Had lived there 4yrs on a previous work visa. The only reason we have to go through all this is to prove he will not claim money off the government for the first 12mths he is there. For gods sake!! He has people npestering him and my daughter by phone calls and emails nearly everyday wanting him to go for job interviews, so he is obviously in high demand!! It is THEY who are stopping him. I feel like i want to thump someone I am that angry.

Re: Just Ranting
 

Why don't you front up and tell them you MUST return home due to a family crisis? Just go into the department, don't get irate, but beg and plead. I've seen things get speeded up doing it this way. It's worth a try.

Don't worry about jobs running out. There's always been a glut of fruitcakes in the UK. The stress of the recession will ensure the glut stays.:(

Re: Just Ranting
 

Seems like the BHC is taking it's time over visa applications from Australia. The processing times are unbelievable. There's a thread of pi$$ed off applicants/spouses here:

http://www.ukresident.com/forums/spo...ia-t65799.html
Still, if it's any consolation, you are nearer the end of the process than the beginning. If they reckon 12 weeks to issue a visa, then you have max. 4 more weeks to wait....:o

Re: Just Ranting
 

OMG :( I just joined up and read the thread Ruth. Thanks for the link, but it seems We still have a wait as you said.

I guess theres no point going down there now :frown:

Typical bloody Australia!! :curse: A piddling little country like NZ can sort it all out in 4 weeks yet this lot takes months!

** sigh** is it gin o'clock yet?

Re: Just Ranting
 

We had the same cr*p from Canberra.

You can only apply within three months of your intended travel date. And how long does it take? Yes, 12 weeks. Very helpful.

We waited almost 12 weeks and were refused (factors specific to our case, so don't worry!).

Sorry not helpful, but I sympathize.

Re: Just Ranting
 

You may be better off going to the High Commission in Canberra. My Aussie wife did and got her visa in 24 hours.

Re: Just Ranting
 

This is what we did in 06 and Mrs Triboy got hers on the spot (well 3hrs later) and they gave her 3mths to travel after the visa date, but also said the visa date can be any date within the next three months, so essentially we had 6mths to travel, if we needed it.

Now we're back in Oz and intending to go to UK again we thought we'd do the same thing, but Flea was saying you can't turn up at BHC anymore?

BTW, if you can still go there, don't do what we did and turn up at the BHC, the visas are issued from essentially a shed at the back of a service station near the airport. I reckon a lot of people made the same mistake though as the security guard had a pile of maps with the route to the visa office highlighted on them.:lol:

Re: Just Ranting
 

You can make an appointment and rock up to the "shed at the back of the service station behind the airport" just be sure to get there between 9am and 2 pm.

I understand though that later this year all visa and passport renewals will be done through New Zealand!!!!!! Yup, the security guard told me that they were closing the facility in Aus. How stupid is that?

Re: Just Ranting
 

You will not be given your visa if you go to Canberra. You can only LODGE the application in person and have biometric tests done there. You have to supply a prepaid return envelope for them to send everything back to you once they have processed it.

See here.

http://ukinaustralia.fco.gov.uk/en/visas/

http://ukinaustralia.fco.gov.uk/en/visas/how-to-apply/


If you go look at the website Ruthmac posted above, there are loads of people complaining at the incompetence and delays down there.

Quoll. I was told by Finks who had their visas processed in NZ that they are doing the reverse and closing the NZ office and doing it all from Canberra. Dont know what to believe now :(

Re: Just Ranting
 

Normal for here then.:blink:

Re: Just Ranting
 

Yep.

I feel like writing a letter to Kevin and begging him to set us free from our imprisonment...lol

After all... they do say if you dont like it here leave...lmao... well they wont let us leave!! :mad:

Re: Just Ranting
 

Sheesh, maybe they will all be sent back to London!

Mind you, I couldnt understand why they would close down Aus and not NZ but the security lady was very chatty about it.

Re: Just Ranting
 

Ask your daughter to stop telling you when she's getting these queries about him. ;) and then you stop asking if there have been any queries :D What you don't know, shouldn't worry you :sneaky:

Re: Just Ranting
 

And why would we want to do that? :sneaky:

Re: Just Ranting
 

I think you could do worse than what someone else has already suggested, namely contact MP..... but I'd suggest more. Email your local paper, email the local paper where you're trying to move. Email the radio/tv whoever. Costs peanuts & may achieve something. At least you'll have tried.
Good luck.

Re: Just Ranting
 

I think Pen was suggesting that if you didn't know you couldn't get stressed, after all until OH gets his visa there is nothing you can do with the info anyway.

Re: Just Ranting
 

I dont beleive it... i just wrote a huge long post and the bloody puter crashed :curse:


Cant be bothered to retype the whole thing, but basically, he needs to know where and when these jobs are coming up so we can plan the possibilities of what areas we will be looking at living. Knowing whats out there is very important, like the previous Sussex place that is opening a new facility with 23 vacancies... sadly he has now missed the interviews as they are being held all this week, but another phone call a couple of weeks back lead to information about a new forensic hospital due for completion in Essex, so we need to keep taking these calls to plan ahead.

Re: Just Ranting
 

Yes that is a good diea Fiona. Will have a word with him about it.

It is so unfair. I have no idea what excuse Australia can have for being seemingly the slowest to process the visas!!

Re: Just Ranting
 

Have you had any dealings with Bigpond lately?:frown:

Re: Just Ranting
 

Perhaps they don't want to lose people with skills that are in high demand! I wouldn't be surprised if they had a system from "get these people out fast" to "delay as long as possible and they might change their mind."

Oops. Sorry to anyone who got a really fast turnaround!

Bev :)

Re: Just Ranting
 

I wonder if there is some truth in this. It would be interesting to find out how many people come to Oz but then return to their own country. If it's more than a comfortable margin, maybe the tourism board and the government are worried.

Re: Just Ranting
 

Oh well then you will just have to keep ranting if you have to know about the information.

Re: Just Ranting
 

But is it the Australian government or the British government who processes the visa applications for UK? I would have thought it would have been the British government so therefore nothing to do with Australia. :confused: Oh well, easier to blame Australia, I guess.

Re: Just Ranting
 

But you can't plan ahead yet :confused: Having the info about Sussex hasn't helped you any but cause you stress which I wouldn't have thought you needed. All I meant was for your daughter to hang on to the info so as soon as you do know dates, she can pass the current details on without you needing to worry about missing stuff in the meantime. Sorry for trying to help. Stress away, that's always healthy :blink:

Re: Just Ranting
 

Good point. :lol: Undermines my supposed plot, doesn't it? Well, it was an idea.

So they should be pushing it through fast!

Bev

Re: Just Ranting
 

What has the government got to do with it? It is the staff employed by the High Commision doing the work, running the supposed waste of space helpline. Dont tell me they only employ British people?

I guess post 8 on this thread is also crap in your eyes too. The link to the thread on a immigration forum 29 pages long saying the exact same things about the ridiculous incomptence of the Australian visa processors compared to most other places in the world. Give me one good reason why USA, can do them in 2 weeks. NZ 4 weeks, yet Aus is taking 12 - 14???

Oh well... easier to blame the Brit government for penalising Brits in Oz i guess :rolleyes:

Re: Just Ranting
 

Maybe because there are more people applying from Australia than those other countries? Shear volume would be my guess. It is something to ask at the British High Commission, though. And where did I ever say any of the posts on here were crap. You really need to take that chip off your shoulder.

Re: Just Ranting
 

MOre than USA? I dont think so... and if that is the case they need more staff eh?

Dorothy, judging from your usual sarcastic manner and the last sentence of your post, it would not be out of the bounds or reason to suspect you considered what i had previously written was crap. Just my way of articulating your undertones.

I do not have a chip on my shoulder regarding yourself, but i am rapidly gathering one about the compentency of organisations in this country. I dont give a toss whether you like or dislike me slating Australians. It gets on my tits and i will exercise my right to say so, and if you dont like it, you dont have to read my threads. I am not abusing people personally but making general comments
I am yet to see you in the barbie saying the same thing to people slating the British workforce... and actually... i dont recount yourself or Moneypen in your supposed moderating role having any problems whatsoever with an entire thread being posted in the barbie abusing and blanket ridiculing of all the people who post in the moving back to uk forum. In fact i get the feeling it was revelled in.

Enjoy your evening :)

Re: Just Ranting
 

Did anyone report anything in the thread you're referring to? No, they didn't. They were discussing whether some people on here were more sensitive than others and there were posts on there from people who post in MB regularly and discussing the subject including yourself. If you believed that to be abuse or ridicule why did you not complain? If no one reports a thread or a post as abuse or ridicule, are we supposed to jump in and close it? Of course not but we're obviously damned if we do and damned if we don't.
Could you please read Rule 14. May I suggest you do, perhaps you could also of the rules at the same time, you could learn something. Rule 1 may be of interest, in particular the last sentence.

Re: Just Ranting
 

Ladies, ladies!......
back to the plot. Anyone found out about Cricket's question? seems quite a valid point to me -

Don't want to quote myself, egotism narcissism and other ism words but Flea just spend an hour firing off a dozen emails to MPs/newsdesks/journalists.
Then maybe action Moneypen's suggestion & get your daughter to 'sit on' any new job offers that come in, or sending 'holding' emails on your behalf.....
Then be my guest, carry on ranting:p

Re: Just Ranting
 

There are some statistics on the DIAC website. They've been quoted a number of times in the Australian Immigration forum. I'll see if I can find it and post for her.