Tourist Visa? Or Fiance (Prospective Marriage) Visa?

We at Down Under Visa get requests from men all the time wanting to get a tourist visa for their fiancee.

The men are generally thinking one of two things:

1. They’re thinking that a tourist visa is an easier way to bring their fiancee to Australia and for her to remain, thus avoiding all the red tape. Bring her on a simple tourist visa….marry her….and she stays.

Or:

2. They’re thinking that maybe she needs to see Australia to see if she likes it or not.

In answer to the first issue, there’s no dodging the “red tape”. Australia guards its borders very carefully, and there is a complex system of laws in place to prevent people “jumping the queue”. Applicants from countries where it’s perceived that many over-stayers and potential over-stayers come from, like the Philippines, will almost always have a Condition 8503 placed on tourist visas. This condition says “No Further Stay”, which means you can’t apply for another visa while the applicant is in Australia. So at the end of the trip, she goes back. Simple as that.

So basically, it won’t work. If she gets a tourist visa at all (which is no certainty), she will only end up going back anyway.

And in answer to the second question:

This is generally plain ol’ “cold feet”! Think about it, and you’ll realise I’m probably right. It’s a common condition in men. Fear of taking the plunge, so you dip your toe in the water. Getting a tourist visa is the migration version of dipping a toe in the water!

If she loves you, she will love Australia! She will love your home if she loves you! What kind of girl says “OK. You are the man of my dreams, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you…….but I prefer Manila to Melbourne!”?? Is this really likely?

Chances are if you do this, about a week before you have to put her on the plane back to Manila, you’ll be kicking yourself for not applying for a fiancee visa. It could have been well and truly being processed by this stage, and you’ll be bidding farewell to the woman you love instead. And if you want her to be with you permanently, you’ll have to start at the beginning.

So why not talk to us at Down Under Visa about a Fiancee Visa (Prospective Marriage Visa). Take our FREE ASSESSMENT of your case, and we can give you an honest assessment and tell you if your chances are good.

Manila migration scams again!

Every time we hear a prospective client tell me that their girl has gone off to apply for a tourist visa I shudder a bit. There are so many scam artists. Every Travel Agent in the Philippines thinks they can get visas, and will never say no to anybody. But some of them take it even further.

We had a client a few months ago who had been conned into applying for a visa through them. The “agent” told them he had a close friend in the Australian Embassy in Manila, and he would be able to fast-track the visa for them. He promised them three days. He also left out essential information, and told several lies. The visa was refused.

This left the client disappointed and out-of-pocket. It also left them with plane tickets that expired.

We took over the case, and she is now in Australia. We did this by telling the truth….and by explaining what had happened before….and by preparing a sound and professional visa application, as a client should expect.

Second situation was only a few days ago, when the prospective sponsor told us his fiancee was organising a tourist visa. She had gone to Manila to attend seminars….to “prepare for her interview”….and to do her Medical examination.

1. You do NOT have to “attend seminars” for tourist visas!

2. I have NEVER heard of a tourist visa applicant being interviewed. The Case Officer MAY ask a few questions over the phone, but I’ve yet to hear of a formal interview.

3. Tourist visas require a chest xray ONLY if the visa is for 6 months or more. No Medical examinations. And if they require anything, they will issue a request and a special number AFTER the application is lodged. Without this number, the authorized clinics will not see the applicant.

Therefore this applicant was being conned big time!

We at Down Under Visa are Registered Migration Agents with MARA (Migration Agents Registration Authority). MARA is run by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, and regulates those who may legally give migration advice. It requires post-graduate university studies, police clearances and background checks, etc, and it requires adherence to a Code of Conduct which is written into Law. If I do anything dishonest, I lose my registration! I won’t risk my livelihood for the sake of one visa application. I’d rather miss out altogether than lie to a client or lie on an application. We’re busy enough with legitimate business anyway!

And regarding the first “agent” with the “friend in the Embassy”? Forget it! I’ve never come across a single incidence of corruption in the Australian Embassy in Manila. We play by the rules anyway, and we get a very high rate of success with legitimate applications. So we’ll stick to that.

If you need help with a visa, especially partner visas (prospective marriage visas, fiancee visas, spouse visas, de facto visas) for applicants from Philippines, please contact us on and get a free assessment of your case.

Sham Marriages? Not here, sorry!

Those who have been following the Down Under Visa BLOG may remember me telling you how a gutter-level “current affair” show in Australia had planned a program on “romance tourism” and wanted our participation a few months back. We of course refused!

Well, it seems they did it anyway, and never let the facts get in the way of a good story which the knuckle-draggers of Australian society would enjoy. One destructive and patronizing trip to the Philippines! Nothing like a bit of Asian-bashing to boost ratings, eh? They stated that the “invasion” of Asian wives was bigger than the boat people problem. They could have pointed out how refugees account for less than 1% of Australia’s migration intake, but that wouldn’t suit the xenophobic agenda now, would it?

They went to what was probably Angeles City and interviewed a collection of bar girls, and projected them as being the issue. And they found someone who would introduce men to groups of bar girls, and there was the basis of their story.

I was hopping mad, I don’t mind saying. We process easily a dozen or more fiancée visas and partner visas for Australian men and their Filipina wives and fiancées every month. All bar the occasional doubtful relationship, our clients are made up of normal people. Most of the men are decent and kind, many of whom are marrying for the first time. Most simply believe in marriage for life, and haven’t been able to find women sharing the same values back in Australia. They meet sweet and kind-hearted girls, and decide to marry after developing close and loving relationships often after spending a year or more talking on Skype or Yahoo for three or four hours every night. How dare these gutter journalists condemn these fine people!

Nothing I can do, of course. Morons exist, and there will always be bottom-scrapers out there willing to feed them garbage.

Then, I get an enquiry today from somebody wanting to have a sham marriage with somebody he certainly doesn’t love. I won’t even begin to describe the reasons he had for this, but it most certainly wasn’t legitimate. It would have involved faking a loving relationship, and apart from the fact the Department of Immigration and Citizenship would see right through the scam, it’s simply not what we do! We take pride in what we do, which is bringing loving couples together and building families. We don’t lie and cheat and commit fraud, and we don’t help clients to lie, cheat and commit fraud either!

If you want help with a GENUINE partner visa application to Australia, please feel free to contact Down Under Visa anytime for a free visa assessment. We’re Registered Migration Agents (MARN 0959797), and bound by a professional Code of Conduct.

Visa granted after 28 days

Down Under Visa just had an onshore (applicant in Australia) partner visa (Subclass 820) granted for a young couple in a de facto relationship. It only took 28 days.

There is no question that we were fortunate that a Case Officer picked it up early. It could have been sitting in a pile for 6 months or more. However, they decided it quickly because it was “Decision-Ready”. That means that everything was complete, and the Case Officer was able to make a decision immediately. Nothing to check. Nothing to clarify. No extra information or documents requested.

The size of the pile, we have no control over. But we DO have a level of control over what is submitted in the application, but only if the client cooperates with us and follows our instructions and directions. We can be tough and we can be blunt. Sometimes clients get annoyed at being asked for more documents, or when we reject something they’ve sent to us. But we do this only because we want your application to go through the system quickly.

For our existing clients, please take note of this and understand why we will be tough on you and why we can be pedantic about what you send us.

For anyone who needs help in getting a partner visa (spouse visa, fiancee visa, prospective marriage visa, de facto visa), please go to our website Down Under Visa and get a free assessment.

The difference when you use a professional

We just had three visa grants. We’ve had far more lately, but these ones stuck out from the others for the same reason. Each of them was refused before by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). One was applied-for by the client, and the other was handled (mishandled) by an agent(?) who claimed to have a friend in the Embassy. If the friend existed, he wasn’t a very good one because the two visas were refused.

What did we do? No promises. No guarantees. Just sound applications, prepared truthfully and thoroughly. No lies. No tricks. No schemes. No “show money”. If clients are to deal with us, they do things our way, and that means doing things by the book.

Australian Migration Law contains a large number of visa classes, with further visa subclasses, and each of these subclasses contain a substantial number of regulations. And these regulations are interpreted by a Departmental Procedures Advice Manual. If a visa application conforms with these regulations and their interpretations, it will be granted. A knowledgable and experienced Registered Migration Agent can do this, and this is what we do for our clients on a daily basis.

So always use a professional Registered Migration Agent for your Australian visa applications. See Down Under Visa for partner visa (fiancé visas, spouse visas and de facto visas) for your Filipina sweetheart.

Unlawful (illegal) client now has a permanent visa

We came across a lady in a terrible situation in mid 2010, a victim of poverty and poor advice. She had visited Australia with the intention of overstaying and working. Not the right thing, but poverty and family pressure can make people do all sorts of things. She was given a three year ban, and returned to her homeland. Somebody in the family then told her to get a fake name and a fake passport and to try again. It worked! So she was now back in Australia and overstayed again. She contacted me because she was now pregnant and in a steady relationship with an Australian Citizen, and wanted to put things right.

Another migration agent had advised her to leave the country and to apply offshore. Very poor advice. She would have had almost no chance of returning once she had left. We prepared the application and waited until the baby (an Australian Citizen at birth by right of her dad) was born, and applied onshore (in Australia) based of a belief they would not deport a mother and separate her from her baby, and we were correct.

After a long hard battle, she now has a permanent visa (Subclass 801) allowing her to stay as long as she likes.

We consider this a great victory for our client, and a great victory for Down Under Visa. Putting through standard partner (fiancee visas, spouse visas and de facto partner) visa applications is fairly easy for us, especially after all these years. But applications like this one, we know we worked hard for. And for those who would turn up their noses at an “illegal alien”, remember that all human beings are entitled to a strong legal defense so that they receive justice. We are practitioners of Australian Migration Law, and we never give up on a client. And this client is now able to enjoy the rest of her life with her little girl and her partner, all of whom now have a sense of security.

What does his mean to you, the average person? It means if we can battle through a long and difficult case like this one, we will have no trouble with an easier partner visa case. So please feel free to look at our Down Under Visa site. Hopefully we can help you too.

Five partner visa grants this week!

This has been a good week for us. Four x Subclass 300 Prospective Marriage (Fiancee) Visas, and 1 x Subclass 309 Partner Visa for a de facto couple. This is a good week, because we know how happy and relieved our clients are.

We know exactly how stressful the process is. We went through it ourselves years ago, and we’re glad its behind us now. It’s a hard process, and the total lack of feedback from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship makes it this way. No reflection on the Case Officers themselves. It’s just the way the system works. And it’s very hard on couples knowing that their future sites on a knife-edge.

Actually, the Australian sponsor of one of the ladies just emailed me this morning. He said they had started to resign themselves to the visa never being approved, and had planned that he would have to keep coming back and forth to Cebu (Philippines) for years to come. After getting the good news I’m sure they’re still in a daze of disbelief.

As I said, yes it’s been a very good week because five couples are now secure in their futures together. And that makes our job worthwhile!