I do seem to be going on about tourist visas a lot, don’t I?
Don’t get me wrong! We lodge a LOT of tourist visa applications for our clients, and most of the time we get great success. We had a success rate last year of 95.55%, which is not bad at all. Mind you, it would be considerably worse if we didn’t:
(a) Talk a lot of clients out of their plans that were doomed to failure, and get them to do something more sensible (such as applying for fiancee visas and partner visas instead of inappropriate tourist visas), and;
(b) Blatantly refuse to handle some cases
There is nothing wrong with tourist visas when they are appropriate for the circumstances. They are designed as temporary visas for visitors who visit Australia temporarily, and then return again before the visa expires. They are for people visiting loved ones, ie. family members, close friends, etc, and for doing touristy things, ie. looking at the harbour bridge and patting koalas and taking umpteen photos.
If your intention, or your perceived intention, is to do something else…..the Case Officer at the Australian Embassy will refuse the application. By Law, they have no choice. Their job is to uphold the Law and to protect Australia’s borders. The same people who go on about “boat people” and demand a tough stance are then surprised when the hammer of that toughness falls on them.
So what we at Down Under Visa ask of our clients is that you look very closely at your intentions, and ask yourself if they ARE in fact “genuine”. ARE you planning a temporary visit with koala-patting, or are you in fact trying to play the system?
One of the situations we come up with is couples trying to use a tourist visa as a substitute for a partner visa. Either they are putting off getting a partner visa, or due to:
(a) Being still legally married and awaiting (or putting off) a divorce, or;
(b) Having a five-year restriction on further visa applications due to a previous sponsorship of a partner (under Reg. 1.20J of the Migration Regulations of 1994), or;
(c) Trying to make up 12 months of living together, because they wish to apply for a partner visa as a de facto couple, or;
(d) Because they want the advantages of living with a lady without any of the effort or expense (ie. as a “try-before-you-buy” visa, which thank goodness does not exist!), or;
(e) Procrastination or just plain old cold-feet
You cannot use a tourist visa in order to live together. Not my rules. This is just the way it is.
Please have a read of an excerpt from a tourist visa refusal letter:
I note that the applicant have previously been to Australia on a visitor visa on two of occasions and have spent a total of 183 days in Australia. A relevant consideration in assessing the genuine intent of a proposed stay is whether the intent is to use the visitor visa to effectively live in Australia rather than visit. Although I acknowledge that the applicant complied with the conditions of the visas previously granted to her, the fact that she had spent more time in Australia in the last year than in the Philippines on visitor visas, leads me to conclude that a genuine visit is not intended.
Best suggestion?
Contact us, and we can discuss your situation and your options. You can be assured of a straight-shooter response and assessment from me. Let us together come up with the best possible option that will suit you and your lady, and will ultimately get you together in a way that will make you both happy.
And of course, please visit our Down Under Visa website
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