I just want to share some thoughts with you. We at Down Under Visa DO care about the outcome of each and every application that we manage. We KNOW that there are real people there, and we know all too well what the anxious pit-of-stomach fear and worry feel like, because we’ve been through it all ourselves. I get particularly annoyed when I see clients simply not helping themselves.

To the men:

There is a common side-effect of having a lovely young lady in your bed with you, and it happens all the time. Being in love and having babies seems to go together. You would think that most people would look at the world around them and this reality would be all too obvious to them. And don’t get me wrong! I love kids. But there’s a time and a place!

It’s the role of a gentleman to take care of his lady and to protect her. And that means taking responsibility for not putting her in a situation where she will be scared and frightened. Try not to make her pregnant when you live in different countries! The Embassy will NOT rush her application through the system so she can give birth in Australia. And airlines have restrictions as to how late in the term they will let a lady fly. She should have you by her side when she gives birth, and her migration status should not be under a cloud at this time either. AND you would like your child to be born in Australia and be an automatic Australian Citizen. AND Medicare is a nice thing to have too.

We will help you all you can, but understand that it’s not always easy. The time between finding out that a lady is pregnant to the time when she cannot fly, it’s a narrow window. Australian partner visa applications can take 6 months or more to process.

To the ladies:

We often have difficulty with our Filipina lady clients changing phone numbers. I’m sure there must be a law in the Philippines that says you must change your number every three months, and you must lose your phone twice a year! Fine if you wish to do this, but you MUST tell us immediately! You MUST tell us your new number.

You can have three types of problems if you don’t:

1. We may need to contact you. If we send you a text and you don’t answer because you no longer have that number, then we could have problems. It may be an urgent matter.

2. The Embassy may need to contact you. Sometimes Case Officers will call you if they have a quick question or two. They don’t always go through us. And sometimes their couriers may be trying to contact you. If your phone number doesn’t answer, they will return the item to where it came from. You may wait weeks for, say, a tourist visa application decision.

3. Sometimes our clients are referred to medical specialists as a result of findings from their Medical and XRAY examinations. Tuberculosis is not an uncommon finding. If you are undergoing treatment, the panel doctors (the Embassy-authorised doctors) will need to keep in touch with you. If you can’t be reached, they may very well close the file and report that you have tuberculosis. This CAN result in a visa refusal!

So please try to help yourselves. We can only do just so much.