I had somebody tell me recently that they felt the response from Down Under Visa after the visa application was lodged was a little “cold”.

Very sorry we would ever give that impression. It’s difficult when there is no feedback at all from the Department (Australian Embassy in Manila), and we simply can’t give any sort of warm and comforting answer that contains any truth. I’m a straight-shooter from way back, and I expect the same from Mila and Jeremy. We tell it like it is.

And what is the way it is? It’s a long wait, and you’re kept in the dark just as we are. And anybody who tells you otherwise is lying to you!

Fortunately most of our clients seem to understand, and we get far more thanking us for our patience and for always being there. We try to prepare everyone for the reality of the situation, plus I think most of them realise that we won’t submit poor applications. If it’s not up to scratch, we’ll give you a hard time until we get all that we need. We know what we’re doing. We’ve had occasions where we’ve put our foot down and our clients have ended up delaying the application for up to 6 months so they can gather some proper evidence.

We take what we do very seriously, because we care very deeply about the outcome. This IS a vocation for us. We were always motivated by the desire to help couples, and it’s that sincerity and genuineness which is what allowed us to make a successful business out of it. The clients always come first, and our unofficial motto is “never let a client down”!

In fact Mila and I usually squabble about who gets to let the client know the good news! It’s the highlight of our day when visa grants come through. Best feeling in the world!

Just a bit of feedback for you on how long  the process has been taking from partner visa (prospective marriage visas aka fiancée visas, and partner visas aka spouse visas) grants this year of 2014 (based on the last 6 we had come through in the last few weeks).

7.66 months average processing time!

I could go back and check on all of them, but it’s been a long day and I could do with a break. Plus I’m sure they’re much the same.

Keep in mind though that 7.66 is an average! If your application has taken 7.67 months, it’s NOT a sign that all is lost. The longest of those 6 grants was 10 months, and the quickest was 4 months! It’s a wide bell-curve! So keep being patient.

So to those of you who are waiting on visa grants?

1. We care!
2.  We have no news to tell you, and we generally won’t until the grant comes through!
3.  We wouldn’t have lodged your application if we weren’t confident, ie WE are not worried about the outcome!
4. If we DID spend our time sending you hollow updates based on no news, we would be letting down those newer clients who needed our full attention. We need to prepare THEIR applications as meticulously as we prepared yours. Yours is done and the problems are already ironed-out.
5. And one day hopefully you will look back on the whole experience (when the fear and worry are just a distant memory) and you will see that we were with you all the way!

Best regards to all!