There are two questions…..no…..three questions that we at Down Under Visa get asked all the time by prospective visa applicants wanting to bring their Filipina lady to Australia.

1. How much will it cost?
2. How long will it take? (ie. “What is the processing time?” or “What is the waiting time?”)
3. The third one is the “What are my visa requirements?”, which we’ve already covered in a previous article.

How much will it cost?

Government fees? Very high. Down Under Visa’s professional fees? A bargain, especially when you see how much work is involved. Seriously, that’s the most frequent comment we get at the end of the process. And we charge considerably less than the Government charge!

What is the visa processing time?

• Partner visa processing time and prospective marriage processing time, still an average of 9 months waiting time.
• Tourist visa processing time, still an average of 2 – 4 weeks waiting time.

And note that the word is AVERAGE. NOT “guaranteed longest time you will ever wait”. Not “the usual” processing time either. Average of 9 months could mean 3 months, or it could mean 15 months…..or more or less. Tourist visas can take 2 days or 6 weeks……or more or less.

Can we make the visa processing time faster and waiting time shorter?

Please understand that using a Registered Migration Agent doesn’t mean a super-fast and speedy visa application. We have no influence on how long the Australian Embassy in Manila or the Department of Immigration in Australia take to process the visa application, and we don’t have special mates in there who will push buttons for us. They operate at their own speed, and I assume that just like us they place accuracy ahead of speed.

They are charged by the Australian Government with protecting Australia’s borders, and they will always do just that. If that means waiting longer, then that’s the price us Aussies pay for a secure and safe country.

So can we “chase the application up?” Can we “find out what’s the holdup?” No, we can’t.

What do we do?

We prepare good, solid, sound visa applications that meet the criteria for each visa type specified by the Migration Regulations. We make it as good as it can be so hopefully when they pick it up and start processing it, they will like what they see. And if there are any unforeseen issues or any random more indepth checks made, we respond promptly and correctly to what they want, therefore minimizing delays as much as possible.

That’s the professional way of doing things. Nagging them incessantly, or “giving them an earful” over the phone is not only unprofessional, it will also be to the detriment of the application. So don’t expect us to do this. We are Down Under Visa…..not “Loudmouth Cranky-Person Visas”. Please understand that we really do know what we’re doing. If nagging and chase-ups worked, we would employ professional naggers who would do just that. But it doesn’t……so we don’t!

Do we understand your anxiety?

Yes, absolutely we do. A thousand times YES. I had a former client visiting over the weekend, and he told me he couldn’t stand dealing with emotional outbursts and worried clients like we do. Yes, I admitted to him that it can be tough. However we do understand exactly what it means to our clients, and we take consolation in the fact we know that in 99%+ of times we have nothing but great news for them at the end, and we are making a huge difference to a lot of lives. So we’ll be here for the long run!