Marriage and children and Australian visa applications
This is directed at those who are looking at a marriage visa to Australia, ie. Australian partner visa applications (https://www.downundervisa.com/marriage/) and are hoping that they can choose an option that will make for a faster visa application process. There are certain migration urban myths getting around which people believe will make the process of bringing their fiancée to Australia from the Philippines easier and faster, and it’s part of my job to squash these myths.
The main danger of these myths is that they cause people to make choices that maybe they would rather not make, because someone told them that the Embassy or DIBP prefer it when you do it this way.
Easier to get a visa when you’re already married?
No difference at all, as far as “what the Embassy prefer”, or how fast they process your visa application. Whether you apply for an Australian fiancé visa or spouse visa makes no difference to the Australian Embassy, and in no way ensures a faster visa grant. The process is all quite “sterile”, actually. Likes and dislikes don’t come into it, and even if they did I can’t see how or why they would care very much anyway.
Easier to get a visa when you marry in the Philippines
This is another myth. The other one is that it’s easier to get a visa when you marry in Australia! No, they really don’t care where you marry either. It just needs to be a legal marriage, and I’ve never come across anyone actually having a fake marriage (and I hope I don’t jinx myself by saying this, and we get one next week from a client!) A legal marriage certificate from the NSO in Philippines or from Births, Deaths and Marriages in Australia, they both mean the same and the Embassy case officers don’t care either way.
Having a child helps with a visa application
This is one that irks me a lot. I have a personal belief that kids should come into the world when they are wanted and intended, and where mum and dad are together in the same country and mum in particular feels safe and has as little stress as possible. Yes, I know it happens otherwise often without intention, and I’m in no way knocking any of our clients. But I see the worry and the stress in our clients who aren’t settled, and I don’t want anyone to put themselves through this because they think it will make for a faster visa grant if they make babies!
So, will they fast-track your visa application if you are pregnant? No, definitely not. Not a chance, and basically never! There are even migration agents and lawyers out there who give the advice of “Get her pregnant!” Seriously! Need their bums kicked! No, as far as the case officers are concerned, pregnancy is NOT an exceptional circumstance. It’s pretty common, actually. Our clients appear to me to be a pretty fertile lot. They’ll never shift you up higher in the queue because a baby is on the way.
So please make this decision when you are good and ready, and for the right reasons. Give birth to a new Australian citizen inside Australia in an Australian hospital, and let Medicare cover the costs too. Let dad be there with in the delivery room, and not in another country at the time. And let visa applications be well and truly behind you at that point.
I’m sure that many of these myths come from what I call the “dreaded advice forums” (www.downundervisa.com/posts/the-dreaded-advice-forums-for-australian-visa-applications) out there on the web. Someone has a successful visa grant, and suddenly they are qualified to share the depths of their wisdom with strangers, and hang the consequences. You sink or swim, and they remain oblivious. I find out these myths when clients and prospective clients ask me, and I’m very glad they do because I get the chance to put them back on track. However I wonder how many others make decisions that they otherwise wouldn’t make?
If you would like some experienced help from an actually qualified actual expert in Australian visa applications, please complete one of our free visa assessment forms.
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An easy and fast visa application to Australia
Who are Down Under Visa? Who is Jeff Harvie?
Jeff Harvie and the Down Under Visa team have been doing this for a lot of years! Down Under Visa have brought thousands of couples to Australia from South East Asia over the years. Mostly from the Philippines, but we help increasing numbers of couples where the visa applicant is from China, Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia. And what this means is we see a lot of success....and we also see failures when people go it alone after talking to their mate, or their relative, or that minimal-care-no-responsibility Facebook group run by Steve and Maribeth based on their own visa application! One application, and they feel qualified to advise others! It's not even LEGAL to do that!
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