Visa processing – Is it something that can be predicted?

We have a survey for old and new clients of Down Under Visa at the moment. If you haven't already completed it, please do. Your input is valuable, and we use it to improve services.

Most of you sound really happy and satisfied, and of course we're delighted to hear that. But we've had a few comments about the waiting time for visas, and the lack of information coming through to you.

This has always been probably our most difficult area. We are your constant companions through the preparation part of the visa application, with feedback and support just an email away. Then suddenly the application is lodged and all goes quiet. The months go by, and you hear absolutely nothing most of the time. We wish there was some way of giving you all a clear picture about what's happening with your applications, but there is nothing of much value to the individual.

Embassy and Department websites will give advice as to what is the "Global Standard" for each visa type, and they break this down into time for high-risk countries and time for low-risk countries. So you're getting what is the average processing time for a particular visa type for the entire world.

There are times of year when we can tell you that Manila are taking less than a week to process MOST Subclass 600 Tourist Visa applications. The Global Standard will say 4 weeks. So quoting the official figures is not very comforting or useful at all!

What we will do is to publish our own averages every three months. Every month isn't much use, as we get the occasional month where the grants are just a dribble followed by months where it's a flood. We will put this up on the Migration Hub (Client Portal) and this will give those waiting some idea on what's happening.

Just be aware that these averages will still be of limited value because the time ONE visa takes to be processed has little to do with why another visa application will be faster or slower. If your visa application was submitted at the end of February and 10 visas from the end of February were granted this week, then this in no way tells you when your own application will be granted. And if yours is not granted this week, it's definitely NOT a sign that something is wrong.

Still limited, but hopefully it will help and at least it will show you that visa applications are definitely going through the system. In an ideal world you would be able to get a weekly update on your own application, but we ain't in one of those!