# Tourist Visa (subclass 600) refused



## Mel9473 (Mar 25, 2018)

Hi,

I'm new here. I'm Australian and my husband is from Kurdistan. I flew over to see him in December 2017. We applied for a PMV beginning of March 2018, and now we have applied for a Tourist Visa (subclass 600). 4 days after we submitted it, today I get the email saying it was refused, due to the CO in Jordan not believing my husband would go back home.
"I am not satisfied that clause 600.211 in Schedule 2 of the Migration
Regulations is satisfied." He hasn't traveled much (not everyone does), so that is another reason they added. They even mentioned about the 'civil unrest in Iraq', which would also mean he would overstay his visa... clearly. WHY would we jeopardise the PMV with him overstaying his visa... 

We are using a Migration Agent and paid all fees, which are a little more pricey than other agents. The MA uploaded all the documents, but we were told not to purchase a flight. Which I found strange, as if he had a return ticket, he would be going home. He has property, has funds in his bank account (though being paid cash in Iraq, he only put it into the bank account in the last 2 months), employed, family in Erbil. I am employed, rental agreement sent in as well. We did everything they asked for. 

How long do I have to wait to reapply? And is there anything else I could add to the application? Would buying a flight seem more legit? 

Any info/help would be much appreciated. I've been bawling my eyes out since I got the email, and he is pretty upset about it all too. Worst Easter ever. 
Thanks.


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## ampk (Sep 21, 2013)

I have done this, the news is not good.

I spent 10's of thousands and had a bullet proof case after the first rejection.

But only if there was a right to review.

The only way was to leave a kid behind.

But nothing stops you applying again ASAP we did 3 times all within a week of refusal/s.

I feel for you.


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## Jeremy Hooper (Jul 10, 2014)

ampk tells a common story. If a case officer decides to refuse a visa, it is difficult to reverse a decision. I suggest to visit your local member of parliament and find out he/she is prepared to write a letter in support of your application.

The biggest problem we face is that we have no way of appealing these decisions.


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## ampk (Sep 21, 2013)

Jeremy it is members both state and federal and both sides.

Only the Feds hold weight.

Had them all.


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## Mish (Jan 13, 2013)

When they have cited civil unrest as a reason for rejection there is not much you can really do to disprove that.

You mention that he is your husband but you are applying for a PMV. A PMV is only for people who are not married but plan to marry within 9 months of the visa grant. Which visa did you apply for the 300 or 309? If you applied for the 309 then you could always try a sponsored family visitor visa.

Unfortunately, an approval of a non sponsored tourist visa from the middle eastern region is not very common.


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## Mel9473 (Mar 25, 2018)

Mish said:


> When they have cited civil unrest as a reason for rejection there is not much you can really do to disprove that.
> 
> You mention that he is your husband but you are applying for a PMV. A PMV is only for people who are not married but plan to marry within 9 months of the visa grant. Which visa did you apply for the 300 or 309? If you applied for the 309 then you could always try a sponsored family visitor visa.
> 
> Unfortunately, an approval of a non sponsored tourist visa from the middle eastern region is not very common.


Sorry, I meant the Partner Visa 309 (mind is not with it right now). I had a 'very good' Migration Agent person tell me stories to lure me in and I believed it all unfortunately.


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## Mel9473 (Mar 25, 2018)

ampk said:


> I have done this, the news is not good.
> 
> I spent 10's of thousands and had a bullet proof case after the first rejection.
> 
> ...


Thanks, so much. I will apply again. I can't leave my kids behind, and my ex husband will not sign passports for them. Immigration (Jordan, Amman decided) broke the kids hearts too, they talk to my husband almost every day.


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## Mel9473 (Mar 25, 2018)

Thanks for all your replies. I didn't sleep well at all last night.


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## Mish (Jan 13, 2013)

Mel9473 said:


> Sorry, I meant the Partner Visa 309 (mind is not with it right now). I had a 'very good' Migration Agent person tell me stories to lure me in and I believed it all unfortunately.


Try a sponsored tourist visa. You apply for the visa in Australia and sponsored the visa and if approved they may ask you for a bond which gets refunded when he leaves the country. The visa will also come with a no further stay which means you cannot extend the visa or apply for another visa while he is in Australia.

Obviously there is no guarantee that the sponsored tourist visa will be granted but it is at least worth a try, then at least you have tried everything.


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## CCMS (Oct 10, 2013)

Mish said:


> When they have cited civil unrest as a reason for rejection there is not much you can really do to disprove that.


I have successfully done this several times. It requires some careful analysis about the area where the applicant is living, their living arrangements, their ethnicity, religion, politics and how they might or might not be affected by civil unrest etc.

It is often used as a catch-all reason to refuse a visa for applicants from certain countries.

This is one of the things that should be addressed up front where "Genuine Visitor" requirements are a potential issue.


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## Mel9473 (Mar 25, 2018)

Mish said:


> Try a sponsored tourist visa. You apply for the visa in Australia and sponsored the visa and if approved they may ask you for a bond which gets refunded when he leaves the country. The visa will also come with a no further stay which means you cannot extend the visa or apply for another visa while he is in Australia.
> 
> Obviously there is no guarantee that the sponsored tourist visa will be granted but it is at least worth a try, then at least you have tried everything.


Roughly, how much would the bond be? I've spent over 20k so far and don't know if I could find a lot of money for a bond.


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## Mel9473 (Mar 25, 2018)

CCMS said:


> I have successfully done this several times. It requires some careful analysis about the area where the applicant is living, their living arrangements, their ethnicity, religion, politics and how they might or might not be affected by civil unrest etc.
> 
> It is often used as a catch-all reason to refuse a visa for applicants from certain countries.
> 
> This is one of the things that should be addressed up front where "Genuine Visitor" requirements are a potential issue.


He's not in any area where there is any civil unrest. The CO in Jordan, actually sent the link from smarttraveller, stating the 'do not travel to Iraq' etc. I was in Erbil in December and felt safer there than I did in some suburbs in Sydney! It was like the CO saw "Iraqi' citizen and instantly stamped visa refused because of where he is from.

My Migration lawyer just forwarded on the email and refusal letter, with nothing in the email. No sorry, maybe we could try this next. They got paid, and they did their job I guess. Not impressed with them at all!


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## Mish (Jan 13, 2013)

Mel9473 said:


> Roughly, how much would the bond be? I've spent over 20k so far and don't know if I could find a lot of money for a bond.


That is up to the case officer to decide. I have heard of people having to pay no bond and others having to pay $5k.


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## CCMS (Oct 10, 2013)

Mel9473 said:


> He's not in any area where there is any civil unrest. The CO in Jordan, actually sent the link from smarttraveller, stating the 'do not travel to Iraq' etc. I was in Erbil in December and felt safer there than I did in some suburbs in Sydney! It was like the CO saw "Iraqi' citizen and instantly stamped visa refused because of where he is from.
> 
> My Migration lawyer just forwarded on the email and refusal letter, with nothing in the email. No sorry, maybe we could try this next. They got paid, and they did their job I guess. Not impressed with them at all!


Your lawyer should have addressed this up front, as it was bound to come up. Anything to do with Iraq will immediately raise a red flag.


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## Skyblue6 (Jun 2, 2016)

Lawyers dont care, i had a lawyer casually say it'll be fine (easy) obviously wasn't n i got a refund. I'm living with my husband in Iraq now just to get his partner visa and its not going to be easy. We've done everything they asked for but we know theres still a high chance of rejection. 

CO in Jordan even asked my husband why he never came to australia. He was honest and said in iraq they get paid cash in hand, he told her he knew his evidence was weak even though he wouldnt overstay. We selected a third country and met in Singapore as it was easier. 

I'm worried for nichole's husband if he gets a blanket ban and his partner visa will automatically get rejected because his tourist visa got rejected.


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## CCMS (Oct 10, 2013)

Skyblue6 said:


> I'm worried for nichole's husband if he gets a blanket ban and his partner visa will automatically get rejected because his tourist visa got rejected.


There is no such thing as a "blanket ban". Each visa subclass has its own criteria and exclusion periods may or may not apply.

Why would the refusal of a tourist visa affect a partner visa application, unless false documentation/information was provided? The criteria are totally different.


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## Skyblue6 (Jun 2, 2016)

i sincerely hope you are correct, and they process his partner visa separately.


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## Mish (Jan 13, 2013)

Skyblue6 said:


> i sincerely hope you are correct, and they process his partner visa separately.


They do! My husband had 2 tourist visa rejections (high risk country with civil unrest) and he got his PMV. Both the partner visa and tourist visa have different criteria and both are assessed on their own merits.


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## Skyblue6 (Jun 2, 2016)

Mish said:


> They do! My husband had 2 tourist visa rejections (high risk country with civil unrest) and he got his PMV. Both the partner visa and tourist visa have different criteria and both are assessed on their own merits.


Fantastic! its not all doom and gloom for Mel9473!  Btw did he ever get a tourist visa accepted?


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## Mel9473 (Mar 25, 2018)

Mish said:


> They do! My husband had 2 tourist visa rejections (high risk country with civil unrest) and he got his PMV. Both the partner visa and tourist visa have different criteria and both are assessed on their own merits.


I don't think I am going to reapply, I don't want another tourist visa rejection on him. I've decided to fly back and meet him in Turkey for 3 weeks soon. I haven't' seen him since December. I was honestly hoping he would have gotten his tourist visa, but unfortunately not.


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## Skyblue6 (Jun 2, 2016)

Mel9473 said:


> I don't think I am going to reapply, I don't want another tourist visa rejection on him. I've decided to fly back and meet him in Turkey for 3 weeks soon. I haven't' seen him since December. I was honestly hoping he would have gotten his tourist visa, but unfortunately not.


If he has anything supporting kurdistan, peshmerga, ypg. Anything political or anti turkish might get him kicked out. If hes in any groups or likes any pages, get him to DELETE it. The turkish border guards are really hard on Kurds now trying to come n go out of turkey, even western expats are being stopped for hours at the airport n their phone, social media and email is being read.

Erbil airport is open now though, but visas are a little unclear atm here in KRG and Iraq.


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## Mish (Jan 13, 2013)

Skyblue6 said:


> Fantastic! its not all doom and gloom for Mel9473!  Btw did he ever get a tourist visa accepted?


No. After the second rejection we just waited for the PMV to be approved and I just visited him every few months.

We did one tourist visa before the PMV was lodged and one after and it was still rejected.

There had been a couple of tourist visa approvals for the country that my husband is from, but they are far between. Alot of them are either elderly people or females. It is very rare for an single male to get one unfortunately.

One of my friends is trying to get her partner one at the moment from the same country, we will see if it is approved or not - he is studying so is in a worse situation than what my husband was (my husband had a job and enough money in his account to support his visit).

Sometimes I think that having an Australian partner goes against them as it shows a reason for them to overstay and they don't take into account the $$ paid out for the partner visa application.


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## Mish (Jan 13, 2013)

Mel9473 said:


> I don't think I am going to reapply, I don't want another tourist visa rejection on him. I've decided to fly back and meet him in Turkey for 3 weeks soon. I haven't' seen him since December. I was honestly hoping he would have gotten his tourist visa, but unfortunately not.


Can he can a visa for Turkey easily? If not you can meet in Malaysia since he can get a visa on entry in Malaysia.

It is really hard when they can't get a tourist visa to Australia - it doesn't make things easy and it adds to the expense of the visa.


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## Skyblue6 (Jun 2, 2016)

Mish said:


> Can he can a visa for Turkey easily? If not you can meet in Malaysia since he can get a visa on entry in Malaysia.
> 
> It is really hard when they can't get a tourist visa to Australia - it doesn't make things easy and it adds to the expense of the visa.


Yes he can easily travel into turkey. Just dont have any political stuff on his facebook and emails. An expat friend of mine here in erbil actually set up a fake email and facebook to go around it.


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## Mel9473 (Mar 25, 2018)

Mish said:


> Can he can a visa for Turkey easily? If not you can meet in Malaysia since he can get a visa on entry in Malaysia.
> 
> It is really hard when they can't get a tourist visa to Australia - it doesn't make things easy and it adds to the expense of the visa.


Yes he can go to Turkey, he doesn't have any political stuff on any social media. I flew into Instanbul last year and loved it.


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