# OK to enter on tourist visa and then apply for spouse visa ?



## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

I'm an Aussie, and my wife is Japanese. We've been living in the UK since getting married last year, and she's having a baby in April. We want to move to Australia before then, and ensure my wife is covered by medicare before having the baby.

I think out best plan is to move to Australia soon (February), with my wife entering on her tourist visa, and then apply onshore for the spousal visa. According to the medicare/visa websites, immediately after application she should be eligible to apply for Medicare.

My question is - Is it 100% OK for her to enter on a tourist visa with a view to then applying for another one ? Or, at the border will they ask about the pregnancy, and whether we're planning on changing visas, and possibly deny her entry?

I think it's too late at this point to apply for the spousal visa while we're outside Australia, and we've got a time limit here....


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Hi Gib and welcome to the forum,

And though quite a few people do enter Ausgtralia on one visa and then subsequently apply for another, doing it with some intent is frowned upon as you'll note in the following:
http://www.immi.gov.au/gateways/agents/pdf/subclass-457-visitors.pdf

It'll be very apparent that in you being married and your wife very expectant what the situation is likely to be and it would be the discretion of immigration officers as to how severely they may question and follow the regulations.

On the other hand, many spouse visas do get granted quite quickly and seeing as you'll have been married a year+ now, a child on the way, an application ought to be relatively straightforward as far as being accepted.
Partner Visa: Offshore Temporary and Permanent (Subclasses 309 and 100)

I'd get cracking for a Xmas present to yourselves and get an application in ASAP.
At outside, set yourself a target of application in in first week of January and you may even get a suprise by Australia Day, sometime in February at outside.

Make use of the *Checklist* in the "applying for this visa" section and download/print a couple of application/sponsor forms for roughing and hard copy record along with *Checklist* and it ought to be plain enough sailing.

Best wishes for Xmas and return.


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## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

Hi Wanderer,

And thanks for the rapid and informative answer.

It seems like it's a risk for entering Australia on the ETA, and we would be taking our chances. Actually we visited a couple of months back while she was pregnant, although it wasn't showing... No problems then, but anything can happen.

I think if I call the embassy in the morning and get an idea of how long they think the application might take, then that'll help make our decision for us. There's no problem proving we're genuine, and we can get sponsorships filled out, but we'd have to wait for her Japanese police clearance, and medical.....

Cheers


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

What you may get from AH Gib is something along the lines of what the Service Standard is - Client Service Charter

In reality, they do normally move considerably quicker on family visas, even for defacto visas which usually have to be supported more and certainly so for a married person.
Certainly I would get on to the police and health checks ASAP as that could delay the processing though they do say for overseas applications you should wait until asked by a Case Officer, though in your case, getting it underway is hardly going to hurt, ie.
. if application is in
. by time you get contacted by a CO, you'can have made arrangements for the health and police checks or even have them.


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## xdorota (Dec 1, 2009)

Hi Gib,
I might be wrong and can check it within the next few days but I believe AE will not grant your wife PR without chest X-Ray. If I am right then unless your wife is prepared to undergo an X-Ray whilst she is pregnant there is no chance of getting PR before birth. I suggest you ring the AE and/or the local Australian Medical Practitioner to find out whether she can get medical clearance without an X-Ray and that might determine your course of action. If you have meds cleared and police clearances and you are available to attend an interview with her off shore, the process should be straightforward and in time for birth.
Hope it helps,
Dorota


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Not getting a Chest Xray when pregnant is a bit of a furphy for protective shielding measures can be taken.

Have a read of Chest X-ray and there are probably other sites about that you can check too.

In addition to protection the ammount of radiation one receives from an Xray is relatively quite minimal, only ten times what a days normal exposure is according to http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/pdf/sfty_xray.pdf

So if you want to go ahead with a medical examination, risk is minimal.


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## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

Wanderer, that "Client Services Charter" link was useful. I'm still surprised that it's cheaper and takes less time to apply for the visa from outside Australia. Is that deliberate to coerce people into not entering Australia early ?

My wife is a worrier, and wouldn't consider getting an xray now no matter how safe she's told it is.

That, coupled with the fact that the Japanese police clearance process seems long and painful (have to get fingerprints taken at Scotland Yard, then send to Japan and wait 2 months) means it's not looking good.

I tried to call the high commission today but my phone was a bit broken, and I think their menu system hung up on me after paying a pound a minute for 5 minutes of menu BS...


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## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

Just an update on our progress.

My wife sent her fingerprints through the Japanese embassy for her police check on 23rd December, and I've also sent a request to the Aussie police for that one.

She did her medical (without xray) on Tuesday 28th Dec, and we went into the high commission in London the next day. After talking to a couple of the people there, and one of them telling us we really shouldn't try to enter on a tourist visa, we chickened out and decided to follow Wanderer's advice and submit our visa offshore. We had our application ready, and so handed it over there and then.

We're still waiting on the 2 police checks, but my wife is going to try to hurry up the Japanese one. The medical results should come through very soon if they haven't already, and there's also my originals of the statutory declarations from my friends (character evidence of married relationship) which are in the mail from Oz. I included copies (noted as such) in my visa application. Do you think they'll care about the originals ? I've got photos of us two together from the past 27 years included, as well as photos of our wedding with 100 friends and family in attendance. They shouldn't need them...

It was a very clear application with a table of contents, lots of other evidence and superbly filled out forms, so hopefully that makes the visa person happier and therefore more likely to treat us well.

Unfortunately by the sounds of it though there's no chance of the Japanese police check being waived, and so we're still in the excrement.

Apparently if you apply in Japan for the police check it takes only 2 weeks, but you have to apply in person. Going through the embassy from the UK introduces another layer or two of bureaucracy which adds an extra 6 weeks...... Grrr.

If she was fine to fly I would have sent her home on a two week holiday....


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Hi Gib, yes certainly seems it can be a pain getting stuff from another country at times and then especially so in dealing with a third country.

Good that you've found you could do the medical without the Xray and something like that was dim in my mind and have just the other day seen another reference to it so I'll look it up for future reference.

Re the Japanese Police check, sounds like that could be the very last piece of info to be needed and hopefully the CO in being appreciative of the situation could have the stamp of approval poised awaiting its arrival.
Is there any chance if the application has been sent through npw to Japan that you if Japanese fluent or your wife could attempt getting through on the phone to the relevant Police Department there and they may likewise be appreciative or at least you may be able to have a chat re speeding up the post, paying for Express return etc.

Perhaps the CO in UK may be able to advice if an email advice direct to them from Japanese Police would be acceptable.
Only trouble though in attempting to do some sensible speed up things could mean you get up someones nose and it goes worse.

Fingers crossed, even with normal timing you could still be looking at late February, maybe an early March flight.

It does seem a real bummer that DIAC do have the regulations on this sort of thing so inflexible, always amazes me somewhat.

All the best in NY and with progress.


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## aussiegirl (Dec 15, 2009)

Hi Gib,

I was wondering how much help you gave your wife when putting together her application? My partner is Korean, and though his English is very advanced, I know that he's going to need some guidance on how to express some things. But as a sponsor I can only help him, not do the whole thing for him. So I'm curious as to what you helped her with and if you wrote anything together.


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

*Hi aussiegirl,*


> But as a sponsor I can only help him, not do the whole thing for him. So I'm curious as to what you helped her with and if you wrote anything together.


Help can go a long way and doing a partner visa I'd never expect that DIAC are going to be querying anything for it'll certainly be a partners' effort.

What I've suggested in past at times is that people print of or copy a few application forms and with *Checklist *you find in the *applying for this visa* section that you do a dummy application.

When it comes to statements about the relationship, again you can rough out content, make sure there's consistency of dates etc. and then choice of words for a little difference can be personal.


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## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

aussiegirl said:


> Hi Gib,
> 
> I was wondering how much help you gave your wife when putting together her application? My partner is Korean, and though his English is very advanced, I know that he's going to need some guidance on how to express some things. But as a sponsor I can only help him, not do the whole thing for him. So I'm curious as to what you helped her with and if you wrote anything together.


Hi AussieGirl,

My wife's a bright spark who speaks great English, so I only had to give a small amount of help. Some discussions about what they meant in particular questions that had even me scratching my head, so not related to her grasp of English. The main part I helped with was just balancing the workload by doing stuff either of us could do, and a spelling/grammar check of her history-of-relationship essay. I didn't fix everything in her essay though - I didn't want to make it sound like I'd written it.

I'd say help with as much as you'd like on his application. Do the whole thing if you'd like, as long as you have knowledge of all the information you need. Just make sure he does his own "history of relationship" before he's seen what you've written for yours, and I reckon you're fine. Of course he has to read and understand everything that's on the application, and sign his name that it's correct but I don't see why he needs to do all the work.

That's just my opinion, so take it for what it's worth...


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## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

Wanderer said:


> Re the Japanese Police check, sounds like that could be the very last piece of info to be needed and hopefully the CO in being appreciative of the situation could have the stamp of approval poised awaiting its arrival.
> Is there any chance if the application has been sent through npw to Japan that you if Japanese fluent or your wife could attempt getting through on the phone to the relevant Police Department there and they may likewise be appreciative or at least you may be able to have a chat re speeding up the post, paying for Express return etc.
> 
> Perhaps the CO in UK may be able to advice if an email advice direct to them from Japanese Police would be acceptable.
> Only trouble though in attempting to do some sensible speed up things could mean you get up someones nose and it goes worse.


Cheers Wanderer,

Yes, I know what you mean about putting the hurry-up on people and possibly making it worse. We're going to try to get the phone number of the people on the Japan side, but the Japanese are generally sticklers for doing things "the right way". Good idea about asking my CO if an email is good enough from the Japanese police. Perhaps a fax too...

Actually we already had asked for the Japanese police check to be sent back to Australia (when we though we'd apply from there), so she's going to have to contact them anyway to try to get it redirected to London.

Thanks!


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## aussiegirl (Dec 15, 2009)

Thanks Gib and Wanderer for your advice  Our situation isn't so clear cut, and we will have a lot of explaining to do to prove our relationship, so we're going to need a lot of documents and stat. decs


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## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

My wife rang the Japanese embassy today, and her police check application was still in London - they hadn't sent it to Japan yet!!!
After we sent them a fax with our sob story asking for a hurry-up they said they'd try to get it done within a month. Probably not fast enough, but if we're sure it will get here, then maybe I can still quit my job in anticipation, and if our CO is on our side, get the visa as soon as the police check arrives.


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

If you get it early February Gib you could still be doing OK.

I know it'll seem perverse [if right word] or ironic or both in that now you have the partner visa application in, another approach that you may want to investigate as a back-up or to move earlier is to go back to an ETA for your wife.

I would think that you could rightfully claim an intent to visit while she is awaiting her offshore partner visa grant and you realise that for it to be granted she'll again need an offshore visit [ and that could even be put off until after the birth - is a trip back to Japan with baby planned?].

That is what happens to people who have applied for offshore permanent skilled visas and then decide to get a temporary employer sponsored visa and enter Australia on that. Some are even sneakier and do come for a visit and if it happens that an employer is interested in offering them a job, all eligibility requirements are met then a 457 can be applied for onshore.
The permanent skilled visa application rests there in the background and when it comes up for processing [a huge delay for many at moment] and granting becomes iminent, the person is notified to make arrangements for an overseas trip and advise DIAC.

The principle of offshore/onshore visas and needing to be offshore to be granted an offshore application is well established from that aspect.

Given an ETA can be granted more or less instantly with an online application, you may want to look at planning an early departure [even earlier to avoid complications of a wannabe earlier baby], and if you have not heard from AH in London by end of January say or if hearing from a CO earlier, discuss the above approach with them one way or another for it is different to entering as a visitor with another intent.

Meanwhile if AH will accept an emailed/faxed Japanese police report and the Japanese embassy is now giving it some urgency and they could request a e/f report, perhaps all falls in place earlier anyway.

Good Luck.


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## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

Thanks Wanderer,

What's an e/f report ? [Edit. emailed/faxed - I figured it out]

I'd consider going to Australia now, but we won't be wanting to leave the country until about September, which is well past the 3 month stay for her ETA. My wife won't leave the baby, and she won't take the baby anywhere crowded (like a plane) until after 5 months of age.

Also the other big factor is whether she's covered by medicare. I think that she'd be covered by the UK NHS, although we'd probably have to extend our UK visa anyway (500 quid and a heap of stuffing around) to ensure that beyond February 21. I'm also not 100% it would work, seeing as we're not really UK citizens.

I know that if we applied for the spousal visa while in Australia, then she'd be effectively on a bridging visa at that point, and that she can then apply for medicare coverage straight away. But, I think that now we've applied offshore then we don't get a bridging visa and so the medicare thing doesn't work, and we'd have to rely on NHS reciprocity.

Also, the Japanese embassy won't send the police check directly to the Australian high commission I think. They need my wife to collect it from them, and then take it to the Aussies. We might be able to get around that too, but if not it means we have to be here when it arrives....

I hate paper.... Why can't we do everything electronically ?????


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## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

Sorry, I figured it out. e/f = emailed/faxed.. Silly me..


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## Gib (Dec 20, 2009)

We've heard from our case officer on 12 Jan, noting she was still waiting on our police reports. Also she wasn't happy that the xray hadn't been done. She asked for a reason why we shouldn't have to do one, saying that just wanting to give birth in Australia wasn't a good enough reason.

Saying that Japan isn't high risk for TB, and that my wife's 2002 medical for her student visa was fine, didn't convince her either. Looks like the CO isn't going to give my wife her visa until she has an xray, which she won't do until after giving birth.

Not happy.

Still waiting for the Japanese police check anyway, which probably won't arrive quickly enough, so staying in the UK for us now....... which means that we have to get our UK visas sorted which a pain in the neck as well.

Oh well, at least it's coming up onto summer here.


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Sent you a PM.


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## sarika (Aug 1, 2011)

which visa should be apply


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