Philippines to Australia Visa's.

[Kaz1983]

Anybody here with any experience regarding applying for Philippines to Australia Visa's, the process etc etc.


So far we have applied once. That was last March but we were denied, they claimed:


That they didn't feel that there is prove of the funds needed to travel to Australia.


Also that there is no incentive for my girlfriend to come back to the Philippines. She doesn't have a job and is a stay at home mum of a 3 year old.


Now before anybody 'warns' me that being with a single mum is trouble and makes things difficult, well there might be some truth in that but I didn't set out to meet a single mum it just happened and we have been together for 1 1/2 years now. We're both very happy and everything is great (minus the floods at the minute in Manila, but she and her family are doing good atm) .... where we are both at, is we want to spend more and more time together (I spent 5 months there, earlier this year) but we are not sure how. She doesn't trust her government which seems to be a running theme over there, to do anything right -let alone approve a Visa application and seeing as you can't apply 'directly thur the internet like many other Sth-East Asian countries like Thailand for example, that's one less option. That said we can apply directly to my government (whilst I'm in Australia preferably..) seeing as I'm an Australian citizen, the only thing there is because your 'bypassing' the Filipino government by applying directly you get scrutinized more ... your relationship is looked at more closely and also your future intentions (your purpose of your stay, what are your plans for when your Visa runs out.. marriage?)


Basically I'm at a cross roads, we are at a cross roads. Apart from going back to Manila in November till June next year, long term - I'm not sure what my next step is.


The three options are...


1. Apply for a short term holiday Visa to Australia, use her coming back to look after her son as the 'incentive for my girlfriend to return to the Philippines after 3/4 months'


2. Apply for a finance Visa in a years time, go travel Sth East Asia in the mean time - collect the hotel receipts, copies of the tickets etc etc.

3. Live over there for a few years. I personally like the country and the city, Manila may not be for everyone but I actually like it tbh. It's different I'll give you that.

Of those 3 options, 1 and 2 are the preferable ones. With this recent flood, making it 3 in 3 years - it has hit home even more so, if anyone doesn't know I'm in a wheelchair and would be fu#ked if I over there atm. So has anybody here got any experience with Philippines to Australia Visa's? .. or Visa's in general, applying for them thur the Philippines government/their respective embassies

[V_Man]

I am confused by your post.

Any Australian temporary visa is going to be hard work. You can provide all the proof of funds and guarantees to cover the financial aspects. However to be able to prove she has a compelling reason to return to the Philippines is going to be a problem. They want something such as that she owns property in the Philippines or something like that.

You could apply for a prospective marriage visa for her. However you should be aware that this is a long process.

Your options 2 or 3 are the most likely routes.

[Ray]

Kaz,
 
The Philllipne governement has nothing to do with approving a visa to visit another country.
 
If she wants to visit Australia, then she has to deal directly with the Australian governemt.
 
It's basically the same thing with the US governement. For a single female wanting to visit her "boyfriend" in his country, they are assuming that she is an intending immigrant and that she very likely may decide to overstay her temporary visitor visa.
 
Generally, they want her to qualify on her own as a valid tourist. That means having sufficient funds and a steady source of income to show that she has the necessary financial means.
 
If she is dependent on you for her support, then the embassy will be suspicious of her ultimate intentions.
 
When you return to Manila to visit her, I would go to the Australian embassy in person (both of you) and speak directly to a consular officer. It does help if they can to see a real committed couple in person. Explain to them what you want to do and ask what steps are available to you so that she can visit you in Australia.
 
If marriage is in your future plans, I would start seriusly looking into the procedure for marriage in the Philippines. If she were your wife, she would then have legal standing to apply foe a visa.
 
Good luck,
 
 
Ray
 
 
 
 

[Kaz1983]

Look I havent explained myself properly, I've done a poor job and yeah I do realize that any Visa application is gonna be hard work. As yeah for marriage it's bound to be a long process and you have gotta be 100% sure it's what you both want. Im not stupid. I never expected to apply and bang we got a Visa, I was expecting there to be more English spoken in the Embassy tho and not told 3 different things by 3 different people..... things to be a little more clearer, whether you're approved or not - is that expecting too much?


As for mentioning about their government, approving the Visa's - that wasn't what I meant but rather seeing as all they spoke was Tagalog and barely any English, even tho I asked a handful of times to speak English. It didn't feel like I was in my Embassy applying for a Visa on behalf of my girlfriend. I was the only westerner in a room full of Filipio's, probably between 40-60 hahaha......


The best thing I did was get in contact with someone with experience applying for Visas's for Fipino's wanting to work overseas or travel have the extra money to pay to get help with the application. He was referred to us by my girlfriend's fathers friend who is a lawyer. The guy who spoke great English was a lot more clearer, he told us were we went wrong but by that time it was too late I was leaving for Australia in late May (It was late April,/early May..)



Oh Ray what you said regarding going in person is what we did before. Will no doubt do it again, when we apply next time. That your right about. It's just a shame nobody in the Australia Embassy speaks good English

[Kaz1983]

I am confused by your post.

Any Australian temporary visa is going to be hard work. You can provide all the proof of funds and guarantees to cover the financial aspects. However to be able to prove she has a compelling reason to return to the Philippines is going to be a problem. They want something such as that she owns property in the Philippines or something like that.

You could apply for a prospective marriage visa for her. However you should be aware that this is a long process.

Your options 2 or 3 are the most likely routes.

Yeah I'm not sure if it would be enough but seeing as tho' owning property is out of the question. So is getting a job (on short notice anyways..), unless she is lucky enough to find one. We thought maybe enrol her into school, studying 'nursing'  possibly ... so if it is a 3 month Visa your applying for, March to May, have her studying starting in June? ... her son staying in the Philippines with her father could be used as another 'incentive' for her to come back to her country you'd think? ... but yes I understand it isn't straight forward, any Visa application .. with the goal being a marriage Visa, me bringing her to my country in 3-5 years or possibly sooner... that's what booth of us want.

[V_Man]

She could apply for a student visa. You will need to pay for the course costs plus have another $18,000 or something as proof you can cover her living costs. In that case they would want some reason to believe that she was really comming to study and that she would return at the end of her course. All this is explained on the web site you just need to study it clearfully.

[robert angel]

She could apply for a student visa. You will need to pay for the course costs plus have another $18,000 or something as proof you can cover her living costs. In that case they would want some reason to believe that she was really comming to study and that she would return at the end of her course. All this is explained on the web site you just need to study it clearfully.

That's solid info, V_Man. Kaz has been steady working away in his pursuit for a while now and has spent a good amount of time 'where the girls are' but w/o losing focus. For anyone anywhere, navigating visas and such requires asking around and I'm sure your help's appreciated.

Make's me wonder about the student visa and other nations too--my wife's younger sister was courted by Wellesley, a highly regarded private all women college in Massachusetts. However, even with a substantial scholarship, the costs were prohibitive so we never looked into a visa. There are plenty of good, less expensive schools, community colleges, etc, but for us, having her get her RN in nursing back home was much more cost effective--we hope it eventually opens windows for her to come to the USA.
 
If a guy could help his gal swing a student visa, he might minimize risk to an extent and with his gal being immersed in a college atmosphere with lots of boys, bars & parties available, he'd likely soon see if she was serious material or not.

[Ray]

Kaz,
 
3-5 years is an awful long time. If you two are serious about marriage and are both committed to a lifetime relationship, then drop all the other bullshyt like phony student visas and marry her.
 
 
If you screw around too long, she may decide that she doesn't want to wait another 3-5 years and dump you for someone else who is ready to act now. These young ladies are very practical and will most often take a sure thing over some promise of "maybe" in 3-5 years.
 
 
So if you love her, just do it now!
 
 
That's my advice, for what it's worth...
 
 
Ray