Kiwi12 said:
Hi Chipits,
You and I had a conversation in the past regarding Canada/Australia sponsorship. I know you have been through the opposite process. Just wondering if you could give me the website name of a good Australian immigration forum. I am preparing in case this application doesn't work out or takes too long. Also just wanting to know if you can answer this: If my husband sponsors me from Australia and I continue to work and reside here in Canada will I be able to visit my husband without it interfering with the application. Any idea what the timeline might be?
Thank you.
Hey Kiwi12, Excuse me for jumping in here, but I also went through the process with my fiance recently (before the price jumped to $4000!!)
Here is the link to the forum, I used: http://www.australiaforum.com/visas-immigration/2997-very-unofficial-defacto-visa-tips.html , and more specifically a detailed thread about how to present the application. It is not as active as the Canadian VISA forum, however there is still an active community that are going through the same processes.
In general the Australian application is very very similar to Canadian application, albeit more difficult to get the Canadian fingerprints! If you do end up needing to get the fingerprints from RCMP while residing in Australia, there is a third party organisation near Toronto that allows you to submit the fingerprints(for a fee) electronically. Best $100 or so dollars I ever spent!
Anyhow, I digress... that just pops into my mind as the most difficult part of the whole application process, as we had previously submitted them twice to RCMP manually (with messy ink!) using the Australian fingerprint forms at the local police office - and had to wait 3 months each time for RCMP just for them to tell us they weren't approved!
If you are applying from outland the VISA is known as Temporary 309, and Permanent 100. You apply for both at the same time as they have the conditional 2 year rule, so initially you are applying for the 'Temporary Residential Visa 309, then after two years you need to reapply (not as intensive as the first time round, apparently!), just to make sure you are still in the relationship. You nominate an address they send the forms to that you can have completed and sent back in a few weeks before the 2 year datethat they initially received your application -the 2 years starts from then. Inland, the Visa codes are Temporary VISA 820, and Permanent Residency VISA 801.
Our application process took about a year to gather all the information, but only took 3 months from filing to getting the VISA.
I am not sure if you can visit whilst applying from outland, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to, but don't take my word for it. I know applying inland you can leave the country, but need to fill out forms so you are able to re-enter the country whilst on you bridging VISA.
EDIT: Just did some research and apparently you are able to visit on an ETA visa (Electronic travel authority) https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETA/etas.jsp , so no problem visiting.
Hopefully that all makes sense!
