Australian Tourist Visa

[Perry]

My Chinese girlfriend wants to come to Australia to visit me. She is an intelligent rich woman who has a substantial business. She has to go for an interview for a tourist visa. She is very scared as she does not want to fail.
Any ideas as to what the interview involves in terms of questions?

Some lateral thinking,
"If we could convince the Chinese that Jihadists testicles are an aphrodisiac,
in 10 years they could be extinct . "

[David E]

A Tourist Visa should not be a problem for her. She would need to show that she is:

A) Capable of supporting herself whilst in Aus

B) Has somewhere to stay...private address or Hotel

C) Has RETURN air- ticket already booked...and Travel Insurance (health)

It will also help if you write to her a formal letter of invitation.

Their only fear is that she wants a Tourist Visa to get here and disappear and become an overstayer.

[Perry]

David,

Thanks for that. That was my feeling, just she is very nervous about the interview. I will take your advice an send her a letter of invitation.

[David E]

No probs   

The Interview will be all about deciding if she is a risk of overstay. They will want to be CERTAIN that she will go back to China.

She should just be honest, dont try to muddy the water with complex stuff.
Dont forget, you will not be able to get a fiance or spouse visa ( if and when you decide to make your relationship permanent and live together in Aus) unless you have made at least one visit to China to meet her /her family....preferrably more than one !!

So her visit to Aus will only be viewed as a holiday, it dont count towards any future visa (unless you have already been to China to visit her)

[Jason B]

There is or was a letter of invitation on here in the Aust section that I used and was very successful with.  As David said don't try any BS with them.  When my wife and I put in her papers for visa the first thing they asked was did she have any exclusions from entering Oz, meaning had she overstayed any visa and had the auto 3 year ban applied to her.  They are watching but will give a visa if you are straight with them.  Funny that as a tour group she would be given a visa as part of the group but as a single traveller she has to have an interview.  But I think times will change as more and more middle Chinese have the surplus cash to travel and will want to go somewhere by themselves as we westerners do.

Good luck and as we are all steaky beaks and nosey bastards keep us updated on your journey as there will always be something you can contribute from your experiences that has never been dealt with before.

Cheers Jason

[Perry]

An update.

Sadly my ladt was refused a visa on the basis, so she tells me, on her English ability. It is certainly not on lack of funds or health care concerns. I did not realise for an Australian tourist visa they would have en expectation of a reasonable ability to speak English.

Can anybody tell me more about this and also when she can reapply.

Thanks

Perry

[David E]

Something must have gone very wrong with her application....

There is NO requirement for tourists to have any English knowlege.

Did she make an application via a local Chinese Agency ?? or did she do the whole thing personally ??

I can only assume that they considered her a risk of overstay based on her application.

Need to know more about this, it is very unusual.

I think the re-apply period is 3 years...but check with Aus Immigration. It might be a good idea for you to phone them and discuss the whole issue.

[Perry]

Thanks David for that information. That was my thought exactly. So, I will ring up Immigration and find out the reality and then have a chat with her. There is certainly no risk of overstay or lack of finance, so I wonder if she actually took the interview with the immigration people.

[David E]

Perry

Being the designated cynic here ( ) I cant help feeling that there is something a bit iffy about the Tourist Visa outcome...after all, I would think that only a minute fraction of the many, many Chinese Tourists coming to Aus now have any knowlege of English at all. And as those of us that have spent a lot of time in China will testify it is still very rare that the average Chinese knows any English.

I have previously sponsored Tourist Visas for my wife's Father, Sister, Son and 4 of her Uni mates and those went through without a problem.

It may well be that she parted with money for a local Agency to handle her application and they did nothing, just told her that her lack of English led to a refusal ( a local Agency tried this with my Sister-in-Law so it does happen)

Either which way, I would be sure you dont know the real truth about this story and I urge you to get to he bottom of it...before you get hurt

Just my 2 cents worth
Kind regards...David

[Willy The Londoner]

Thanks David for that information. That was my thought exactly. So, I will ring up Immigration and find out the reality and then have a chat with her. There is certainly no risk of overstay or lack of finance, so I wonder if she actually took the interview with the immigration people.

As a Non Oz Maybe it would be an idea to find out exactly what Visa she applied for.  As David says it seems a bit iffy to get a refusal for a visitors visa.
 
If she did the application herself then maybe she ticked a wrong box or could she have possible overstated her assets to you!

Willy