After Application for a Tourist Visa is Submitted.
The only thing you can do once an application
for an Australian tourist visa is submitted is to wait for the process to run its course. The VFS office in Bangkok
will tell you that it will take between 3 and 5 working days to be completed. Experience has shown that 5 days is
the norm. If you submit an application on Monday morning you the passport should be available for collection on
Friday afternoon. This is provided a complete and properly prepared application is submitted.
There are two methods available to check if the
passport is ready for collection. You can call them on 02 672 3476 (and /77 /78 /79.) The only information that
they will divulge is if the passport is ready to be collected or not. They will not tell you the result of the
application so better not to ask.
The second and best option is to
use Track Your Passport page
on the VFS website. To get access to the information you will need her passport number and the Applicant Reference
Number. This number is on the photocopy of her passport that she would have received after submitting the passport.
Again the only information you will get is if the passport is ready for collection.
When the passport is ready for collection she
will need to go to the VFS office with the photocopy of her passport with the VFS stamp on it. This is required to
collect the passport. Passports can only be collected between 3pm and 4:30pm.
If the application was properly prepared and
there are no issues she is highly like to have a visa in her passport when it was collected. A visa is no long
placed in passports. The passport will come with a document stating what visa was issued, the validity of the visa
and any conditions. The details will be stored in the immigration department's computers. Details will be available
to the airlines for checking prior to her boarding the plane.
Once she has the visa you can start preparing
for her arrival in Australia. The next section deals with this. Don't skip it as there can be problems when she
arrives if you don't give her some guidance.
|