Australia DCF - Lawyers and Timeline information

[macca 0]

Situation – Oz citizen, US citizen (permanent resident in oz) Sydney DCF

Right, there is plenty of information on here about this process...all of which is almost exactly how it happened for us so I won’t go through everything. I just wanted to post some advice on how to speed the application process up, and my thoughts on lawyers.

I believe it is quite achievable to see a 6 week turnaround between I-130 lodgement and visa approval in Sydney, if you get your police check and medical check done prior to receiving Packet 3 (against the advice of the consulate).

Medical Check: Firstly, let me say that I can see no apparent reason to wait until Packet 3 arrives to do the medical, despite the advice from the consulate. Some doctors told me I had to wait for it, some did not. There is nothing in Packet 3 that you need to take to the medical, apart from perhaps your case number, but this is certainly not required to make your appointment, and you can get by without your case number (I had one but didn’t bring it with me on the day and it was no problem). I called about 10 doctors off the panel, in 3 states, and there was only one who would assure me of a quick turnaround, and that was Dr Miller in Sydney. His assistant (can’t recall her name, it may have been Pat) was excellent. She was able to get me right in (most were up to a two to three week wait) and said the turnaround would be no more than 2-3 days plus postage time (all the others said 2 weeks). She even ended up giving me an express post envelop to save me another day. She was right, I had my medical on Tuesday, and received my report by Friday.

Police Check: I asked at a police station in Sydney if I could get my check done before I received Packet 3. They said no, that there was a letter in there that they needed and they were not allowed to issue the police check to me, it had to go directly to the Consulate. I took this for granted and waited until Packet 3 arrived. When it arrived, I saw there was no letter inside, in fact nothing at all that the police needed. I happened to be in Victoria at the time I received Packet 3, and went to the police down there and they said they did not require any documentation, and could give the report directly to me. It is a national report, exactly the same as the one NSW would have provided, however they had no restrictions. I am not sure if it was just the constable I spoke to that day in NSW, or if it is a NSW rule, but the process was very easy in Vic. Turnaround time was exactly 10 working days (this is the time they tell you, however the lady at the station told me sometimes it is a little longer, sometimes a little shorter).

Adam Walsh Name Check: This took 3 weeks, not 2 like I was led to believe.

Final Interview: The officer asked me when I was departing to the US, and as it was fairly close he told me he would put a note on the package to ensure it was sent to me as soon as possible. I received it in another state, the next day.

Submitting your form DS-2001: I waited until I had all the required paperwork before I submitted the DS-2001. I received my interview letter (in an email, not by mail like the website says), and a checklist was attached detailing what I had to bring to the interview. It was actually the wrong letter, it was for another guy who had forgotten to submit a form. It looked like he still got his interview date, however he was told to bring the form with him when he came. It was apparent, therefore, that if you are missing something, but expect it to be coming soon, you can still submit your DS-2001, and while you are waiting for your interview, your paperwork will have arrived and you can just take it in with you. I don’t recommend this, but it is an option if you are really in a time crunch.

The other thing I wanted to discuss was lawyers. Be clear, there is enough information on this website and others to get you through this process without a lawyer, but you must be fanatical with your preparation. Research, research, research. (As previous posts mentioned, I was commended by the embassy staff on my preparation. It makes their life easy, and they in turn make your life easy). There may be situations where you need a lawyer i.e. previous convictions or something like that, however if you do not see any serious flaws in your case, you can easily do it yourself. I was unsure about my case (paranoia mostly) so I sought out a lawyer who seemed to be an expert in the area, and had a one hour consultation. It cost me $600, however I was able to rationalise it by saying if it was enough to get me by without taking on a lawyer for the entire process, then it was cheap, and if i still elected to take on a lawyer, it came off their price. They were great. I lined up all the questions I had and fired them at them one by one. They basically laid a path for me to take, and I was able to get enough from them to confidently make my own way (of course don’t tell them that is what you are planning). A couple of things if you do this. First, don’t let them scare you. They are trying to get your business. For example, I had a previous arrest for public intox (dismissed in court). They made this out to be a really big deal (something I would definitely need a lawyer to help me through), and in fact it wasn’t mentioned to me once. Unless you have committed a crime of moral turpitude (unfortunately there is no clear definition or list of what crimes constitute a moral turpitude crime, Wikipedia does however give an informal list), or you have multiple events in your past, it should be no issue. Of course I am no lawyer, so take this for what it is, just my experience. Second, prepare all your big questions beforehand and make sure they get answered. Don’t let them run you out of time. Lastly, they will tell you that you need coaching for the interviews. You don’t. You go in there, answer 2 or 3 very general questions, and then leave after no more than 5 minutes. You do not need coaching. I personally believe that your package preparation is what gets you through the process, not your interview. Again only my opinion, however I believe they mostly bank on paperwork not immigration officer intuition.

Our timeline:

27 Oct 08: Married in the US while on vacation

8 Jan 09: Submit I-130 in Sydney....no problems

29 Jan 09: Receive Packet 3

16 Feb 09: Send in DS-2001

19 Feb 09: Receive interview date

10 Mar 09: Interview and Approval

11 Mar 09: Visa received (by mail in Melbourne)

16 Mar 09: Fly out to USA

[kaffy 2]

Congrats on your quick approval. Seems that things happen pretty much the same for all us Aussie DCFers (quick turnaround, standard procedures). Where are you living now?

I just want to add a few things about my timeline when we did DCF last year for any DCF newbies who may be interested in hearing different opinions about the process in Aus:

Adam Walsh took 1 week. We were told 2 weeks was standard but I guess we got lucky.

Police Check I was a little confused by because the information on the Consulate's website said QLD applicants are to have theirs sent directly to the Consulate so I decided to wait until after I received I-130 approval before getting it done. Well, turns out you can have it sent to either according to the QLD police's form so I could have done it earlier if I wanted. But nonetheless it was processed pretty quickly too - about an 8 day turnaround.

Medical. Called the Brisbane panel doctor on a Thursday and got in the next Monday. Had everything done on the day then picked up my results in person 2 days later.

DS-2001 I got permission to send in without my Japanese police check as that was PITA and I was told wasn't going to be ready for 10-12 weeks. Luckily I got it the day before my interview (yeh, I was cutting it really close).. had it not arrived by my interview I would have had to send it to them later and that would have delayed the issuing of my visa.

No lawyers here as our situation was pretty straight forward, took 7 weeks total from I-130 appointment to visa interview/approval.