Tourist visa (600) - What was wrong?

[Anastasiia 0]

Dear specialists, could you please give your advice. I'd appreciate any help, as i can't really understand my case

The situation is following: I'm a russian citizen, planned to spend my 3 months holidays, from 17 november 2015 to 9 february 2016, in Australia together with my boyfriend - australian citizen, to see the country and visit his family and friends. My boyfriend is currently live in Portugal having both Australian and Italian passports. He is having holidays as well.

First i applied in september for 3 months tourist visa, but i was only granted with 1 months visa reason given due to not enough funds. Then i tried to apply again, giving the embassy financial sponsorship documents as the reason I received only a 1 month visa was because of insufficient funds, but this time i've got a refusal stating " I have considered your employment at “FABRIQUE” LTD in Russia. The fact that you are prepared to leave your employment for as long as three months leads me to believe that your employment may not serve as a strong incentive for you to return"

I have a good strong working relationship with my employer who was kind enough to let me take this once in a life time opportunity to visit Australia with my boyfriend and I am 100% guaranteed my job on return! The embassy contact my employer and he stressed to them that I am allowed this time off work and my job is secure.

So Me and my boyfriend went to Australia with my 1 month previous visa that was already granted before, we stayed there together from 17 november to 14 of december, and then, obeying my visa conditions (incl "no further stay"), I left the country, and flew to Bali (indonesia) to apply again from there for a 1 month visa and wait for the next visa decision, so i could come back easily and continue my holidays hoping that by showing that I left the country and followed my visa conditions would show that I am a genuine tourist and have no intention to stay in Australia.

So, 15 december 2015 I applied again for tourist visa from 24 of december 2015 to 9 february 2016. This time we included even more documents showing My stay in australia is completely sponsored by my boyfriend's father (accommodation, car, food, funds), and after visiting australia me and my boyfriend already have plans to leave Australia together to Russia, with our airfare to leave already paid for and letter from my boyfriend how he lives in Portugal so I have no reason to stay in Australia.

The following documents were sent with the application:

-Two Russian international Passports with all visas from trips in Australia, Europe and Asia (around 20 trips)

-Employer letter in russian language about employment status, salary and holidays provided

-Boyfriend's Italian and Australian passports -Boyfriend's invitation letter that he lives in Portugal and on holidays in Australia to spend with his family

-Boyfriend's invitation father's letter of full financial sponsorship

-Boyfriend's father's bank statement of $20,000 -Boyfriend's father's statutory declaration that he insures I leave country and that I'm only visiting for holidays

-Flight ticket to leave Australia together with the boyfriend (paid)

-My own bank statement, but for small amount (it was required by the system, around $300)

-My own cover letter explaining the situation

22 december without any calls or interviews I received a refusal from Australian High Comission, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) with the following reasons:

"In reaching my decision that you do not genuinely intend to stay temporarily in Australia for the purpose you stated, I considered several factors, including:

Your immigration status in Malaysia

Your personal circumstances in your home country (and/or country of usual residence), which might encourage you to remain Australia at the end of your proposed visit, such as your current employment situation, employment prospects, business, property and/or family ties

The ‘reasonableness’ of your trip, taking into account your stated purpose of visit, your intended activities, your contacts in Australia and your proposed length of stay in Australia

Your financial situation (eg insufficient funds to cover your proposed stay in Australia, irregular transaction history and/or unverifiable source of funds)"

So, I would really like to understand what was wrong in my application?

-What documents am I missing ?

-What else could I do to prove I am a genuine tourist and intend to leave the country.

Also Why did my last visa application refusal came from Malaysia? (in the application questionary there was a question "if the embassy would like to ask me for the interview, which place is closest for me to come", i chose "kuala lumpur", as the easiest destination for me from Bali. Could it be the reason?)

How could Malaysia process my application? Some of my documents are in Russian!!

I spoke to Australian immigration I was told that my online application is automatically routed to my country of residency and the IP address of the application is Indonesia!

I really appreciate your help and advice!

Thank you in advance.

[Alaska2012 462]

Well my guess would be the fact that you need someone else paying for everything while staying in Australia is the biggest red flag. And You really don't show any intent on going back, a flight ticket isn't a very strong evidence. You could just choose not to get on that plane.

[iliasrah 2]

Can you visit your boyfriend in Portugal? I think your visa to Australia is not possible they are so strict. Maybe you can marry him or something or just visit Portugal.

[arken 4,197]

So, I would really like to understand what was wrong in my application?

-What documents am I missing ?

You are not missing any documents. Your too much interest in getting to Australia and the surrounding circumstances could have possibly resulted in your denial.

From the embassy's perspective, the reasons could be as follows:

1. Your bf's dad is sponsoring, your bank balance is $300 and your bf did not sponsor you: The embassy believed neither you nor your bf earn enough money to be able to support yourselves for the trip. This implies that your bf as a Australian citizen will have no problem leaving his job in Portugal to stay with and you as a visitor will have no problem leaving your current job and stay with your bf or marry him and stay with him permanently in Australia.

2. Both of you and your bf are taking 3 months vacation from work to live in Australia with other family members: Even after coming back from 1 month vacation , trying to go right back in for another 2 months (that too after already getting refusal from embassy previously) showed your so much interest to be in Australia. A couple can go to any places for vacation. Having spent one month with bf's family members, you two were going to live with family members again for another two months. Most of the time a couple don't wanna stay with one's family members for that long especially during vacation. That just proved how strong family ties is in that family. The embassy considered that as a family union not vacation. The embassy thought the family union will possibly become a permanent stay.

3. Having you bf's father declaring that he ensures you'll leave the country: How can he ensure you'll leave the country? He can't send you back if you don't want to return. A letter of invitation is good but mentioning those things just shows everyone wants you to be in Australia by any means.

4. Not returning back to Russia but to Indonesia at the end of first trip: So at the end of the trip, you returned to geographically closer country Indonesia to apply for visa again. It showed you do not have strong ties with your family own family.

These are just few things I think the embassy personnel has in their mind. Apart from that there could be so many other reasons.

-What else could I do to prove I am a genuine tourist and intend to leave the country.

You have not provided a single reason that proves you will return back to your country. From theirs perspective, there is nothing that will prevent you from staying in Australia.

The only way to prove you are a genuine tourist is just not to apply for visa again for at least a year. Apply for visa after a year for few weeks to a month.

Also Why did my last visa application refusal came from Malaysia? (in the application questionary there was a question "if the embassy would like to ask me for the interview, which place is closest for me to come", i chose "kuala lumpur", as the easiest destination for me from Bali. Could it be the reason?)

Yes, that's because you picked kuala lumpur.

How could Malaysia process my application? Some of my documents are in Russian!!

This again could have played negative role. You have documents in Russian and picked kuala lumpur. Were all Russian documents translated to english?

[Anastasiia 0]

Thanks a lot for your opinions! I have my understanding of this situation and you made it more clear) Do you think it will be worse if i apply for transit visa? I would just really like to use my ticket back) I know it was silly to buy this ticket before getting a positive reply, but it happen..