This is a message to all temporary visa holders – be mindful of your visa expiry date, and allow time to apply for a new visa or visa extension. Leaving it until the last minute is a recipe for disaster!
The visa system is fraught with hurdles and stumbling blocks. The visa that you thought you could apply for may not be a valid option, as it may be capped or queued, discontinued, or simply not available to you. There are serious repercussions for overstaying your visa by even just one day!! Don’t let this be you.
It is a genuine challenge for Migration Agents when we take a call from a prospective client saying “I’ve been offered a job and my employer is willing to sponsor me, but…. my visa expires in 2 weeks.”
When you only give yourself two weeks to lodge an application, you are not doing yourself, your employer or your agent any favours. If you force an agent to rush the application there is more room for error. And in this business a small error can mean an invalid application or a visa refusal.
Take for example this Monday. I received an email from an existing client. The email says – “Can you lodge an application for an Occupational Trainee Visa for one of our students? Oh, and by the way his visa expires on Wednesday.” Not two weeks, TWO DAYS!!!! Seriously? I was waiting for one of my managers to step in and say “No way Kylie. You don’t have to do it.” But the get-out-of-jail-free-card was not forthcoming.
So I jumped in. I put all my existing clients on hold (with a quick chat or email they were okay to let me attend to this emergency– phew). The organisation threw documents at me, the applicant came in with all of his documents (I must admit he was pretty organised, and he had everything I needed).
I couldn’t help myself and had to ask why on earth did he leave your visa renewal until today? He said, “I thought my employer was taking care of it”.
So my advice to you all – YOUR VPerdaman Global ServicesIS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. Don’t leave it in the hands of your employer. Stay on top of the situation. Make sure your agent communicates with you the whole time. Get regular updates and get a commitment that the visa will be lodged in time to give you breathing space.
I would like to say that the subclass 402 visa nomination and application were lodged without a hitch, but this isn’t the case. Mistakes were found and corrected at the last minute. I missed the courier deadline, and the application had to be faxed at the eleventh hour. My Perdaman Global Services colleagues rallied around to help me. And credit where credit is due, the receiving case officer at the DIBP in Adelaide was tremendously kind.
The outcome was that VALID applications were received in time, and the client now sits happily and legally on a Bridging Visa A. I received such an awesome congratulatory email from my boss that I forwarded it to my Mum. All in all, a great team effort and a great outcome for my client!
Comments are closed.