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I thought getting an Australian partner visa for my German girlfriend was an expensive and arduous process - a few solid weeks putting together a big binder of

I thought getting an Australian partner visa for my German girlfriend was an expensive and arduous process - a few solid weeks putting together a big binder of all our information, but for 'only' 10,000$AUD and a 3 month wait, she's now a Permanent Resident. As I understand, it would not be possible in to do the reverse in Germany or most other European countries without waiting many years and getting married.

incompatible 4y ago
That was surprisingly fast, I thought there was some kind of waiting list that was years long. The $10,000 AUD absolutely stops me applying.
- plantain 4y ago
  The processing time appears to vary roughly linearly with your whiteness, youth and skills. My friend with an Asian wife and two kids has been waiting two years.
bombolo 4y ago
In europe, excluding scam countries like malta, you don't have to pay such high fees to get processing.
- fieryskiff11 4y ago
  [dead]
- midoridensha 4y ago
  In Japan it's 8000 yen (about USD$60 right now). Weird how the Anglophone countries take advantage of immigrants so much.
  - hulitu 4y ago
    > Weird how the Anglophone countries take advantage of immigrants so much They are more experienced. There are not so many people who want to live in Japan.
    - midoridensha 4y ago
      Do the Anglophone countries want high-skill immigrants who are going to bring huge economic benefits or not? Making it difficult and expensive for them to immigrate and make new homes there is counter-productive. By contrast, Japan makes it really, really easy (and cheap) to immigrate if you have highly-valued skills and a job with a high salary. Maybe the Anglophone countries' governments are just evil and want to take advantage of the high demand by charging huge fees? But even here, it doesn't make that much sense because a lot of the total costs are for an immigration lawyer to handle the byzantine procedures, not government fees, so this just looks like corruption.
      - bombolo 4y ago
        Probably just corruption. The fees to have a work visa in EU are very low. Under 200€. However some african people I've met told me that the european embassies only accept applications through some agencies that charge 10x as much. I can easily imagine money is changing hands there.
        midoridensha 4y ago
        Wow, that seems blatantly corrupt. You shouldn't need a 3rd-party agency to submit forms to a government agency. In Japan, you just submit applications yourself. There are immigration lawyers you can use, but AFAICT they're only needed if you have some really special circumstances, or you're just too lazy (or busy) to handle the paperwork yourself. For most people, you just fill out the form, get your supporting documentation, then go wait in line at the government office for half a day.
thaumasiotes 4y ago
Why did you need to spend AU$10,000?
- contingencies 4y ago
  AFAIK basically (A) Once you get PR you never have to apply for another visit visa, a process which itself is tedious and expensive if you were previously making sporadic trips; (B) You can access social services such as (internationally speaking) very high grade dirt cheap public medical care and potentially perpetual but qualified access to social services payments ("the dole"); (C) You receive discounted access to local education; (D) After another 4 years you can obtain citizenship and voting rights. (E) As an adult migrant you receive hundreds of hours of free 1:1 spoken English training.; (F) You have additional rights under law such as additional support for any prudent claim of local tax residency should that be a foreign jurisdiction's pressing concern. So all up, not that unreasonable. Although, it is a hurdle for many people, including lots of Sydney Uber drivers I've had lately. Full disclosure: Have done this for Oz (I recall more like AUD$8K but that was a few years back), currently going through US non-immigration visas in prospective immigration as an entrepreneur, it's a PITA. Spoke to the HN immigration lawyer dude last year. Despite good advice, our situation is not helped by certain relevant websites running on Salesforce and being down, Chrome-only, nor by 3-4 month post-COVID wait times for certain non-immigrant visa interviews required by immediate family...
- incompatible 4y ago
  It's basically the visa cost plus any other expenses (like obtaining police reports from other countries you've lived in.) The visa is currently $8085. https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/partner-onshore https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-li...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

incompatible 4y ago

That was surprisingly fast, I thought there was some kind of waiting list that was years long. The $10,000 AUD absolutely stops me applying.

plantain 4y ago
The processing time appears to vary roughly linearly with your whiteness, youth and skills. My friend with an Asian wife and two kids has been waiting two years.

bombolo 4y ago

In europe, excluding scam countries like malta, you don't have to pay such high fees to get processing.

fieryskiff11 4y ago
[dead]
midoridensha 4y ago
In Japan it's 8000 yen (about USD$60 right now). Weird how the Anglophone countries take advantage of immigrants so much.
- hulitu 4y ago
  > Weird how the Anglophone countries take advantage of immigrants so much They are more experienced. There are not so many people who want to live in Japan.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    Do the Anglophone countries want high-skill immigrants who are going to bring huge economic benefits or not? Making it difficult and expensive for them to immigrate and make new homes there is counter-productive. By contrast, Japan makes it really, really easy (and cheap) to immigrate if you have highly-valued skills and a job with a high salary. Maybe the Anglophone countries' governments are just evil and want to take advantage of the high demand by charging huge fees? But even here, it doesn't make that much sense because a lot of the total costs are for an immigration lawyer to handle the byzantine procedures, not government fees, so this just looks like corruption.
    - bombolo 4y ago
      Probably just corruption. The fees to have a work visa in EU are very low. Under 200€. However some african people I've met told me that the european embassies only accept applications through some agencies that charge 10x as much. I can easily imagine money is changing hands there.
      - midoridensha 4y ago
        Wow, that seems blatantly corrupt. You shouldn't need a 3rd-party agency to submit forms to a government agency. In Japan, you just submit applications yourself. There are immigration lawyers you can use, but AFAICT they're only needed if you have some really special circumstances, or you're just too lazy (or busy) to handle the paperwork yourself. For most people, you just fill out the form, get your supporting documentation, then go wait in line at the government office for half a day.

thaumasiotes 4y ago

Why did you need to spend AU$10,000?

contingencies 4y ago
AFAIK basically (A) Once you get PR you never have to apply for another visit visa, a process which itself is tedious and expensive if you were previously making sporadic trips; (B) You can access social services such as (internationally speaking) very high grade dirt cheap public medical care and potentially perpetual but qualified access to social services payments ("the dole"); (C) You receive discounted access to local education; (D) After another 4 years you can obtain citizenship and voting rights. (E) As an adult migrant you receive hundreds of hours of free 1:1 spoken English training.; (F) You have additional rights under law such as additional support for any prudent claim of local tax residency should that be a foreign jurisdiction's pressing concern. So all up, not that unreasonable. Although, it is a hurdle for many people, including lots of Sydney Uber drivers I've had lately. Full disclosure: Have done this for Oz (I recall more like AUD$8K but that was a few years back), currently going through US non-immigration visas in prospective immigration as an entrepreneur, it's a PITA. Spoke to the HN immigration lawyer dude last year. Despite good advice, our situation is not helped by certain relevant websites running on Salesforce and being down, Chrome-only, nor by 3-4 month post-COVID wait times for certain non-immigrant visa interviews required by immediate family...
incompatible 4y ago
It's basically the visa cost plus any other expenses (like obtaining police reports from other countries you've lived in.) The visa is currently $8085. https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/partner-onshore https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-li...
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]