Girlfriend (or boyfriend) from the Philippines, and you’re in Australia? Should you be looking at a tourist visa or not? Note that Australian tourist visas are also known as “visitor visas” and sometimes as “holiday visas”.

It really depends on the status of your relationship, and your level of commitment to each other. It has very little to do with the simplicity (or perceived simplicity) of a tourist visa, and hopefully not the cost. Although with the current cost of partner visas, these days it’s easier to understand the hesitation. However in the scheme of things, you should always look at what you actually want, and get the visa to suit your situation.

• Want your Filipina girlfriend to visit you to give you a chance to let your relationship develop further, and to see if you are both comfortable with each other over a few months? Look at a tourist visa.
• Can’t marry yet, because one or both of you are still legally married to someone else, and your divorce or her annulment isn’t complete yet? Look at a tourist visa.
• REALLY genuinely can’t afford a partner visa application right now after you’ve tried your hardest, and you’re both climbing the walls because you miss each other? Look at a tourist visa.
• You’re committed to each other fully, ie. you’re engaged, married or in a genuine de facto relationship? Then bite the bullet and make a start on a partner visa.

Choose the visa that matches the situation

Don’t try to be clever and try to find a backdoor way around a partner visa. Yes, it costs more and yes it’s considerably more work, but I guarantee you that if you want to be together you will have to go through a partner visa application anyway. Putting it off won’t help matters. And don’t kid yourself that a tourist visa application is necessarily easy, as if they are not convinced of the intentions of the applicant, they will refuse the application in a heartbeat.

I’m not for a second saying you shouldn’t apply for a tourist visa if a short visit of up to 3 months is what you’re looking at. Not at all. If that’s what you want, then absolutely this is the best choice you can make. I’m talking about trying to use tourist visas so you can live together as a couple, especially those who try to apply for 12 month tourist visas. To those who haven’t read the BLOG article about this, please click HERE and this topic is explained indepth.

The issue is that who takes a 1 year holiday? Are they really going to believe you are sincere in your claim that you need 12 months to enhance your relationship and to decide whether to make a commitment or not? It’s very obvious that you intend to use the tourist visa so you can stay together, and that maybe you’ll try to get another one at the end of the 12 months. And that’s not what tourist visas are for. If they think you are trying to “play the system”, they’ll just refuse the application. They do it all the time.

Back to tourist visas (for the right reasons)

If you do in fact want to spend up to 3 months together getting to know each other in a normal home environment, ie. not in holiday-mode, then tourist visas are wonderful. The applications normally take 2 – 4 weeks to be processed, and once granted you can head off straight away. No seminars to attend. No stickers in passports necessary.

For those of you who worry that maybe your lady from the Philippines won’t like Australia or will not be comfortable there in your suburban house, it’s a great opportunity. She can meet your kids….meet your parents….meet your mates….and you can take her to all the places you like going. If you are thinking of a permanent relationship, this is like a “sneak preview” much like the previews at the start of a DVD. You see enough to decide if you wish to proceed, ie. to see if this is what you really want. Could you imagine waking up every day for the rest of your life next to this lady? Not sure? Get a tourist visa and find out!

You wouldn’t believe how often I get an email saying “We had a great time together. She’s definitely the one! How can I get a partner visa now, and quickly?”

And get Down Under Visa to help you! We have an excellent success rate with sincere Australian Filipina couples, and can put your case to the Australian Embassy in Manila really well. We’ve had plenty of practice.