Avoid the Facebook (or other) Visa Advice Groups or face the consequences

Garbage Visa Advice – Facebook Visa Advice Groups

More Facebook Group visa advice…..

I have often warned Down Under Visa clients, ie Australian Filipina couples wanting to be together in Australia, to stay away from amateur advice groups. The worst used to be the “forums”, where people who had success with a single visa….or who had lodged a single visa and were waiting, but felt very wise….would advise other people about putting together their own visa applications. These days? Mainly Facebook advice groups. Free to set up. Easy to manage. Set it up and the advice-seekers will come in droves, and they do!  

Why did I warn people about advice groups?

Why do I STILL warn people? Jealousy? Scared of losing business? No, not at all! Most of the people who frequent free-information sites will never pay a professional. They are like the Aussie home handyman who only calls in a plumber or mechanic when he messes up, otherwise he will always take the cheaper option. And good luck to them! Sometimes they win!  

My reasons?

Bad visa advice can lead to bad decisions!

• It can lead to visa refusals.
• It can lead to applying for visas you don’t qualify for.
• It can lead to applying for the wrong visa.
• It can lead to wasting sometimes years because someone told them something useless or incorrect that takes them off the path for years!
• Not to mention the fact that the advice-givers are committing a crime under Australian law by giving unqualified migration advice (Click HERE)
• And yes, let’s mention that there is zero consumer protection getting advice from someone who is not a Registered Migration Agent

And I have a conscience! And as a professional, seeing bad visa advice is like fingernails scraping down a blackboard!  

My point!

It took me a matter of seconds to see what was wrong with this (from a nameless Facebook group).

1. Cannot add a child to a tourist visa application. Child needs a separate visa application.
2. Needs a Departmental form (not an affidavit), along with a photo ID from the biological father IF the biological father is married to the mother (making the child “legitimate”, which is the word used in Philippines).
3. If (as I suspect, reading between the lines) the father was not married to the mother, under Philippines Law his permission is not needed and is in fact valueless!

How do I know this?

1. I know and understand the Migration Regulations re. child custody
2. I know and understand the Family Code of the Philippines which explains who has parental responsibility
3. And I’ve also managed countless hundreds of visa applications over the years with children from legally-single mothers in the Philippines, and I know what the outcome will be.
4. And I can see this poor woman wasting her time chasing something unnecessary.

In other words, I am qualified to give migration advice! Do yourselves a favour, and stay away from amateur advice forums and groups, and warn others to do the same.    

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Jeff Harvie is a Registered Migration Agent from Australia, but resident in Philippines since 2010 with his Filipina wife Mila and large extended family. Experienced with the Philippines culture, cross-cultural relationships and bureaucracy as well as Australian visas and Australian Migration Law, he writes with authority and fortunately with enough informality and humour that the average Aussie gets it! Down Under Visa specialises in visas for Australians in relationships with ladies and gents from Philippines, Thailand, China and Vietnam. Read MORE