Bank balance for Philippina tourist visa to Australia

[Ozzyboy]

Hello everyone, my Philippine girlfriend wants to holiday in Australia to visit me and her auntie, the one requisite she needs is a bank balance of AUD $5000 or PHP 185000, over time i have been sending her small sums of money hoping she would save it in the bank, recently she began to get her documents to start the holiday visa process, when i asked her about her bank balance she only has 30,000 pesos.

Moving on, as ''a friend'' i cannot sponsor her, a ''family'' member can but no one wants to, no money, i wanted to open a joint account, went to several banks in Sydney HSBC especially but, both of us must apply and sign together, can't do it from different countries.

quote; '' Australia’s home affairs department said visitors should have enough money to support themselves while in Australia, which would cost around AUD5,000 or approximately P180,862. ''

Has anyone had a similar encounter and did you resolve it? and how?

I'm happy to send her monthly amounts up to AUD $5000 to show she has the funds but until the visa application is done i wanted to block her or her family accessing the money, after her holiday when she returns they can go crazy shopping, it's ok.

Any advice is welcomed, and i will say at the top of my voice ''MERRY CHRISTMAS'' i will not be silenced, ho, ho, ho, .

[scott h]

13 hours ago, Ozzyboy said:

Any advice is welcomed

Ozzy, I am seeing redflags all over.

13 hours ago, Ozzyboy said:

a ''family'' member can but no one wants to,

If I read this right she already has relatives down under, but are unwilling to sponsor her move to Oz or send her money to visit? I am wondering where all the remittance money is going. Usually, families will jump through hoops to get more family members to join them.

13 hours ago, Ozzyboy said:

wanted to block her or her family accessing the money

Thats not going to happen, and if you do find a way you will be branded as a really bad dude by the family. 

13 hours ago, Ozzyboy said:

Any advice

Save your money, time and frustration,,just hop on a plane and come here for a visit

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, scott h said:

Ozzy, I am seeing redflags all over.

Another question is, does she have any international travel experience?  That could be a factor in getting a visa and also even getting out of the Philippines.  And, does she have a job?

Last year I got AU visitor visas for my wife and step-daughter.  It was a detailed process and they also had to go to Manila for the bio-metrics.  I just looked at the documents I prepared and it is a lot.

It is not easy for a single Filipina to travel out of the Philippines to a Western country where a visa is needed.  She would need to show strong ties to the homeland.  Which means, good job with good pay, bank accounts, property ownership, etc.  Sometimes, if it is not obvious, she may be asked what the source of bank account funds is.

As a boyfriend, you can't really help much.  She has to prove to them that she will return home.  If she mentions you when asked "purpose of visit", that might even be a problem.

[hk blues]

How long have you been in the relationship - if it's been a long time then perhaps worth jumping through hoops, if a short time I don't know If I'd make the effort.

[Freebie]

And even if you succeed in getting her the visa, and the ticket and she stands in line at Immigration, all it takes is one ( usually female ) immigration clerk, jealous, having a bad day etc, who demands she goes for secondary interview to ensure she isnt being trafficked, and oopsss.. sorry maam flight has left without you whilst we were asking these question.

Compensation.. no maam of course not.

I think Sir, you may have lots to learn about the Philippines and how it works.

[Hestecrefter]

I can't say for Australia, but I am guessing not too different from Canada.  We tried 3 times for my wife for tourist visa, the first in January 2020, the last time in March 2023, after we had been married for a year and her Canada permanent resident application had been in the works for 5 months.  Denied each time.  

Stripped to its essentials, each time she got an unsigned, boilerplate letter saying, in effect: "You say you will return home after your visa period, but we know you are lying.  You'll never leave.  We know you would prefer to live out your days as an illegal in Canada; never able to work legally, to get medical benefits, or anything else. You are lying scum and your boyfriend/husband is just as bad for backing you up."  

No one can sponsor a tourist to Canada.  Being a relative does not count.  No such thing as sponsoring a tourist.  It helps not a whit to show that I or anyone inviting her has deep pockets, can easily fund her trip, etc.  Nope, they want to see that she has her own money to fund everything.  Even if staying with me, they want to see that she has funds for her own airfare, hotel, food and transportation costs, etc.  If she says she wants to visit for 2 months, then she must show twice as much money as she would for one month.  The rationale is, I have been told, that the invitor might not keep promise and refuse to cover any costs once she is here.  While I would be happy to put up a cash deposit of, say, USD50,000 to ensure she goes home, Canada won't agree to that simple expedient.

Canada also wants to see a record of travel to other countries that are hard to get into, such as US, Australia, UK.  Travel in Asia does not count.  They want you to prove you have a million reasons to leave.  They want to hear you say "I have such a great life back in the Phils, why would I ever want to stay in a shithole country like Canada?"  And they want proof.  Proof of a great job, of owning your own house, leaving behind kids as a reason to go home, etc.  They want to see a year or so of regular deposits to your bank from that great job.  They want a letter from the employer saying that vacation time has been granted, but the Filipina is expected back at work.  It's hard to fool them by dropping P 1 million into an account 3 weeks before applying.  I think deposits amounting to less than about P500,000 would be laughed at.  Airfare alone today can run about P100,000.  Australia is a bargain if all the "show money" they ask for is AUD5,000.  

In Canada, it's considered to be the kiss of death for them to find out a Filipina is coming to visit a bf.  That's taken as a clear sign that her motive is to stay here with him and go TNT.  

As alluded to by @Freebie, there is always the risk of the dreaded "offloading", the subject of a few YouTube videos by such luminaries as the Filipina Pea. Yup, if some officer at the airport gets a hair up their ass, she is not allowed to board the flight.  Full stop.  No appeal.  Ticket wasted.

 My wife is coming to Canada with me next week, having finally completed the tiresome (and expensive) process of getting married and applying for permanent residence in Canada.  For that I can sponsor her.  I am sure they are pissed off at not being able to deny her now, but much harder to deny a spouse.  I am sure that will change.  So now she can accomplish what we sought to do 4 years ago...let her come and have a look at Canada.  Then we can decide to stay or not.  If she does not take to the place, we'll live in the Phils.  I am happy here in the Phils and there's a huge incentive to cease being a tax resident of Canada. So, we'll see.

 

 

[Clermont]

21 minutes ago, Hestecrefter said:

here in the Phils and there's a huge incentive to cease being a tax resident of Canada. So, we'll see.

 

 

We weighed up options before we came back home here to live, much the same as you. At first she’ll like Canada but home sickness sets in, much the same as western people and that’s when you’ll have to make the dissuasion on where you’ll live. Since coming back to the Philippines we’ve had no problems. Where a lot of people go wrong they want their wife to live where they themselves want, my advice, let her choose but talk about what you like in your lifestyle, after all she knows the Philippines better than you. Good luck.

[Hestecrefter]

5 minutes ago, Clermont said:

We weighed up options before we came back home here to live, much the same as you. At first she’ll like Canada but home sickness sets in, much the same as western people and that’s when you’ll have to make the dissuasion on where you’ll live. Since coming back to the Philippines we’ve had no problems. Where a lot of people go wrong they want their wife to live where they themselves want, my advice, let her choose but talk about what you like in your lifestyle, after all she knows the Philippines better than you. Good luck.

Thanks for input Clermont.

Back in the 90s, I had a Filipina gf.  We lived in Vancouver for awhile, where her husband from the UK had landed her.  She was lukewarm about Vancouver.  From there, we moved to Los Angeles and she liked that better.  I thought we would stay there forever, so I bought a house, which I only sold last year, figuring I would never move back.  But, after 3 years in LA, we moved to Quezon City, for her to pursue a business opportunity.  

In 2002, I brought a Filipina to Vancouver for a 3-month period while I worked on a contract.  Long story, but life events overtook us, we did not go back to PI until 2015, and we were married in early 2003 and parted company, on good terms, in 2019.  I always told here that we could move back to the Phils if ever she wanted.  She never showed much interest.  On a trip in early 2015, I stayed for a month or so and she was going to stay for 3 months.  She returned to Canada after 2 months.  She complained Phils "too hot all the time", the pollution hurt her eyes and lungs.  The reason for her staying longer was so that she could visit family and I did not want to deal with them.  When she came back to Canada, she said that would be last visit to family.  She said they had no interest in her, her life, nothing.  Only interested in what they could squeeze out of her.  She has not been back to Phils since and has no interest.

How will things go with my present Filipina in Canada?  Who knows?  I don't much care, one way or another.  I am content to be able to show her around for a bit and, in particular, I want her to have a summer with me on a large waterfront acreage on a west coast island, where I have built a home.  We'll stay initially in a condo I purchased in Victoria, BC. As for the island, it's something of a paradise in summer.  People from around the world pay a lot to visit the area.  We can see killer and humpback whales in front of the house almost every day.  Go out in the boat and catch salmon, cod and other species as well as prawns, crab, oysters, clams in abundance, right there.  There is fruit in the orchard and seasonal blueberries, salmon berries, huckleberries, blackberries all over.  She grew up in a place where they had a lot growing.  The family home is not really, even now, accessible by road, although a motorcycle can get there if not too muddy getting up the hill.  Carabao and cart more reliable.  My point is I don't think she'll be put off by rustic.  Not that there's much rustic about the house.  3,000 square foot log house with all modern conveniences.  But, closest neighbor is about a mile away.  

As for homesickness, she has 11 siblings, including a sister who just moved to Canada 2 weeks ago, living not far from where we will be.  The sister will, I suppose, be stuck there, since her husband says he cannot retire for another 10 years and they got tired of just being together for his 1-month vacation each year.  I don't think the sister will find it easy to move back to Phils before 10 years have passed.  The other siblings are scattered around, including in Kuwait.  My wife survived some 10 years in the UAE and Hong Kong, when she saw little of family.  So, will homesickness loom large?  I don’t know.  

But, if i add it all up, I have probably spent about 6 years of my life in the Phils.  My Tagalog is passable.  So, I am quite content to let her choose, at least after she has had an "island" summer.  So, she knows the Phils better than I (although I have visited many more places here...she had never been to Cebu or Palawan before I came along).  I know it well enough to know what I'll be getting into if we come back.  

 

 

 

[Ozzyboy]

On 12/16/2023 at 1:20 PM, hk blues said:

How long have you been in the relationship - if it's been a long time then perhaps worth jumping through hoops, if a short time I don't know If I'd make the effort.

I've known this girl and family for over 15 years, time for big decisions from me, thank you.

[Jack Peterson]

2 minutes ago, Ozzyboy said:

I've known this girl and family for over 15 years, time for big decisions from me, thank you.

 Can I ask if you have actually Met the Girl and Family? I ask because it bears heavily on Immigration decisions