Will My Debt Hurt My Australian Visa Application?

“Dear Jon,

I am from high risk country and i have married to an Australian citizen and living here in Australia while awaiting for my temporary resident visa (820 partner visa) to be granted; At the moment, I am on Bridging visa A (BVA) and after 16 month of waiting still visa not granted..!

I have credit card debts to Banks in UAE. its unpaid for the last 7 month as i couldn’t pay it due to having no more money ! UAE banks opened opened police case against me (5 banks)!

I have already supplied police certificate from UAE to immigration department here in Australia. Now, my case office says, my application is under external security criminal checking ..

I believe, UAE credit card debt is criminal there (but obviously not here in Australia) but criminal security organisations who investigate my background check will come up with my police cases for credit cards debt in the UAE for sure !

Ahmed”

Ahmed,

I am no expert in Australian immigration or Visa’s, however I do know the UK immigration process and Visa’s quite well, and the new UK immigration process set into place a few years back is based on the Australian system.

With all that being said, you should be OK. You are correct that it is a crime in some countries to be in debt and have unpaid debts, but it is not a crime in Australia. I would venture any criminal activity due to unpaid debts in UAE would not be reported to any agency in Australia.

I would advise you to address this concern with whomever is handling your Visa application or the immigration authorities to be sure. You can anonymously query this with immigration.

Regards,

Jon

Jon Emge is an experienced UK debt advisor who has helped thousands and thousands of people in the UK to deal with problem debt. Jon specialises in finding good solutions for problem debt using a variety of UK specific techniques.

If you have a question you’d like to ask about how to get out of UK debt, just use the online form. I’m happy to help you for free.