VictoriaP

I'm delighted to say that our 186 visa was approved today. Six months and one day of stress, now we can relax. Timeline if anyone is interested: 457 - 186, lodged 28th August, DRC, Parramatta Employer nomination approved 21 Feb C/O assigned 26 Feb Visa granted 27 Feb, MA informed us today. Good luck everyone waiting. :biggrin:

Yep, just goes to show that it makes very little difference going down the DRC route, plus they don't processing in date order either no matter what they say. So it really is the luck of the draw!

457 - 186 applied 28 Aug, DRC, Parramatta Employer Nom Approved 21 Feb C/O assigned today - 26 Feb - progress at last! Exactly 6 months on Thursday.

No, there is nothing different about our application from when our 457 was approved nearly 3 years ago - same company, same role, all meds straight forward as well as police checks, it couldn't be simpler. Our MA contact DIAC to flag our application DR back in November. I can't tell you how frustrated we are with it all. Arrrgh!!! And it's about time they updated the processing times on the immigration website - 18 days for DRC, what a joke!

Early 1's is around $1.1m - 1.2million!' Hope you've got deep pockets. A lot of agents are very arrogant and not use to having to work for their commission. Unfortunately they hold all the power and you may have to just put up with their crap if you really want the house. We bought our house through a private sale last year, offered low and worked up from there. We got it a little under the asking price but it really depends on the house and the vendors situation. Good luck!

Still no news! No C/O, no contact at all. Online system still says 'application received' Applied 186 from 457 trans - 28 Aug 2012, DRC, Parramatta So frustrating as I've seen October applicants approved already - the system is crazy!!

I have been told that the online system showing the progress of your application doesn't change even if they are actually doing something with it. I do believe that you will just get informed if/when your visa has been approved. MA has spoken to DIAC at Parramatta today. Apparently they are still processing June 2012 applications and only a very few post 1st July. I can't believe that it is taking so long. As our 186 DRC was lodged end of August, looks like we are in for a very long wait. Not a happy bunny!

Oh my gosh! Those are amazing savings - I'm so glad a found your post, I will definitely get in touch with them, thanks for the details. Just goes to show how much people are getting ripped off here doesn't it?

Hi, we will be renovating our kitchen soon too and like you say, it's so expensive here. I really appreciate it if you could you let me have the details of where you have bought your appliances from, I'd love to save some money on them like you. Thanks.

Yep, the first time the RBA don't move the rate on cup day in six years, is the time when we need it to go down - sums up our Aussie experience to a tee - pure frustration and hardwork!

Hi Luca, Yep I saw that message from the processing centre, not good news. I've emailed my MA to see what they can find out. I'll let you know. But yes, it seems totally pointless getting everything together for a DR app, if it makes no difference in processing. I wish they would just issue a list of TRN numbers in processing order and then we could all see where we are.

I spoke to my Accountant this year about this and was told that money from your UK residential house sale is not taxed by the ATO, as long as it is transferred over within six years of selling. This accountant does my UK and Aus taxes so I feel confident in this info. The other Posters response talks about selling a Aus house, so I was a bit confused by their response, maybe I've missed something?

Hi Luca, Unfortunately we've had no news about our application. When I look online it still just says 'application received'. Our MA said Immigration are quoting a 10-12 week turnaround. We are keeping our fingers crossed it is slightly less, as we are settling on a house purchase just before that. TBH I think it will take a lot longer as I can't find anyone on here who has had their visas approved within that timeframe.

Our MA agent spoke to the Paramatta office a week ago - updated turnaround for Decision Ready apps approximately 14 weeks. Dimka - hopefully your approval should come through any day now - let us know. Good luck.

My MA was told by DIAC it would be 1-2 weeks from CO allocation to finalize the visa, so hopefully it won't be too long for you to wait now. Can I ask which visa you have applied for and when you lodged your Decision Ready application? I'm just trying to get an idea of time frames. Thanks.

We are just in the process of buying our first house here and yes, it is a bit annoying to not really know how much it will take to secure the house. In my opinion it all really depends on the individual house. If it's been on the market for a while, you might be able to offer a lower price than if it's just gone up for sale. The house we are buying had been on the market for a couple of months with no offers. We originally offered $40,000 below the 'offers over' price and not surprisingly, they turned it down. The negotiations went from there and finally agreed to $10,000 less that the asking price. Also, how much do you want that particular house? If there is something about it that makes it stand out from the others and you might not find it elsewhere, then you might have to pay a bit more. In our case, there were very few houses around that offered what we were looking for, so were prepared to pay what we did, however we did decide to not offer anymore than that and let the vendors think about it for a few days knowing that would be our final offer. It is a buyers market, but some vendors haven't accepted that yet so the sellers of the house that you're after may not be willing to budge. If it were me and I had to have it, I would probably start at around $490,000 and be prepared it go up from there. Some agents get pissy about lower offers, but just put your case forward - FTB but with crap GBP/AUD exchange rate, be willing to settle when the vendors want to, etc. Hope this helps and good luck. We can't wait to be in our own home again.

What a pain. So that makes having a TRN to track the progress on your application through the online site, pointless! :arghh:

Can I ask if you application was lodged as Decision Ready or not? Thanks.

Our rental was on the market for three and a half months, with a open house every Saturday. We had only actually moved in 4 months before that. We asked for compensation and we're basically laughed at. We presented the house as the owner would of and got nothing for it, not even a thank you. The house didn't even sell in the end as they were asking too much for it. If we'd known they were going to try and sell, we would never of rented it. You can't refuse them access for viewings as they can come in even if you're not there, as long as they've given you 24 hours notice. The same goes if they want to do maintenance. You don't really have any power in the situation if they are giving you notice and the frequency of viewings is not classed as excessive (more than once or twice a week). It's a nightmare and I'm so glad we are finally buying our own house. Our experience of renting has been awful!! I feel for you.

Only registered Migration Agents can lodge decision ready applications. This is where you get all the docs ready i.e. police checks - Aus and UK, medicals, etc. before you actually lodge. The MA then uploads everything along with the actual application. That's why it only takes a few weeks to be finalised once a CO is allocated. I think that you have to make the choice of which way you lodge fairly early. DR is definitely the way to go if you can.

Parramatta.

MA advised today after speaking to DIAC that Decision Ready applications are taking 10-12 weeks to be allocated a CO, then 1-2 weeks to be finalised. A bit gutted, as this is just outside the time frame we need.

MA advised today after speaking to DIAC that Decision Ready applications are taking 10-12 weeks to be allocated a CO, then 1-2 weeks to be finalised. A bit gutted, as this is just outside the time frame we need.

Hey, we applied for a 186 visa from within Aus on the same day as you - decision ready. I've been checking online each day but our application still just says 'application received'. Good to hear that the DIAC are quoting 4 weeks for a CO, fingers crossed we will both be allocated one in the next few days. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

I just look at that picture and thank my lucky stars I'm in Melbourne. Maybe not the best place for hot Aussie weather, but a vast improvement on England. Yep, it makes all the difference to us. The summers are so lovely, just to feel that all over warm feeling - worth all the upheaval in my opinion.