Hery

Congrats Rahul, there is light at the end of the tunnel after all. To everybody else good luck and it will come sooner or later.. My ceremony is on Australia day 26 January 2015. Its been a long and hard road, but its worth it...

Just thought I pop in. I can't believe you guys are still waiting .... I have since applied for citizenship and approved, now I'm just waiting for a letter for the ceremony.. Hang in there guys and girls and goodluck.

A friend of mine just added his wife when his application is still pending, they got the grant last month. Seems quite straight forward. I haven't asked him how he did it though

Use George Lombard or Alan Collet, cant go wrong with either of them. Goodluck

Hi, Gwheng I have got my visa, I applied in 886 October 2009, please check my signature below. I waited about 3 years and 8 months, nearly 4 years for the visa to come through so its a big relieve after a long wait. I believe they will be resuming cat5 shortly in few months, worst case scenario would be if they waited until couple months before financial year finishes, hope this is not the case for everyone's sake. The first round of invitation for 189 visa, apparently none were given to 60 points applications.. So this may explain why cat5 havent started as yet, once 60 points EOI have invitations then surely they will start to process cat5. Well as david have posted earlier, his friend have got a CO after 1st July, so it is good news, take care

gwheng, when did you applied? Hang in there mate, the waiting is slightly worse after Co I reckon... cause you start to think if there is anything wrong with your applciation, like thingking about if medical is all good etc... particularly after waiting a few weeks and still no grant yet.. (thats what on my mind..) But yeah after getting CO do expect a grant anywhere within 2 days and 3 months... I read in other post that some 189/190 application applied in June 2013 still havent got CO, so that may explain why they decided to stop allocating Co to cat5 after July? They should resume cat5 after a few months when they realise there is nowhere near enough applications being made... Take it easy guys, not much backlog left, would be good if diac can tell us how many are left in cat5

Hi guys, Dont withdraw your application, it will achieve nothing, you will lose your diac fee and no chance of getting visa, not much point in there... Its like throwing your money for nothing. There is nothing wrong in just leaving your application there sitting, while you can do something else that will make you happy or entertained. I am suprised to reading people wanting to withdraw their application after all these years waiting... I know a few people who have waited a few years onshore and then cant live waiting and waiting they go back to their home country which is a bit sad. As one of them is my close friend, I told him to stay (not once, many times!!!), I said thinks like Australia is better than India by a big margin, but he he still leave anyway... back to India... For family reasons... Still I was gobsmacked... If you do really miss your country and family back home you can always apply for BVB.. On another note, honestly I believe Australia is twice as nicer compared to UK... (My opinion), I do think UK is going downhill from all the news I've been reading and hearing about UK. Of course no offence or anything...

It should still be valid if less than a year old. I believe most CO wont ask for it again if less than a year old. But the thing is every case officer is different most of them should not ask you again for new police check but a few may ask for you to redo them. So its not really a yes or no answer. But it should still be valid. The strange thing is I applied my 886 in 2009 and went overseas, yet the case officer only requested AFP but not overseas police check... (I did my AFP 4 months before getting CO and left it in the drawer so thats easy), but I was requested work related documents which I have to submit...

It is valid for 1 year usually..

Single when he applied in 2012. got married in February 2013 back in his home country. So I'm not too sure if immigration sees it as single or couple. I regard his application as single... But it does seem to be couple in diac eyes... It does seem immigration prefer to process couples first, off course I have no intention to mislead anyone, because in my eyes I see him as single until VERY recently. I am single, and I have got my visa, so not too sure what immigration is doing... He only applied in april 2012 and got visa... so that is pretty quick

A friend of mine applied 885 in April 2012, CO in June 2013, Grant yesterday!!! So it is moving...

Well as you may have known, Diac did process a lot of december 2009 886 applicants prior to July some 2010 too.... Even when they were allocating me in April 2013 (10/2009) many applicants from November and December were posting they were getting COs. For example Ricky D, he applied in December 2009 and got CO I believe was 1 month after me in May 2013 and grant 2 weeks later... There were so many 886 2009 getting COs and grants that I seriously thought 2009 was done and dusted.. I do feel for your fiancee and yourself, but surely sooner rather than later he will get a CO. No doubt about that, As there aren't many new applicants coming in these days, just look at the rules and IELTS requirement not many people can get IELTS 8 each.. Tell him to stay put in Australia, Diac will have no choice but to continue processing the backlog, I reckon diac just slows down a bit because the staff probably got overworked processing so many onshores 885/886 the past few months?? Now they are taking a breather and should speed things up again.. Take it easy (not easy I know, went through the same thing), When the visa comes it will be a big relieve I can assure you and you and your fiancee will be glad you guys waited.

Hi, My first medical was in 2009, as it was required when I submit my application back in 2009. As 2013 was approaching back then I though I might as well "renew" my medical and police check... And I am very happy as everything turned out perfectly. As 4 months later I was allocated CO and 2 months later got grant...

Probably only 25% left out of the 100 000. 885 are practically nearly finished.. 2012 applicants are getting COs... 886 start of 2010-2012 left mainly... Im sure not many people applied for 886 as compared to 885 so its not that many left. Just my opinion of course.

I'm really suprised your fiancee havent got a CO, they were speeding to get 886 2009 done... left and right 886 2009 applicants were getting COs... you should ask your fiancee to contact diac again. On the other note, honestly I dont believe couples or families are getting first priority over single applicants... I am single applicant and got my visa... please check my timeline. I have a single friend applied 885 April 2012 and have got CO in June... I will do health check in advance if I were you guys. I did my health check way in advance before immi was even processing category 5... just a gut feeling to do medical, I just thought it is a good idea to get it done at the time.