Quinkla

Yes, your visa will be delayed if your medical is referred. It will be stressful and every day will seem like a year. You will have to jump through hoops to get evidence to show that you are unlikely to cost the taxpayer over a certain threshold over 5 years (that is not what you personally would cost, but an average of what people like you might cost - so the evidence should focus on why you are likely to be less costly than other people with your condition). But, once the visa is granted and you have moved, all the waiting and angst will collapse into nothing. It will seem so insignificant and short. I know - it happened to me and I have heard the same thing from others. Good luck.

Although some 820s are given to 300 holders very quickly, the OP should not bank on it. In 2010 when I was doing this, I got my 820 in a couple of weeks but I think now it is more common for people to have to wait the quoted 12-15 months. The OP should not leave Australia on a Bridging Visa A - that would cancel the visa and potentially stuff up the application for the 820. Bridging Visa B - which would allow travel - must be applied for separately and are not always granted.

Absolutely no point. You can enter the UK on an Australian passport and your son would still be a UK citizen even without a UK passport so would be able to access anything that a citizen would be entitled to.

No - access to the NHS is based on residence, not citizenship.

Sorry, but this post makes no sense. You are saying that 50% of partner AAT applications are resolved within 342 days, 75% are resolved within 376 days and the average is nearly 6 years! Does that mean that the worst 25% are seeing their cases taking 24 years or more to resolve? And for (e.g.) bridging visas, are you saying that 50 % are being resolved within 17 days and 75% resolved within 9 days? Surely the latter timeframe would be higher than the former.

If you are going for the PMV, you will need to get married. But if you feel ready to get married anyway, one option would be to come on a tourist visa, get married and then apply onshore for a partner visa, thereby cutting out the PMV stage. It is a bit of a foggy area and you'd not be able to pitch up with your life's belongings when entering on a tourist visa, but once you married and applied for the partner visa you would have work rights, I think. Run it past a MARA agent.

If you have a valid tourist visa and you immediately move onto another visa then it counts towards a continuous period of residence. But if you leave Australia after entering on a single entry ETA, then the ETA ends and you no longer have the continuity in visas.

A bridging visa E is generally only granted if you have become unlawfully present in Australia - hence there is a discontinuity in your lawful status between the previous visa and the bridging visa E

Agreed - utterly vile. Congratulations on your visa, @Biker Dave - as a former 820 holder I know how good it feels. And thank you for your generosity of spirit.

You are eligible for citizenship at the point where you: entered Australia four or more years ago, have held a visa entitling you to be in Australia continuously for the past four years, have held a permanent residence visa for at least the past year, have spent no more than one year away from Australia in the past four years, have spent no more than 3 months away from Australia in the past year. Hence, if you entered Australia in 2014, you can include the year away from Australia prior to your return in 2016 as counting towards the four year qualification provided you do not spend any more time away from Australia. If you go away for a fortnight, you will then need to add an extra two weeks to the date of eligibility, etc.

It sounds as though it is sorted. But the issue was always likely to be persuading the airline to let you board a flight to Australia without being able to show a passport linked to a visa. The Australian border authorities are quite sensible and would do the necessary research to admit you on a replacement passport, albeit probably with some delay.

Yes indeed. I am always surprised by how many "de facto" opposite sex couples have overlooked this very obvious and very easy way to qualify for a partner visa.

It's a personal choice but I would counsel against name changes. If you ever need to revert back, or change to yet another name, you find you have to keep providing evidence of every name change - marriage certificates, divorce decrees, death certificates, etc. It's a pain and unless you are very organised, you find that all your ID ends up in different names, creating issues for ever in giving 100 points with the correct name. My wife has had this experience, not helped by her inability to access a birth certificate.

They prefer just loose as it all goes through a scanner. Given this, it is worth making sure it is either all double sided or all single sided. Popping in a couple of pages of double sided in the middle of single sided print runs the risk that it won't get scanned. If you must collate it, just put it in a loose plastic wallet - the kind that is 2 rectangles connected along two adjacent sides. Avoid staples and tabs as they won't go through the scanner and have to be removed. Staples, in particular, can cause pages to stick together as they go through the scanner which would not help your application. Bulldog clips can also affect the smooth operation of the scanner and should be avoided. Ultimately this is about helping yourself, not DIBP. If pages don't scan, it will delay your application and could harm it if their absence is not obvious.

No. That's why I refrain from telling my kids that if they swim in unfledged waters they could get caught in a rip and swept out to sea; and don't tell them that if they get into cars with strangers they might end up getting hurt. Because these would be uninformative comments.

These days people seem to get RRVs quite easily without any strong or compelling ties. Well worth a crack. Just talk about old schoolfriends, happiest days of your life, nasty parents moved you away, now finally financially secure enough to return.

Yet you live in one of the most urbanised nations.

Definitely engage one of the agents mentioned. As a kidney patient, you will not only be battling against likely lifetime health costs but also the fact you may be competing against Australians for resources in scarce supply (i.e. donor organs). DIBP will be basing their judgements on average costs and resources required by someone with your condition. If you can get a specialist opinion that shows you are less likely to incur costs or require resources than an average person with your condition, it would be helpful. Generally, I think people with organ transplants struggle to meet the health requirement but it is not unknown for them to get visas.

Not that I know of. I live in the far outer suburbs and choices cater for the Australian taste. Not that I mind - I'm happy to use Australian substitute fish but was just wondering whether I had made a reasonable choice. I think you are right. The differences are all about texture and some fish is meaty and some is soft and flaky. I certainly don't think of haddock as the best fish but I am doing a Lebanese recipe that calls for haddock so wanted something similar.

Today I needed a haddock substitute for a Lebanese recipe. I opted for rockling - any thoughts?

My great grandfather worked in some kind of yard in Bristol - not sure exactly what. But apparently the owner had to feed the staff a hot meal every day and they negotiated to be given salmon no more than three times a week, they had got so sick of it. And I remember a line in Dickens (The Pickwick Papers): "It's a wery remarkable circumstance, sir," said Sam, "that poverty and oysters always seem to go together."

You did read about it - perhaps here: http://www.traveller.com.au/qantas-plans-nonstop-flights-from-perth-to-london-gk6yqc I suspect the prospect is farther off than they are suggesting - not least because the number of people who want to do the direct route would be limited. The hub and spoke model works well where passengers tend to do most long haul air travel using two sectors, connecting in places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok or Dubai.

It is likely to be the same plane with the same flight number but it will definitely stop en route as commercial passenger jets can't carry enough fuel to go from Europe to Australia non-stop.

I meant 40 stone. Must have been here too long!

TBH I had concluded that when it came to division of labour, the thinking would be down to me. I certainly don't feel like I'm engaging with Einstein.