Wonderingaloud

Your agent should be Mara registered, this ensures they are properly qualified to give professional migration advice, and carries credibility as far as the role is concerned. It sounds as though you have not had good advice so far if you are needing to ask your questions on a public forum. Good luck

Congratulations If you take care and do your due diligence with a straightforward application there’s every chance there won’t be any issues. We did ours ourselves but many people who post have complicated circumstances or more importantly haven’t the time/inclination to research it for themselves, hence an agent is always a good idea in this scenario. Glad it’s worked out for you!

There was a post recently where this was the case. The OP got in touch with an agent and posted that even though his occupation was no longer on the list he could apply for the 186 TRT due to grandfathering agreements. I’d check with a registered agent depending on your occupation/situation. As for spouse and children, yes if they are on the original TSS visa they can be included in the 186 application, but you’ll pay for each person. Once the 186 is granted each person has PR in their own right.

I think you are confused about what an RRV is for. You only need an RRV if you want to leave the country AFTER your PR expires ie Aug 2020 in order to get back into Australia. If you plan to stay in Australia you don’t need an RRV- you can stay forever. Paul Hand who has replied above is a Mara registered agent, I’d take his advice as the forum expert. The rest of us are not migration experts.

Just to add to the above regarding needing a skills assessment for work experience and qualifications, have you sat the English test to claim the superior points? You can’t just claim that as being a native English speaker. Also I don’t think you can claim 11 weeks of part time work as a full year... but the skills assessment will consider your experience and make a determination.

The issue is going to be the country you transit through- the Middle East (Dubai/Abu Dubai) have strict laws around not carrying more than I think 3 months worth of medications. Look into this a little more, there are some horrifying news stories but I’m not sure they’re not just being exaggerated. We stopped via Dubai on the way to UK and had to fill out an online form to bring some medication into the country- not even that much, but because it was on their ‘restricted’ list. It’s not restricted here- just prescription only (antidepressant type) but they have different laws around some medicines.

Depends which country you are from and if that country has a reciprocal agreement with Australia. If you are from the UK then you don’t need private health insurance, however you will only be treated for medically necessary care. If you have medical issues it would be wise to look into it more, if not, you can take your chances. Presumably your country has a reciprocal agreement as you have been issued a Medicare card.

There are some visas which I would definitely suggest using an agent for, however you’ll find this forum seems split on the topic of using an agent for the partner visas (providing it’s straightforward). If you are in a genuine relationship and have the means to prove it, from what I gather, you can do it yourself. I can’t speak from personal experience only from what I have read over time on these forums. There are literally hundreds of threads on here with what kind of evidence you can use to prove your relationship. I think your plan of getting a registered agent to check everything is in order is a great idea. It’s a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of the visa itself, and don’t forget the partner visas are heavily scrutinised due to many fraudulent relationships/marriages to obtain visas illegally. They also have a very high refusal rate, so it’s important to get it right first time. On the agent side- unless it was the MARA registered agent handling your case personally I’d be wary of proceeding with the company you are in contact with. They may not carry the right indemnity insurance if mistakes are made, (more likely if they are not registered). Any of the agents who post on here are reputable and MARA registered. Many members can attest to their professionalism and attention to detail. Wrussel, Paul Hand and Raul Senise are commonly recommended. Best of luck

Use a Mara registered agent- not a lawyer!! As verystormy says, any of the registered agents who post on the forum are the way to go.

Is your agent MARA registered? Don’t use of trust anyone that isn’t.

I don’t know the correct answer to your question but I do know that you should never take advice from the immigration helpline. Weird as it sounds, they are not trained to offer advice on complex immigration matters, they are literally people who work in a call centre. They have stuffed up many people’s chance to emigrate or obtain a visa with their bad advice. Immigration will say ‘you should have sought advice from a registered migration agent’ by way of protecting themselves, which is what I would advise you to do. It needn’t cost a fortune, sometimes you can have a quick consult just to determine the best pathway for your circumstances. If you choose a MA to actually do the application on your behalf that’s where it costs more. Either way, make sure they are MARA registered, you don’t need a lawyer (another common mistake). There are a number of reputable RMAs who post regularly on the forum. Their signatures are under their posts with their MARA numbers. It may be the advice you were given by the helpline turns out to be correct but I would definitely run it by a RMA first. Good luck

The way your post read implied you were. You said further up you were the sponsor, and now you said he’s the sponsor?

So are you Nikita as well? Makes no difference who’s sponsoring who. Centrelink knowing you are married will hold very little weight with immigration in terms of demonstrating a genuine committed relationship. But you know what? If you think it’s ‘strong proof’ then a) why ask for advice? and b) Go for it! If you know better, then submit that as the strong proof you believe it to be and see how far it gets you.

No, Centrelink knowing you are married doesn’t mean immigration will think it’s a genuine marriage! Anyone can get married to try to get a visa and inform Centrelink, they aren’t going to vet you to make sure it’s genuine. That’s immigrations job. So no, in my unprofessional opinion I’d say it’s pretty poor proof.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but people asking the questions should know that the advice here is not professionally considered advice. I’ve often given my thoughts about something only to have one of the MAs point our that what I said is incorrect. If people take the advice of a forum, even though there are experienced members and plenty of people who have been through the visa process themselves without an agent, they are taking a risk. I did my own temp visa, PR application and citizenship but that was 6 years ago and fairly straightforward. Just because I did mine without an agent doesn’t mean I’m going to tell everyone not to use an agent. The way things are now with such high refusal rates across some visas it’s irresponsible to ‘advise’ people not to at least seek a free consult or the opinion of a registered agent.