Ken

Just regular post

I believe it was about a month before the ceremony that I got the invite. Note that it didn't come from Maribyrnong Council - as they had such a backlog it was an extra ceremony organised by DIBP (they said in the letter it was their policy to keep waiting lists for ceremonies below 6 months) and was held almost next door to their offices.

I was approved on the 1st of October 2015 from Maribyrnong. Ceremony was 15th March 2016 so 5.5 months.

The $250K refers to the size of the bank balance not the size of the transaction. But that's irrelevant anyway since if the source of the funds was the sale of a UK home there won't be any doubt that it's private and domestic and not a profit making enterprise. Now if you had used Australian Dollars to buy pounds (or any other foreign currency) then you'd need to be thinking about whether or not you had more than $250,000 in your account and needed to keep track of the gain or loss on each currency sale - but don't complicate your life with problems that you don't have.

Never heard of that happening, but it makes sense. The certificate has to be signed by the minister responsible so you can't have it signed by someone who might not be in office anymore. Not to worry they've sort out who won the election now so I expect it's just a matter of posting you the certificate.

I think they may have changed the system. I received an email immediately (this was in August last year) but with my wife's application last month we didn't receive anything until the interview/test email invite which arrived today.

They don't email the acceptance letters. It's snail mail only so can take a few days (or more depending of how often they deliver where you live).

I'm in Maribyrnong too. Applied in August 2015, citizenship test and approval at the beginning of October. Citizenship ceremony 15th March - but not in Maribyrnong. DIAC decided queues were too long there and invited me (and 99 other people from Maribyrnong and other oversubscribed councils) to their own ceremony at the College of Surgeons Gardens (practically next door to DIAC's Melbourne office).

Sorry I don't know what difference the bridging visa makes. As the site says you'll need to contact them about that. I will tell you that the fact that you weren't in the country 4 years before your application makes no difference (I wasn't in Australia for the entire first year of my 4 year residency for example and had last been in Australia - for a week - 2 years earlier). If it weren't for the bridging visa then you'd merely need to have been in Australia for 3 or more of the last 4 years including 9 or more of the last 12 months and have held PR for the last 12 months.

1. Since police checks are done when you get your permanent residency I believe you only need to have them done again for the period since you got your PR and only for countries that you spent more than 12 months in during that period (which should mean you don't need them since DIAC do the Australian police check themselves - but hopefully others who've obtained PR after arriving in Australia may be able to confirm that). 2. Most people have seen a Doctor during their time in Australia. If they have a record that shows they first saw you at least a year ago they're normally happy to sign. 3. If that's the first time she's ever visited Australia then 14/5/2019 - i.e. in 4 years provided she doesn't spend more that 1 of those 4 years outside of Australia including no more that 3 of the final 12 months (same rules as for you). If she has visited Australia in the past then 14/5/2018 provided she doesn't leave Australia at all during those 3 years (because she can include the first year when she was outside of Australia as part of her 4 year residency). 4. You'll also need a passport type photograph that's no more than 6 months old.

Poms are native speakers but they aren't getting the scores in IELTS they think they're entitled to.

Not really. With IELTS (as with PTE-A) one of the given options is always the correct one, it's just that sometime the correct given option is "none of the above". That of itself shouldn't make the test any harder. What does seem to be the case (based purely on the anecdotal evidence seen on PIO) is that the marking is more lenient such that you can get the highest grade without answering every question correctly.

You need to meet the application requirements at the time you apply. That does not mean you need to have been in Australia for 4 years (that seems to be a popular myth - the actual requirement is 3 out of the last 4 years including 9 out of the last 12 months). Provided you first visited Australia over 4 years ago then you are entitled to count back to the point 4 years before your application meaning you can have spent the entire first year outside Australia if you have been here continuously since then - i.e. in those circumstances you need only have been in Australia for 3 years before applying. You also need to have had PR for at least the last 12 months as you know.

It's a very short book and you don't even need to read all of it as the last part isn't included in the test. There's no excuse for not getting 100% in the test (but the pass mark is lower than that).

Updated - finally got a ceremony date!! It'll be 5.5 months after the citizenship test. Not even in my council area - a special ceremony arranged by DIAC in East Melbourne to stop wait lists going over 6 months according to the invitation letter.

You can certainly get Hoki and Barramundi fillets in the frozen sections of all the supermarkets near me, and I've occasionally seen Atlantic Pollack too. Shop around. Generally the bigger the store the bigger the selection.

Yes, if anything the regional areas do seem to be more efficient at organising these things. It's those of us in Melbourne that are being kept waiting. Admittedly some regional areas do have only two ceremonies a year but (in most cases) they make sure they clear the backlog at each ceremony. In my suburb they schedule small ceremonies every month but don't change the number of invites even though the queue is getting longer.

Australia doesn't have a single company as a National Grid Equivalent. There are 5 companies responsible for the power poles (and hence presumably the substations) in Victoria alone. If it helps they are: Powercor Australia http://www.powercor.com.au Western Suburbs of Melbourne and Western Victoria Ausnet Services http://www.ausnetservices.com.au Outer northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne and Eastern Victoria United Energy Distribution http://www.ue.com.au Southern Suburbs of Melbourne and Mornington Peninsula Citipower http://www.citipower.com.au City and Inner Suburbs of Melbourne Jemena http://www.jemena.com.au Northern and North Western Suburbs of Melbourne These are neither the companies that consumers buy their electricity from nor the companies that generate the electricity and each has a monopoly in it's own area of Victoria so in all important respects (apart from the fact that there isn't just one company) these are the equivalent of the National Grid. I suggest you find the careers sections of their websites and see if they're recruiting. If you're interested in a different part of Australia just google for Electricity Distributors in your chosen state.

If 04/01/2012 was the first time you ever entered Australia then yes, you wouldn't become eligible until 04/01/2016 but if you'd visited Australia in the past you could have been eligible from 04/01/2015 (provided you hadn't left Australia in the previous 3 years) because you only have to have been in Australia for 3 out of the previous 4 years (including 9 months in the final year) and only need to have had PR for the final 12 months. Unfortunately you can't count any period before your first visit to Australia but your first visit doesn't need to have been on PR and you don't need to have been in Australia 4 years before your application (provided you had been in Australia before that).

I'm having a WWC check done in Victoria at the moment. Might not be the same in NSW but in Victoria the employer's name has to be included on the WWC check application so it's not possible to have the check done before the job offer (unless you have a WWC card from a previous employer in which case you can add the new employer to it).

That would depend on how good the native English person's English is. Some people should be grateful they don't have to sit the test as they wouldn't even get a 6. But if you're the sort of person who knows what an apostrophe is for and can tell the difference between there, their and they're it should be a doddle. At the time I took the test they hadn't introduced the 20 points so I was only trying to get 7 in each section. I only got a 7.5 in the writing paper but I'm convinced if I'd practiced beforehand I could have got an 8. I think the writing paper is the hardest and reading and listening papers are extremely easy (I got 9 in each) as they're not subjective you just answer the questions - but not everyone agrees.

Yes, and it's not just those two either. There are now 5 different tests that are recognised for Australian Immigration. IELTS, OET, TOEFL iBT, PTE-A and CAE and they each have different scoring systems. Competent English (that's the one you qualify for just by having a Pommie passport): IELTS 6 in each of the 4 sections; OET B in each of the 4 sections; TOEFL iBT 12 for listening; 13 for reading; 21 for writing; 18 for speaking; PTE-A 50 in each of the 4 sections; CAE 169 in each of the 4 sections Proficient English (that's the one that scores you an extra 10 points): IELTS 7 in each of the 4 sections; OET B in each of the 4 sections; TOEFL iBT 24 for listening; 24 for reading; 27 for writing; 23 for speaking; PTE-A 65 in each of the 4 sections; CAE 185 in each of the 4 sections Superior English (that's the one that scores you an extra 20 points): IELTS 8 in each of the 4 sections; OET A in each of the 4 sections; TOEFL iBT 28 for listening; 29 for reading; 30 for writing; 26 for speaking; PTE-A 79 in each of the 4 sections; CAE 200 in each of the 4 sections In case you were wondering, IELTS = International English Language Testing System OET = Occupational English Test TOEFL iBT = Test of English as a Foreign Language internet-Based Test PTE-A = Pearson Test of English - Academic CAE = Cambridge English: Advanced

No, to get the 10 points you have to take the IELTS test and score a 7 or above in each of the 4 sections. A British passport gives you an automatic Competent (but that's only a 6 in each of the 4 sections) so you don't have to sit the test to emigrate but there are no extra points. Also for some skills assessment you have to take the IELTS test (even with a British passport) because you're required to score 7 or above in each section.

UPDATE: 1. Date applied - 17/8/15 2. City/Council area - Melbourne, Maribyrnong 3. Online / Paper - Online 4. Date received the acknowledgement email - 18/8/15 (actually within 2 hours of applying but due to lateness of time I applied technically the next day) 4a. Date received the appointment date by email - 3/9/15 5. Date of the Citizenship Test - 1/10/15 5a. Date received the Citizenship Approval Letter by post - 8/10/15 (letter dated 5/10/15) 6. Date of ceremony - TBA 7. Type of ceremony - TBA

No. Not all all. You send a scanned copy of your passport with your application and take the original with you to the appointment/citizenship test.