west49th
-
Posts
22 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Articles
Everything posted by west49th
-
The Australian High Commission on the Strand also provides notorial services for a fee and you don't have to make an appointment. http://uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/Consular1.html
-
How strange! I grew up in Perth and we always had vinegar on our chips, but then maybe that's because we used to have more Pommie immigrants than other parts of the country :wink: There were also big jars of pickled onions on the counter and I'd always nag my Mum and Dad to have one, with only limited success. Having lived in Britain for 11 years, I still can't get used to cod and haddock though. I'm much more partial to a nice thick slice of deep fried Snapper.
-
You definitely don't need to mention the ex. Just say you were staying with a friend :-)
-
Australia House offer their own notorial services. They're not expensive but you might want to check with them whether they offer this to everyone or just Aussie citizens: http://www.uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/Consular1.html
-
You'll need to check the wording of your policy carefully - some policies won't cover you when you start work.
-
Not sure about questions 1 & 2, but having done a defacto application myself, the advice for question 3 is spot-on. IDs need to be certified and your signature on your statutory delcarations witnessed, but everything else can just be photocopies. If you can't find a reasonably priced solicitor to help you with this, Australia House can do it for you. Witnessing a signature (e.g. for your Stat Decs) is £13 per document and certified copies of IDs is £19 per document. The info on these services is here: http://www.uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/Consular1.html. Hope this helps!
-
Hi Playghirl, our CO was MT as well. She doesn't usually say anything other than the application is progressing and doesn't normally give any other details. We applied very early September last year and ours was granted just before Christmas, so it was just under 4 months all up. Good luck!
-
One thing to remember is that peak travel times from each country will be different. So, if you're looking at flights from Australia to the UK in say July, it will be peak fares as it's summer in the UK, whereas not many people in the UK would want to travel to Australia at the same time because it's winter. Similarly, travel to the UK from Australia will be relatively cheap in January because the weather's crap, whereas from the UK to Oz it's peak fares because everyone wants to escape the cold.
-
Unfortunately not - we've got a house to sell and until that's done we won't be able to book any flights. Fingers crossed it will be off our hands soon so we can finally get going! Best of luck to everyone still waiting for their visas :smile:
-
Hi Laroo, we submitted ours in early September in exactly the same way that you did and it was approved in just under four months, just in time for Christmas :biggrin:. We were also told at the time that it would be a five to six month wait, so fingers crossed you'll get some good news through very soon!
-
We had MT and were granted a defacto visa in just under 4 months. We were asked for meds and 1 additional piece of information (very specific to our circumstances, which I won't go into here).
-
I concur with Peach. If yours is a simple case & you have no added complications then you can do it just as easily yourself. My partner & I did the application ourselves and it went through in just under 4 months with no issues.
-
Wellieboots & mtlboi are right, this does sound a bit strange. We submitted our application at Aus House in September and it was approved just before Christmas. I would have thought a 6 month backlog would only affect people who had only just sent their applications in, not those that had already been sitting there for 7 months.
-
Hi Tully, Thanks for the link - you're quite right, at the time your mother was born, she would have been considered an Irish citizen as well as Australian as both her parents were born in Ireland. I agree with robindublin, you'll need to contact DIAC as this is more complicated as it would seem. Although the Aussie law said a "formal act" (either a citizenship ceremony or getting a passport) for another country would invalidate her citizenship, I've read elsewhere that this didn't apply if you already had citizenship of that country. I'm not sure how accurate this information is as I found it on a British expat's site & not an official page - http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Loss_of_Australian_Citizenship There were special provisions for Irish citizens when the law came into effect so that they could retain their British Subject status and so keep Aussie citizenship (as others had it taken away if they'd become citizens of a non-British Commonwealth country) but it required a formal application to the Minister. So it's also possible that her Aussie citizenship was lost at that time. DIAC would be the only people who could give you a definite answer. All the best.
-
Unfortunately, from my understanding your mother would no longer be an Australian citizen. Australians were not allowed to hold dual nationality for many years and because your mother became an Irish citizen (which was confirmed by her applying for a passport), her Aussie citizenship would have been automatically taken away. It didn't have to be reported by her to the Australian authorities for this to happen. This law wasn't repealed until 2007. The good news is that she can apply to have it reinstated. It'll take a bit of work, with character references etc, but the application itself only costs $70 (Aussie dollars). You'll need Form 132, which you can find on this page http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/application-forms/forms_num2.htm. There used to be a requirement that the applicant would have to commit to returning to Australia permanently, but I can't find anything about that on the form so it may no longer be needed. I would ask DIAC for advice on this one. From what I can tell, you could also apply for Aussie citizenship yourself as the child of a former citizen. The information you need for this is here: http://www.citizenship.gov.au/applying/how_to_apply/child_former/ Hope this helps.
-
Hi Lauri, Apart from the stat decs & ID documents, we submitted: Joint bank account statements. Statements from our separate accounts showing money paid into our joint account (we use the joint account for our monthly bills). Copies of household bills that are in both our names. Council tax bills, one dating from when I first moved in & another more recent bill. Emails dating back to the beginning of our relationship - some between us, some from family & friends that mention our relationship (especially from those that wrote stat decs for us). Two pages of photos printed in colour on A4 paper with captions beneath stating the month, year and the place where the photo was taken. We made sure these covered all the time we'd been together and included some taken with family and friends in Australia. Christmas cards addressed to both of us. A few of the Christmas & birthday cards we'd given each other. An invitation addressed to both of us to attend a friend's wedding in Australia. Proof of employment (p60s). My Death in Service benefit statement which showed my partner's name as beneficiary. The guidance booklet for this visa has a pretty good outline of what you should put on your personal statements. You don't have to be overly mushy or sentimental, which is just as well as I'm the kind of person that struggles with this :biggrin: If you do include cards & other personal items they return them to you pretty quickly. Hope this helps!
-
After my post on the forum this afternoon I get home to find out that the visa has been granted today! 3 months & 3 weeks after it was submitted. Our CO was MT. :ssign19:
-
And mine! Submitted ours on 26th August, no news yet :-(