mrspotatohead

Got my visa today too!!! Subclass 100!!! So excited!!!! YAAAAY!!!

whey!!! another one! congratulations!! :hug:

well if all goes to plan were hoping to fly to brisbane on the 25th november - thankfully my OH won tickets with virgin atlantic - to hong kong all we have to do is pay the taxes on the flight and buy a flight from there to Brisbane -

 

i am so excited - i still can't believe this is happening

Fantastic! What a win!!

Me too!! Just texted OH even although it's 1am in Melbourne. Not had a reply so he must have his mobile on silent. My parents are over the moon, think they thought they'd be stuck with me and the monster until Xmas!! :arghh:

OMG so he doesnt even know yet??? :laugh: I bet your absolutely dying to tell him!

Remember the piritol!! :twitcy:

Tink85 and enaish...you guys will be next...

I keep reading the approval email over and over again! Cant believe it!

Congratulations andrewwita and amanda74! must be the day for visa grants!!

Colcase, we are going to book flights for either the last week in october or the first week of november, just gotta check how much annual leave I have left up my sleeve to figure out when I'll give notice. :biggrin:

amanda74 and i had the same case officer....I assume he got fed up listening to us!!!

Thanks V much.

A big thank you to our CO (A.H.) and sincere apologies for the harassment!! :wink:

:hug:

Woohoo!!!!! Congratulations, pleased for ya, u can breath easy n get the bubbly out this weekend!

 

What did they grant u?

A 100 Visa- permanent residency!!! Over the moon!

Bubbly this weekend...I've already got one! :laugh:

visa granted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeeeeehhhhaaahh

Hi enaish and mrpotatohead,Its getting very stressfull aint in waiting for that email,and very disapointing when you open emails and no news again.I would be more stressed if i had booked my flights like yourself enaish,but can understand why you have,im thinking down the same line as mrpotatohead as i wont book flights incase i jinx myself.

So looks like no news again this week then,fingers crossed for next week then hey:biggrin:

I'm going slightly cuckoo hitting the refresh button on my email every five minutes!! :twitcy:

Maybe tomorrow....................:hug:

Thanks Mrs Potatohead,

 

We didn't follow the guidance for booking flights, etcetera because we knew April is the best time to sell the house and the earlier you book flights, the cheaper the fares, combine this with the stamp duty hike on the 1st August in Oz, we were keen to get everything moving as money was going to be very tight. With the dollar continuing to strengthen, it's all very well AH saying hold off, but in our case for every cent the dollar gains, we lose a months worth of living costs. When we applied, we were being told that issuing times were 3-4 months so it should have been granted by now. It was only in May they changed it to 5-6 months. Still, so long as everything else works out and we can get a semi decent money rate, it will all be worth it in the end....won't it? :arghh:

Exactly!! The exchange rate isnt getting any better. Our initial email in March said 5-6 months, so they could make us wait the full 6 months if they wanted to! :wideeyed: do you have anything in writing saying 3-4 months? Worth sending it on to them if you do! I am slightly paranoid that if I book flights I'll jinx us...but thats just me being supersticious!! :laugh:

Hi Paintpotty,

 

There is only one AB at AH so we've got the same CO. As we fly out in less than three weeks we were getting a little edgy as we were seeing people with similar times to ours be issued so emailed asking for a quick update. Got an out of office reply. Back 1st August and a name to contact in his absence. Called that person who said wouldn't issue visa but no reason why it shouldn't be issued when AB gets back. Only issue is that we know they follow the rules and as such think we might be 2 weeks behind others now as there are people in the queue ahead of us We're really hoping it's by the end of next week so my OH can start looking for work.

 

At least no reason to check the emails for a while.

 

Good luck with yours.

Hang in there Enaish. We're getting incredibly impatient too. Our CO is also on leave and we were told he would be back this week but it would seem he isn't. Not much we can do, but the system does seem unfair in terms of approvals. He told us not to book flights until we had our visa, so we have followed that advice, but I feel like we're now missing all the cheap fares!! If I were you I'd call again on the 1st and explain why your chasing. :yes:

Ah!! someone who's similar time frame to me who's still waiting! thought I was the only one for a mo :wink:

 

It's killing me all this waiting! Who's your CO?

AH...and their on holidays!!

Fed up waiting now. If they make us wait the full 6 months I may turn to drink! :laugh:

Visa granted today!

Not expecting this quick, thought it would be another 2 weeks at the earliest (subclass 100. CO was WP)

Now I need to sell the house!

Thanks to everyone who answered my questions when I first applied and good luck to you all in getting your Visa's soon (especially Enaish, SamC, Attypodian, Jomac all on a similar time frame)

Tracy

Congratulations TracyC!

I'm getting very impatient now!! :laugh:

Hi

I can now join the group with my stats.

Subclass 100 spouse visa received at Australia House in London on 12th July. We have VF as our Case officer who today requested I submit more evidence of our cohabitation between 2009 & 2010, I need to give evidence of my visa status in the UK (I'm the Aussie) and have quoted a processing time between 5-6 months. Also as my wife's pregnant and cannot have an X-ray they said we can provide this after the birth when we are in Australia although as she is due in 2 weeks we will probably just have it done here.

Welcome! :biggrin:

Goodluck with the birth of your baby.

The 5-6 months will fly by, especially with a new baby! :yes:

Congratulations Laurak! All the best. :hug:

It seems our CO is on holidays.

How dare he have a life outside australia house. :biggrin:

Hi all

 

Just to let you all know my partner's visa has been granted whoo hooooooooooooooo:jiggy:

Applied March 14th

CO allocated March 17th

Med etc requested a week later

VISA granted 15th July!!!

 

CO was AB - Pretty much 4 months yay to AB!

 

Good luck to everyone still waiting!!!

Congratulations!!!! :v_SPIN:

You'll need it for the 2nd one......................:arghh:

ha ha! No bloomin way. He's been running around like a psycho all day! :wacko:

Not sure for the UK but definately worth enquiring about. In Ireland you can claim tax back on loads of things, from wheely bin tags (you have to buy tags every week and attach them to your bin or the guys won't empty them!!!) to doctors visits (who charge €50 per visit). Your tax is calculated per annum so if you leave before the tax year finishes you are entitled to some of it back (kind of like pro rata) Anyway, I'm no tax expert so make a few phone calls to revenue here and see if it's applicable.

Tags for wheely bins?? I have enough trouble remembering to put them out!!! :twitcy:

Thanks for this...will have to look it up and see if we can get anything back.

Gotta start thinking about selling all of our stuff too. Baby's stuff coming out of our ears and I aint taking it all with me!!! :laugh:

I know it's not the correct thread but this may affect the majority of y'all anyway. Remember to put in a claim for a tax rebate whenever you get your p45. You may get a nice surprise from the tax man.............for a change!! I did but I worked in Ireland where the tax year runs from January not April so I got back 90% of the tax I'd paid up to June (spent most of it on clothes and shoes though, need the rest for excess baggage!!)

 

Keep it in mind folks :biggrin:

How does this work? is it for everyone?

OUR VISA HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!! WHOOOO HOOOO!!!! We have had some family medical problems - my Nan doesn't have much longer so that is incredibly sad and I am just so grateful and appreciative that Will can spend this time with my nan and i.... i hope everyone has speedy grant dates, but I am so over the moon with our case officer and really thank her with the bottom of our hearts,,,,

Congratulations!

Really sorry to hear about your Nan, treasure every moment and get lots of pics. :hug:

still waiting ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! lol this is so frustrating only 7 weeks in and all i wanna do is go!

have you done all your meds etc already? i find wine is a good healer! :laugh:

Don't get paranoid (easier said than done I know). I have researched and researched (part of my neurotically control freak nature) timelines, refusals and everything immigration related for the past six months and I can honestly say I have not come across one UK resident that has been turned down their visa...not one. I've seen plenty from high risk countries turned down, but thats it! If you are worried, give them a call, I always believe you can get more out of people when you call them as you can engage them as a human being rather than being de humanised as just words on a computer screen. Also when you call you can clarify things as in my case my visa had been granted but the e-mail had been sent to wrong address (I've seen this happen more than once before). I honestly don't think that your's will be too long now.

 

 

 

With CO's that refuse to give any indication of when the visa's are to be granted, I think in the majority of case's this is most probably the right thing to do. I have seen people being given approximate dates of when their visa's would be granted, they have then took this as gospel and booked there flights, then when their visa hasn't come through on time, they have either lost money or had to change their plans. It could in theory lead to people suing the department. You can bet your life that if I had been told my visa would have been through in July and it hadn't, I would have been the first person on the doorstep of AH to give them what for and I am willing to be that plenty of others have done that too.

 

I truly believe the bigger issue is the lack of communication from the department. People would feel better if they knew what stage their visa was up to. Yes they may feel peeved at the length of time it may be in a queue but at least they would know that its in a queue and that in its self could be a relief. I know that they could never ever let people know what their processes the visa actually goes through to prevent fraud but some kind of communication that could even just say your application is awaiting review/checking or awaiting grant would give people assurances that they haven't been forgotten about and given the applicant a certain amount of control back. Apparently they used to have an online system similar to the skilled working visas that allowed you to check on your visa application was progressing but it was such a clusterfluck they had to take it down, I dont see when they can't do something like this again but just make it work. It would be massively advantages to the client and the department as they wouldn't have to deal with the thousands of phone calls and e-mails I am sure they get every week to ask for a progress update

 

Lets face it, applying for this visa is such an massive event in all of our lives, one that dictates all of our futures. To leave us in the dark without communication is almost in human.

 

Right I'll get off my soap box now, sorry I'm still ill and can't even get off the couch so have nothing to do but wright really long things :embarrassed:

Thanks Tillyloola...I totally agree with everything you've said. A little bit of communication goes a very long way. Amanda74 and I have the same case officer...we've come to the conclusion he's floating around in a pool in the bahamas! :laugh: I myself work in an office and would be shot if I was away for my desk for more than 4 hours and didn't have my 'out of office' message on.

Your right about the approvals too. My man is a 'normal' everyday guy, he works hard to take care of us and we lived in the same house for 4 years, we have a toddler and live reasonably ordinary lives and have good prospects for our future in australia along with a great family support network out there. I don't think our CO would have any reason to refuse us. :unsure:

At the end of the day, once we have our visas this process will be of little significance in our lives and when we all meet up in Aus for a drink (consider this an invitation), I'm sure we'll have a good laugh about how stressful it became! :twitcy:

Hey guys, has anyone had the CO SV and been approved in less than 5 months? It kind of feels like drawing the short straw after reading all these positive posts lol:unsure:

On reading this thread for the first time (before we applied), I have to say I was hoping we wouldnt get SV!!! :wink: However, I'm sure their just being thorough, so I wouldnt worry too much.

Our CO has given us an indication that we will be approved around the 5 month mark, which would put us at the beginning of august, but he doesnt give much away either! :smile:

I'm getting fed up waiting now. We dont intend to leave for another few months, but I'm starting to get paranoid as everyone who applied around the same time as us seems to have been approved. :yes:

I wrote an email to our CO last week asking for an update and got no response. He's probably up to his eyeballs in work, but I hope he hasnt forgotten about us!! :eek: