mrspotatohead

Thanks everyone. :smile:

 

I've arranged for the shipping to be picked up on the 25th. While I was on the phone arranging, it all suddenly became very real.

 

The only issue that I have is how expensive the flights are the week I want to go, if I wait an extra two weeks then I have the potential to save £600 (yup thats how expensive they are). I'm going to have to wait until Friday to book as I may not be able to go when I planned anyway. It would appear that my big sister doesn't want me to go so badly that she's developed a cranial aneurism in order to thwart my plans. I've absolute no doubt that she'll be fine but I'd rather wait for the results of her scan on Friday to know what my plan of action is.

 

To all the others waiting with a different CO to me. The one thing that I have learnt in months and months of scouring the internet for clues on timelines is that when you see someone with a similar timeline to yourself get granted, no matter who your CO is you will not be far behind. :smile:

What a shame, hope your sister is ok. :wideeyed:

As for £600 extra for flights, if your anywhere near as tight as me, you'd wait a whole extra month to avoid the extra expense!!!!!!!!!!! :twitcy:

OMG PR VISA GRANTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I just called to get an update and I was told that it was granted last Thursday. It looks like my e-mail was typed in wrong so he re sent it to my correct one.:biggrin: Granted just under four months. So so happy, phoned the husband and got him out of bed but this is one time that he didn't moan at me for ringing him at stupid o clock.

 

I really, really want to thank every one for their advice and support, it has been very much appreciated. I'll still be popping in and out of the forum, so if anyone needs any advice just let me know.

 

Looks like I'll be leaving blighty on 26th July, sooooo much to do.

 

Good luck everyone and I hope you all get speedy grants.:spinny:

Congratulations Tillyloola!! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

If thats yourself and Sinead granted, I musnt be far behind!!

Who was your CO?? :unsure:

The 3 weeks'll fly by. Hope mine comes through soon as my OH went to Melbourne 3 weeks ago so I'm on my own here with a screaming 2 year old :arghh:

Oh Amanda, it will be our turn soon! If your 2 year old screams as loud as mine, I really feel for you!!! :twitcy:

WE GOT THE VISA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SUBCLASS 100 PR!! COULDNT BE HAPPIER!! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

CANT BELIEVE IT.. MOVED OUTTA ME HOUSE TODAY AND DOWN TO ME MAMS.. HUBBY GOT AN EMAIL AND.... BAM!!!!!!!! VISA GRANTED!!!!!!! WOOP WOOP!! AND A COUPLE DAY UNDER THE 4 MONTH MARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Sinead you lucky devil!!!! I'd imagine you'll be popping the bubbly at your mum's tonight!!:laugh:

Hi to you all. I have not posted here since our visa was granted last

year. We returned to Oz in late October 2010. The visa wait was a killer for

a number of reasons, including an expectation of shorter processing times

based on those of people submitting a few months prior to us, and our home

having been sold and business relocated to Oz ahead of the move. Doing all that before applying was not the best, but dropping property prices and falling £ had us running scared. In addition I had family pressures in Oz. We stayed with friends and did Holiday rentals until visa grant came through and then the worst blow of all, our lovely dog (we rescued from Greece 3 years prior) failed her medical. Ultimately we rehomed her with a dear friend in France, still not over that! But we have been at home for 9 months now and are living in a lovely home in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. There have been loads of adjustments for both of us (my OH had never been to Oz) but we are settling in and adapting well to being here. I would not be anywhere else now. It has not been easy, and looking back we could have taken the pressure off ourselves and enjoyed the journey more, but it is worth it in the end. For those of you waiting I really advise you to carry on with enjoying life while you wait as you will need all your physical and emotional strength for the actual move. Having said that I know I stressed every step of the way, so a big hug for you all and if I can help you I certainly will, Sharon.

We are heading to the sunshine coast (originally from sydney). We'll be living with my sister for 6 months till we find our feet. Any tips/advice for the area?

Hi I've just submitted the forms for the sub class 100 visa. I'm not so concerned about the increase in fee but the fact I submitted using out of date forms. My agent informs me that the DIAC allows a grace period. Potentially I could have to resubmit them all again which will be a major pain. Has anyone else had this problem? Also my agent tells me the processing time from London is 5-8 months. Anyone got there's earlier?

 

Cheers

Shane

The standard processing time at the moment is 5-6 months (information received from Australia House). Seems to be quite a few recently approved at the 4 month mark.

I doubt they'd make you resubmit, you should be fine.

Good luck with it all :v_SPIN:

Morning all!! well its JULY!! FINALLY!!!:biggrin: Heres to a new fresh month of VISA grants!! Im suppose to be getting mine this month!! here's to hourly checks of the hubbies email account!! LOL!!

Sinead, will we start those daily chocolate deliveries to the case officers today? :biglaugh:

Just back from the post office - now the wait begins!

is this your partner visa application away?! Yey! Exhausted from all the paper gathering?

Hey everyone,

 

Can I get some advice please!!!!!

 

I applied almost four months ago! I was allocated a case officer on 3rd March (I think). I am using a migration agent. The only thing I know about my case is that on 3rd March, my case officer requested a further police check because the one I gave originally would have been 12 months old in April and they needed a more recent one. I got it and gave it to my case officer. That's more than three months ago now.

 

I emailed my migration agent twice since then and he responded saying that he has no update from the case officer and to wait the standard 5 - 6 months. I was ok with this really but time is passing and most of you guys on here are getting updates so it's a bit frustrating for me not knowing anything!!

 

A few hrs ago, I emailed the migration agent to see if he can get me some update (he is in Australia)....this is an edited version of his reply.....

 

"Sorry, The Department of Immigration doesn't give updates or indications of how the case is progressing. If I haven't heard from your case officer by around the five and a half month mark, I will email him - sometimes this helps, sometimes not.

I appreciate that this makes things difficult for you, and how frustrating this must be, but unfortunately this is the way the system works."

 

That's an edited version of the email. I'm a pretty patient person but I think it's unfair that other people seem to be able to get an update from their case officer and our migration agent is saying it's impossible. We paid a huge fee and we feel kind of scared of him really! He won't even say who my case officer is. I'm beginning to wonder if he even sent in our application when he said he did.

 

Also, he is referring to my case officer as "he" and in any previous emails, it was "she." I'm probably just being pedantic now. What do you guys think? Should I just leave it or should I ask for more???? I don't know whether or not to go down the road of asking for receipts etc.

 

Sorry, I know this is a bit long winded but I'm confused. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Laura :wubclub:

He wont be allowed to hold your ref number from you. Get a hold of it and call Australia House direct for an update if you've got a gut feeling that something isnt quite right.

Good luck. :hug:

Hiya,

 

Do you think it's time we hounded AH? How can one CO give dates and the other be so vague? I've moved back to Scotland to stay with my parents until the visa comes through, OH arrived in Melbourne yesterday, I'm so jealous!!!

I emailed AH last week. I know he must be up to his eyeballs with work, but I saw everyone else was getting updates and couldnt help myself! He was really nice. He said we were being processed on a 100 visa and that it would be completed on or around 5 months!! OVER THE MOON! :biggrin:

Morning all!! Well i was a bit cheeky and emailed my CO again... (DP) to see if he could give us a date for VISA grant as we want to go straight away and need to hand in 6 weeks notice to jobs. He said that it would DEFINITLEY be granted in July!! Im around the same dates as tillyloola and MrsPotatoeHead so its looking good girls!! more round the 4 and half month mark!! So ive changed me flights from going 24th September to now going the 13th August!! 51 days away!! WOOP WOOP!!!

Oh Sinead, thats fantastic!!!! I cant believe you go in 51 days! We are still looking at start of November. I'm getting a little excited now...seems to be lots of activity up at good old Australia House...must be the sunshine! :wink:

Hi everyone, 1st time posting.

 

Applied for offshore spouse visa for my husband, received and money taken 03.06.11. Medicals undertaken on 02.06.11. Police checks- Irish and Australian sent with original documentation.

request for more information (specifically 06.09 -06.10) requested on 06.06.11 I sent these on 11.06.11 and rcd an email on the 16.06.2011 saying CO will look through the paperwork to see if there is anything else he requires. CO is now out of office till 30.06.2011.

 

I can not wait to go home - it has been 14 years!!!!

Welcome to the forum! :cute:

We applied back in March, then I became a wee bit of a psycho and checked my email/bank account every day for about 2 weeks. I've chilled out a bit now and have just decided 'it will be granted when its granted'...

These first few months have flown in for us, so I'm sure the 8 or 9 days your CO is away will be over in no time.

I too cannot wait to go home...its been 5 years! :wub:

VISA GRANTED!!!!

Congratulations! :laugh:

It sounds like the process has been pretty intense for you guys (phone interviews etc) so it must be a relief.

Good luck with your new life together in Aus.

:cute:

Hiya,

 

My CO is AH. He told me on 13/5 that they have all the required info and the grant date will be the standard 5-6 months so like you it'll be Aug or Sept. My OH has a job lined up so he's heading out in 2 weeks. My CO said it's OK to go out on a tourist visa while I wait on the spouse visa being granted. I think I'll do that because I don't want my OH and 20 month old daughter to be separated for longer than necessary. It's all a big waiting game!! :arghh:

My CO is AH too, seems very professional (and to the point). Told me the same thing on the 15/5! :cute:

After the temp visa is granted, how long do you usually get to move to Australia?

 

Thanks

I've been told you get 12 months from the date on your Police check/medical (whichever was first) to go and validate your visa. :spinny:

MORNING ALL!!

 

Just got an email from my C/O saying that everything is in order now for me Hubbys PERMANENT RESIDENCY VISA subclass 100 and it WILL be issued mid july!!!!!!! WOOP WOOP!!!! DELIGHTED!!!!!!!!!!

So happy for you Sinead....although I almost wish I hadnt read this now...I am going to become a paranoid email checker now! lol. x:laugh:

Hi all. I've been following this thread for some time now. My partner and I have just passed the 12 month mark, so I'm starting our De Facto Visa application. We hope to submit it by the end of June (before the fees go up:wink:)

 

Anyway, I've a couple of questions so far. I've started on form 47SP. Question 22 asks what date the relationship began. Do they mean when we started seeing each other or when the relationship became defacto? Question 26 asks for an address for correspondence. We will be moving house in August but we don't know where yet. Would it be worth putting his parent's address as the address for correspondence, or is it easy to change the address after we move? Question 27 asks for future correspondence address. I guess I give my parents' address because that is where we will be living in Australia to start off with. And Question 60, dates of previous relationship. I was engaged many moons ago when I was young and stupid but I've no idea what date we started going out or when we broke up. They hardly check up on that stuff do they? Will I be ok if I take a stab in the dark?

 

Looking forward to joining you all on this rollercoaster ride. Best of luck to you all

 

Bridie

Question 22: We put the date the relationship actually began, not the date we moved in together. Question 26: Put your current address, you'll be given a dedicated Case officer, so its very easy to change details later on. Question 60: Put in a guestimate of dates and then add a separate sheet of paper to explain the circumstances and the fact that you cant remember.

All the best. :v_SPIN:

Just to let you know our progress... we rang our CO and he told us our application was marked for approval, meaning we are now only waiting for the paper work to go through. They are telling us it will take the full 5 months, telling us that we should have our visa by mid July (we applied in February)...

 

If you are 3 or so months in and you haven't heard back for a while, then its definitely worth a call to your CO to check the progress... marked for approval means that you basically have the visa, only waiting for the paper work process where there is a delay from the sound of it...

 

He also said that he would of contacted us if there was anything else we needed or that the application un successful by this time... so in fact, no news is good news!!!

 

good luck all... Toffa...

'MARKED FOR APPROVAL'- fantastic! :cute:

I've just emailed our CO asking for an update...couldnt help myself! :twitcy:

'or more places created in the Australian migration program, I will let you know. '

I didnt think they had capped partner visas?

If you do go over, its a good excuse for a long weekend in NZ!:laugh:

We've always kinda banked on it taking about a year from when we first started putting paperwork together, to a grant being received so the 5-6 months is actually good news for us....although I absolutely hate being left in the dark waiting! :cute:

ha...i assume you'll be having an aussie baby then?

wise move...we'll be on a 26 hour economy flight with a 2 year old...lol

We did the same. I can't really think what a migration agent would add to the process (apart from a fee!).

 

We're heading back to Sydney for a few years at least. My mum and brother (plus friends and cousins) are there, with the rest of the family (grandad, aunty, more cousins) in Canberra. We're going to have 2 'city years' to enjoy the urban life, but spend our weekends/holidays exploring the country properly to decide where to settle after that.

 

How about you?

From Sydney but going to the Sunshine Coast as my sister has just moved up there with her family and my mum and dad are about to follow.

sounds like a good plan to use the country as a bit of a porthole for a while. do you have children?

Did it on our own mrspotatohead - wasn't too complicated really - just a great list making exercise!

 

StS

We did the same. Found the paper gathering and triple checking a little stressful, but glad we did it on our own now so that we can contact our CO direct if need be.

Where in Australia are you returning to?

Right at the beginning of the application process really, but here's our timeline so far....

 

01/04/11 Decided to 'go for it' and started getting paperwork together

26/04/11 Application submitted and money taken

05/05/11 Case officer assigned, Extra info requested

 

We've just had the PC back so can send that in, and the other stuff is fairly straightforward (fingers crossed). CO also called me to discuss my 'usually resident' status, and seems I should be fine as long as I go over to Aus before they issue my partner with his visa, which is amazingly good news.

 

Also wanted to say hooray for PIO - it has provided me with loads of useful info so far, and will continue to do so I'm sure while we go through the next stages...

 

StS

 

 

Did you use an agent or did you do it on your own?

Well thats me (and everyone else in the March gang) at the 2 month line. I'm going absolutely bonkers thinking about the visa all the time!! We technically still have 4 months to wait. :twitcy:

I have become completely homesick and in turn am making OH so excited about going as all I seem to talk about now is australia! I've been away 5 years...I wonder if much has changed?

Yes we requested it straight away and he gave me permission the same day to travel on a tourist visa. We were meant to apply ages ago, and I had to give up my job so they could find a replacement, so I have been sitting around in London, with hubby in Oz for months, so the quicker we are there and our place rented out, the better it will be all round. Yes it's an expensive process:arghh:!!

Well worth it though! :wubclub:

I don't have my visa either, but our CO seems really relaxed and has given us the all clear to enter Oz on tourist visas while we wait for the spouse to process and our daughter's citizenship application (which we will do in Oz) ..... we leave next Sunday!!! My place is upside down trying to pack and have some repairs/painting done in a week. I must be crazy, but this whole process is totally crazy really. Mixed emotions, feeling very sad to leave family and friends, but all falling into place at last!

Really? Congrats on getting out there so quickly! Is this something you requested when you initially lodged your application? Wish we were doing the same, but we're using these last 6 months to save like mad! :twitcy: