BackToAdelaide

Hi All, got my visa confirmed whilst I was on holiday! Many thanks for everyone who provided their stats, heres mine -

 

Visa 309/100 posted 29/03/11; Money taken: 30/03/11; Medical: 05/04/11; CO assigned: 30/03/11; 309 Approved: 01/08/11.

That's great news! When do you plan to fly out?

It really comes down to how much stuff you have and whether it's worth much to you. Most of ours is flatpack furniture from B&Q plus the lounge and bed. So we've decided to give away what we have and start afresh in Aus!

Apologies for going off-topic

Booked our flights today through Austravel. 3rd time I've used them and very happy again.

 

All seems very final now...we'll be leaving at the start of November. We're taking nothing but suitcases and sending one medium box surface mail (just my little boy's christening gifts etc). I shipped everything in this direction so its time to be ruthless and say goodbye to it all. Now we have to sell our hoards of belongings!! :wacko:

It's so exciting booking flights. I was buzzing all day after I booked ours as it suddenly seemed real! (we're booked for November too). If you don't fancy having to try and sell all your stuff you might want to consider making a few generous donations to friends and family. My OH's parents are already excited about the "new" TV and computer they will be getting!

My CO (WP) has now received my medicals and police checks plus additional information she requested on29th June. She emailed me yesterday to say no further information required at this stage and hope to process sooner but stuck to the standard 5-6 months from lodgement date.

 

Is this a good sign?:confused::confused:

 

Does it mean she has enough info to approve generally? I am going to be a nightmare for the next 4 months!

Generally the CO will ask early on if they need more information so I'd say you're probably all done now. It's all busy at the start with preparing the application and getting your CO but then it tends to go pretty quiet for a few months. Not sure it's any help but I found I stressed about it for a few weeks then it didn't seem to worry me anymore, realised I can't do anything to make it go faster anyway! But it's definitely a nice boost to check this forum and read about people getting their visas. Gives us all hope

We got the email yesterday and my partners visa has finally been approved!!!

Grand total of 3 months and 28 days processing time :biggrin:

 

Our CO has been fantastic, and processed it not a moment too soon, as we fly out this Saturday night!!!

 

We are so happy and can't wait to get on that plane!! There has been some pre-move jitters which is to be expected as he is leaving his entire family behind, but baby is due in 8 weeks, so we have much to look forward to.

 

Many thanks to everyone who gave us encouragement and support, and we hope that everyone gets those magical emails/letters soon!

 

PS: Anyone aware of any extra luggage allowance for migrating people with Qantas/BA??

Wow! that's the fastest I've seen for a while, not even 4 months! Many congratulations and good luck with the big move!

From what I've found whilst researching Qantas are pretty stingey on extra baggage. But if you're flying with BA (and it must be BA, not a Qantas codeshare) then you can purchase an additional bag allowance for a small fee, which is pretty good. http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bagchk/public/en_gb

Congratulations Nickster and others who have had visas approved recently! For everyone still waiting, at least each passing day means it's another day closer to being granted

Hi guys,

 

I am close to sending my partner visa off, but have a few worries. I am English and my husband is Australian. We have a baby girl who has dual nationality so isnt included on the visa. We all live here in England- my husband has been here for nearly 4 years and has permanent residence.

 

So, anyone else in a similar situation?

 

I'm not front loading as I was told not to by Australia House. I have sent off for my police check though.

 

What evidence do people include? I read that people send photos? I haven't, should I? Not sure how I can prove my marriage and daughter any better than my marriage certificate and her birth certificate and passports!

 

Also, the medical, what do they do? Blood tests? Do they always need x-rays? I have a bit of an issue with x-rays and may also be pregnant so unable to have one anyway. Any ideas if this will be a major problem i.e. would they delay application to wait for baby to be born- as we want to leave before then! Or would I just be able to miss the x-ray out?

 

Is the fact my husband lives with us in the UK an issue? I'm a bit worried they will have a problem with him not 'setting up home' for us before we go (we were planning on flying over as a family).

 

Thanks!

 

K

Hi K. We don’t have any kids so I can’t help with that specifically but this is a list of the things we included in our application apart from the forms (OH is the Brit, I'm the Aussie):

· - personal statements from both of us describing our relationship (roughly one A4 typed page each)

· - certified copies of passports & birth certificates

· - copy of our tenancy agreement

· - photocopies of bank statements from our joint account

· - photocopies of bills such as council tax, utilities

· - last 12 months payslips from me as well as a letter from my employer confirming how long I’ve worked there and how much I earn (to help prove I can afford to sponsor my OH)

· - stat decs from both my parents

· - letters of support/ reference letters from his parents & a friend of ours

· - handful of photo print outs showing us holidaying together or at social occasions (eg work function, friend's wedding, family Christmas)

· - a few print outs of email correspondence to help show how long we've been together eg. me telling my parents about our house hunting & the places we'd looked at, email from my parents to OH the previous year wishing him happy birthday

· - copies of travel itineraries (flight & hotel bookings) showing evidence of us travelling together

· - random stuff such as tickets from a show we saw together, Christmas cards sent to us from family, menu & place name cards from a work Christmas function (was pleased with myself for thinking to keep them!)

Good luck with the application!

Congratulations! Another approval in just over 4 months, great news!

All the best with the big move:)

It seems like most applicants from the UK don't get asked to do an interview but if you do then you might find this website useful.

Hope it helps

http://www.australiaforum.com/visas-immigration/2055-visa-interview-questions-what-did-you-get-asked-immigration.html

Congrats Bertieb, that's great news!

We have the same CO as you so a 4 month approval is very encouraging! Gives some hope to the rest of us still waiting:)

Hi bu22inb

We got our original documents back less than 2 weeks after we submittted the application.

Hi everyone

We've been reading this forum for a while and thought it was about time we put our timeline up! My boyfriend has applied for the defacto partner visa:

14/04/2011 – application received at Australia House

15/04/2011 – fee taken from credit card

20/04/2011 – email from Australia House confirming receipt of application and assigning a case officer (DP)

26/04/2011 – some original documents returned in the mail by Australia House

We haven't been given a visa date, just the standard 5-6 months timeframe, although it's been encouraging to read of a few other people with DP getting estimates of 5 months or less. Incidentally, we are using a migration agent but they have kept us in the loop on any correspondence so far.