Tom Brody

Hi Rangafella, My apologies for the late reply and I see that my fellow Pommers have already given you excellent advice, so I hope that you get your case sorted out as soon as possible with a successful outcome for your return to Australia. Every case is different and people are away from Australia for many reasons, sometimes through no choice of their own but due to unfortunate circumstances which happened in my case with the death of my father and also leaving an elderly surviving parent behind back home. So the only additional point I could offer to the sound advice you have already been given is to examine your own case in detail, as to why you are out of Australia. Did you leave any intentional plans behind when you left? Often we overlook things or think them irrelevant, when they are worth inclusion. It is about building a case for your return. Not everyone is lucky in such circumstances so yes it would be worth investing in the services of a Registered Migration Agent agent such as Paul (above) who will for sure advise you and take control of your application. It is money worth spending to achieve the goal you want. Good luck with your plans mate, and I wish you well. Tom

Hello Milcey, Thanks for the contact. Yea I was still living in the UK, due to circumstances incurred in the last couple of years, and my RRV was due to run out. So I came to Perth to try and speak to someone in the IMMI office and give them some nice Irish blarney, but was told just apply online and there would be no problem. So I did that, and lodged and paid the application fee. I got an immediate acknowledgement and receipt of payment and didn't hear another thing until the application was granted, 4 months later. I called a few times by phone but got no joy. Nothing wrong with the application or anything, and they didn't need or request anything else after the application was lodged. It's just applications like mine were kind of bottom of the pile. Just one of those things. At the time they said applications that didn't have the required residency days would take up to 14 weeks, which was a bit of a bummer at the time and a shock. But there you go. Got there in the end. This process or assessment they have on residency days appears to be key now to the processing times of an RRV, (days resided in Australia in the past 2 years) ?? I'm sure a knowledgeable agent will correct me on any inaccuracies in my wording, so maybe good to speak to an agent (MARN) if you have any doubts. Best of luck with everything, I hope things work out for you and your family, Regards, TOM

It's with great joy that I am able to report an update, and the good news that I was finally granted my RRV 155 to return back to Australia, (Sept 11) It's been a long wait, 120 days or 17 weeks depending on how you look at it. I take back all the bad things I may have said about the immigration folk, the bad thoughts and words, all the names I called them, and all the infestations I wished upon them.? Their lovely people really and for sure I was provoked into such words to be sure. May I thank all you guys who commented or showed an interest in this post, and all comments were noted. It is always good to share a problem, a worry or concern and I thank you sincerely for your help. It is a true saying, "Patience is Bitter but it's fruits are Sweet" and I really feel that today with the relief of getting my RRV. So I am heading off soon and will be happy to join in more on this forum when I am in Perth, and of course to seek advice on Life Down Under. Looking forward to it, - Onward and Upward. Best wishes to all, and have a blessed day. TOM

A big congratulations, I am sure it is a great relief to you to have it and to know your fine now for your job and livelihood. Best wishes and Good luck, Regards TOM

Well all I can say to you mate is Good Luck. If they have not answered you or offered any assistance and you are already there in Perth, working and providing all the detail that you have listed above, my case is surely doomed. Whilst not a qualified migration agent, (very few are on here) it appears to me that you have a very solid case for continued residence in Australia based on the details you have stated. Infact it seems grossly unfair that they have taken this length of time to deal with your case. I have nothing at all to offer in terms of work etc., and obviously no longer have a lease. Yes I have maintained personal ties and even have all my personal possessions in a 20ft3 container there in Perth in storage. (that's cost me and lost me around £12,000) But nothing else to offer. I came home due to the terminal illness of my Dad and his subsequent passing left myself and elderly Mother with a lot of problems to resolve here in UK after his death. So I am working on the GENUINE position of having genuine mitigating circumstances as a result of a parents death. So I am not expecting any favours, not asking for anything other than consideration. At the end of the day what will be will be and the passing of my Dad has made me realise that there is more to life than worrying over where one can live. I would dearly love to return to Australia, but if it is not to be, then so be it. I guess Ireland is not so bad a place to live, inspite of the rain. Once again I wish you success and a speedy outcome soon.

Hi Mext60 Yes it's very frustrating isn't it. But if I am reading your message correctly, you still have a visa which will entitle you to travel and enter Australia, surely that will be fine? Once in Australia I am sure you would find the assistance there to be able to resolve your situation. However obviously you will know your situation clearly and what your up to date position is. Probably best to go and engage a good agent there who can assist you in a professional way if as you say it relates to your career, your livelihood and future. I think any costs incurred would be money well spent. For the record, I have just come off the phone to DHA and they were aware that I have called previously and been told to E-mail. The gent I spoke to was very polite but could only advise me to send the E-mail again and mark it as URGENT. It's 106 days for me now, which I must say I find difficult to accept or understand but there you go. Let us all remember "A moment of patience in a moment of anger, can save you a hundred moments of regret" We will see. Good luck and best wishes for your visa, I hope it comes through soon for you. ?

Hi Loxxy, thanks for the interest. No sadly still no response. It's now 102 days which exceeds the current directive of between 5 -85 days or indeed the 12 weeks still showing on the home affairs website. I have made a couple of telephones to their office but not got anywhere. One guy refused to even look at the application, saying the 12 weeks is only a guide and not understanding the wording on their site which states "can be up to 12 weeks". ? One lady there was quite helpful and took the reference number and the time to look at the application and said all looks in order and OK but just got to wait now for it to be processed. I think I will leave it in place now until the New Year and probably if it hasn't been granted by then, I will just leave it and draw the curtain down on things there. Just move on. I am encouraged though by a guy I heard speaking yesterday called Scott Morrison, who had landed a new job and mentioned how "everyone get's a fair go in Australia". That sounds good doesn't it. So I will keep those words in mind while waiting. Thanks again and Best wishes to you and with your plans. Tom

Hi Proview 220, many thanks for your interest. Much appreciated. Sadly still awaiting a response, I have heard nothing at all, not a single response other than the receipt of payment and confirmation the application was received. I am not the type who complains and I guess in the end "What will be will be". So I move towards week 9 now of waiting. What I will say which is just my humble opinion of course as I wouldn't want to risk the wrath of the Legend's God's and Experts who wander through this wonderful website, is it is a pretty shocking service by the Australian Immigration to take 12 weeks plus to process a RRV. OK, fair dinkum the processing time increases by a few days, or even a week, lets say even 2 weeks. But to now place it on a 12 week turnaround from what was a 3 - 5 day process is dare I say a bit unfair, especially when the $365 gets taken upfront. Gosh, even Ned Kelly wore a mask. But no doubt there is some vital point that I have failed to realise which justifies such a process, which somebody will of course nail me on. No worries. ? Best wishes, Stay Cool.

Applying for a Resident Return Visa (RRV) appears to me to have become a tad more difficult, or maybe it's my imagination. The time schedule for the RRV has just changed to 5 - 10 days, from 5 - 8 days. Not a big difference there so no worries. However the part that I find a worry is "Applications that do not meet the residence requirement will take longer to finalise than the published processing times advertised above. Processing timeframes for these applications can be up to 12 weeks." I applied for a RRV 6 weeks ago. I was in Australia and advised to just apply online via my IMMI account. I did this, and I had immediate acknowledgement and receipt of payment for $365. I don't qualify for a 155, but have mitigating circumstances which I think are applicable and permit me to apply for a 157 (3 month entry) I won't bore people with the details of the mitigating circumstances, safe to say these prevented me from returning to Australia as planned last year. I certainly fall into this category of not having been in Australia for enough days. I really do!! My days had been non existent since 2015 when I had to return home to UK. I went back to Australia in May as my current RRV at the time was due to expire and fearing the worse or being guilty of not activating a RRV granted to me, I made the trip down under and wanted to speak to an Immigration official to try to explain the situation. I was worried about the situation I was in. But I was told "not necesary just apply online through your IMMI account" I am now free of all matters which prevented me from returning, but I fear it is a year too late. In all fairness the Australian Immigration people have been extremely accommodating, sympathetic and kind with my previous RRV applcations. However I feel maybe their patience has been exhausted now by my own failure to return and settle as planned. It may just be a case of tough luck, bad luck and hard luck, but maybe my visa for Australia is shot. I take full responsibility for this and it is through no fault of the Australian immigration or anyone else. It's not really my fault, it is just the way fate has dealt my cards, which sometimes we have no choice but to accept. I was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience and had to wait 12 weeks to see if they are granted a RRV or not? I am doubtful now that my visa will be granted, and I may have to just accept that fate has worked against me, and it is not to be. The next few weeks waiting for an E-mail and checking my IMMI account will be quite tense. For the record when I flew out of Australia back to London, as is the normal practice, a Border Official at the airport kindly spoke with me in private and pointed out that my RRV was about to expire and handed me a leaflet. I explained that I had already applied for a RRV and showed her my acknowledgement and receipt. The lady was really helpful. She then told me that I could actually return without a RRV but that I would need to go to the departure airport very early and the airline then have to telephone Canberra for a Code to permit me entry. I was surpried by this as I had never heard of this before. I thanked her for this advice but explained to her that I would never do that, as I don't think that's a very good thing to do. Knowing the way the airline staff are in Heathrow, I wolldn't trust them to assist me, and I would be too worried about causing a problem, breaking the rules and the law and ending up with a ban.. It is however a contradiction in terms of practice, a genuine RRV application taking 12 weeks to process, yet a way in to the Country through a telephone call and a code from Canberra ? That's not for me as I have never abused the Visa system, or my status as a Permanent Resident and with my luck, I would probably get thrown into jail and never heard of again. ?? Regards, best wishes and good luck to all.

Exactly Peach, and also the Brits did the same to us in November 2012. So that's on record too. Brits said she had no incentive to return to Phils as her emotonal ties were to myself there in UK. So kicked out the application.

It's OK, I appreciate the points you raise, and Yes I agree we will seek the advice of a Migration agent to deal with it. Fingers crossed. We have ample proof of the long term relationship, from photographs, travel documents, e-mails, and so on. Citizens from UK, Phils and Australia know us and can back that up. I point out as well, that we as a couple know of quite a few Filipina's who have suffered the same disappointment on a tourist visa, but then been successful with a partner/marriage visa. They may never admit it but the High Risk I refereed to in my initial post above is applied across the board apparently based on statistics. Well we will see, If it turns out we have to go back to UK, well so be it. I think she actually would prefer that. Thanks for the help.

Thank you for your reply. In short, I don't like it there as a place to live. In addition my soon to be Fiance wants to move overseas also, and thirdly the costs incurred first in moving out here to Oz and then on again to yet another Country is prohibitive. I enjoy visiting Philippines to see her family and spend time with them, whenever I can, but I am not even going to pretend for a moment that I could live there permanently. Sorry that's just a personal choice/feeling. I have visited 6 times over the past 2 years, and been happy to visit, but neither of us want to remain there. My question was more for help to do with settlement here in Australia, but thank you anyway for your interest.

I am very grateful to everyone who responded to my post and I think I will take the advice to go into a serviced apartment for a while and then decide having given myself some time to look around properly. Thank you all for the time and effort to reply to my thread, really appreciated. :notworthy:

Hi Everyone, just looking for a bit of advice please from anyone who know's a bit about these matters. I am getting engaged to a Filipina Lady at Christmas, finally popping the question, so hoping it will be a happy time for us. Sadly she was refused a Tourist Visa in October to visit me here in Oz for a three week visit. (Basically they said there was no incentive for her to return to Philippines, even though she has a lease and her own market trading stall which she run's and makes her living from) and we had ticked all the box's correctly and she had the equivalent of around $4,500 AUD in her bank account. There you go!!! Over the past 18 months or more I was in UK trying to sell my property there before finally getting back here to Oz. I am a PR here. Our intention all along was as soon as I got back to Oz we would make our plans firm and be together permanently, and to bring here here with me. So fair play, she was very patient while we were apart while my house sale was ongoing. As she is Filipino, she is classed as "High Risk" in terms of the fact Philippines is not an ETA Country Quote from the immi website, "The terms 'Low risk' and 'High risk' show whether passport holders are eligible to apply for an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA). Low risk applies to nationals from countries which issue ETA eligible passports. A list of these can be found on the department's website. High risk countries are those which are not ETA eligible". To apply for the Prospective Marriage visa it is estimated at a turnaround time of 12 months. In other words another year's wait. For us this is another body blow in so much as how long it is likely to take. A friend of mine has suggested to apply for a student visa, and do a skills course here, like baking or pastry chef or something, a course over a year and during that period apply onshore here in Australia for a Prospective Marriage whilst she is here? Apparently a student visa is granted in approximately 3-4 months ? Does any of that make sense? Is it a possibility? Is it allowed? Personally I laughed at the idea at first, but was persuaded to look into it further if it can help our situation. I guess really I need to find a good migration agent to assist us with the situation, it is frustrating me now to the point that I am actually thinking of packing it in here and just going to live there instead, something that I truly do not want to do. I find being alone here in Oz is not good, as it is just existing not living and I feel disappointed in how our plans appear to be blocked at every corner we turn. I am not one to ever complain, but it is very difficult now. Can anyone offer me some advice on all this, I would really appreciate it. Thank you and my best wishes.

Thanks for the reply Cal. Work is not an issue because I work for myself via Internet, all I need is a good reliable fast Internet connection. I should have mentioned that in my original post so I just amended it. Thanks again.