MelbournePhom

Hi everyone! I've been in Australia on and off for nearly 3 years now. I've been working around 60% of the time in Australia, but changing jobs quite a bit and working as a contractor is difficult to know how long you'll be working where, I also spent 6 months working in the UK during this time, so I was paying off my student loan during that time. Now I've got steady work over here for the coming year, I've looked into paying my student loan back. I've filled out the overseas income assessment form, and declared my earnings, but am wondering if there will be any issue if they look into my previous earnings over here? (and can they?) I've read some nightmare stories on this site this morning, it almost makes you scared of contacting SLC after a while incase it flags you up and they hit you with crazy fines. There must be some gaps in my employment from their side... I've made a voluntary payment just now of like £250 just to pay something like what they might ask per month. Once I send this letter off to them, does anyone have any experience of how they get into contact? Also does anyone know if they allow you to make payments monthly yourself via UK card? I'm happy to do that instead of a direct debit as I really don't like the idea they can take money directly from my account... Cheers!

Hi there, I had been renting a room in outer Melbourne for around $750 per month. I had been there for 4 months and moved out when I came back for Christmas. When I moved in I paid one months rent as bond. My housemate said that when I moved out he would deduct some bills (I know there were 1 or 2 to pay) and then send me the remaining money. However since moving out and flying back home to England he hasn't been replying to my facebook messages, and to irritate me further, I can see he is reading them with the "Seen at x:xxpm" marks on them. So I am now starting to think he isn't going to pay me. And I am not back in Melbourne for another 2-3 weeks, and I think he might have been planning to leave the house now I think about it. I've been thinking of mailing the real estate company he has leased the property from the explain what's happened, but I don't think they will help as it's not to do with them. If anyone has any ideas that would be helpful. It's seriously been annoying me over Christmas...

As far as I knew if your PR had lapsed and you left the country then you can claim your super back. However once you become a citizen you could potentially move back to Oz at any age so you then can't access the money until retirement.

Congratulations, amazing feeling when it's all finished. Best of luck moving over now! :biggrin:

Not sure, I'm happy to send you my google chat account via PM if that helps? Ok looks like I can't PM you, am happy to answer any questions on here...

I submitted my application with everything January 21st, a couple of days after my skillselect invite. I'm a Developer Programmer with 70 points. Yes I lodged it online (there's no other way as far as I know). I'm based offshore, am currently stuck in wonderful London (!!sarcasm alert!!). Planning to go back to Melbourne, I love it there, the weather and the city are awesome. But now I've got some freedom with this visa Sydney, Brisbane and Perth look great also. :biggrin: Likely will go in around 3 months time, can't wait! Need to tie up loose ends first. My grant was probably quick because I had to withdraw my original one, after my medicals and police clearance was finalised: http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/168299-189-invitation-15th-november-gang-8.html Come a long way since my 457 woes: http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/153236-457-sponsorship-headaches.html

Waheyyyyy!!! At last! Applied January 21st, got the grant this morning, frontloaded all my medicals and police checks, never had any contact from my CO, I was worried I didn't have one. Still sinking in, so good to not have to think about english tests, document gathering, certified documents, police checks, medicals and skills assessments ever again :smile:

457's I think can be a risk, they are great if you are say on a working holiday visa and are desperate to stay in Australia, or if you are working for an employer you really like. The problem is 7-8 months after working at a new job if you get fed up with it you don't have many choices. When I was on a 457 sponsorship I applied for a lot of other jobs but hardly got any replies, even for jobs I was overqualified for, I imagine because my CV hits a middle manager who just sees the whole "sponsorship" thing and isn't interested. When I first got to Oz (on a WHV) I had no problems getting work when I could work immediately and without restriction. I'd keep looking for another employer, but long term (if you want to stay in Oz) I'd start looking at trying to get PR. You'll probably have best luck applying for large multinationals who have a proper HR department as they probably understand whats involved in the 457 process already.

Get hold of as much practice material as you can and do each section so you know what to expect. Getting the hang of the Yes/No format in the reading takes some practice I found. For example, when I did the writing section the first time in practice I wrote about 30 words too little, which would be a big mistake in the real thing.

Just to let people know I have had my refund approved, and apparently it's been sent to DIAC for processing, so hopefully I'll get my money back shortly. Still waiting for a CO on my new application, optimistic this could happen within the next 2 weeks and shouldn't take long to process (as my medicals etc. were finalised on my first application). Or am I making the mistake again that logic might be used?

Good news. Spoke to my CO last night, and although she couldn't add the 5 points onto my visa, she could immediately withdraw my application. I was mainly worried it would be denied and then I'd be banned from applying for 2 years. With regards to the question I answered incorrectly, I can't exactly remember how it appeared on the EOI when I submitted it, but I can't remember it making clear that it was only for qualifications studied for in Australia. It has been changed in the EOI form now to be much clearer, my case officer mentioned there are other applications that have done the same as me. She also sent me a form to claim my VAC back, so it sounds positive I might get it back... I am free to submit a new EOI tonight (with 70 points again), and there is an invite round on January 21st, so if I get invited then (should be certain I guess) then I can use all the documentation again, medicals, police checks etc. so at least I can just upload everything in one go and that should all be done.

What a complete disaster. Received an email out of the blue from my CO in the middle of the night: As I have found your assessed score is less than the score stated in your invitation to apply, you fail to satisfy a criterion as set out in the Migration Regulations for the grant of the visa. This means that the visa for which you have applied cannot be granted to you. A decision on your visa application is now imminent. You may choose to withdraw your application up until such time as a decision is made. If you do so, you may request a discretionary refund of the first instalment of the Visa Application Charge (VAC). If you wish to withdraw the application, please provide a written request to withdraw, including a request for refund of the VAC if applicable, signed by all applicants 18 and over. Please note that a request for refund of the VAC does not guarantee that a refund will be approved. Whether or not a refund is given depends upon certain legal circumstances being established to the satisfaction of the delegate. I think I incorrectly selected "Does the client meet the Australian study requirements for the Skilled Migration points test?" (I thought this was covered by my UK degree) during my EOI, which gave me an extra 5 points which I cannot now prove, making my claimed total 70 when it was actually 65 at the time of nomination. The thing is, since submitting my EOI I've now turned 25, so I'd have an extra 5 points if I did apply again. Rather than take the risk (if my visa was denied I'd get a 2 year EOI ban), I am withdrawing my Visa, and will submit a new EOI with 70 points. I have no idea why my case officer handled it this way, when I was initially asked for evidence of Australian qualifications (around a month ago), I told them I wasn't aware I'd claimed to have any, why they've waited until this stage to let me know I have no idea! I'll try to get a refund of the VAC, but this might end up costing me $3k :chatterbox: Congratulations to those that have had their visa granted :biggrin: