greeneyes

Folks, been a while since I posted on here but thought I'd check-in to see if there are any mid-May applicants with feedback on grant dates?? I'm hitting the 5 month mark tomorrow. Also, anyone else got VF and heard from her recently? I haven't contacted her for around 4 months now but there don't seem to be too many mentions of her on here...

I applied on 10th May and received notification of grant on September 27th and then the actual grant came through October 2nd Hope that helps!!

We used sevenseas , just to send a 24kg box though. Recommend them. Great door to door service with the box. They were always helpful in replying to our queries as well.

We used voovit and it cost £300 for 10 30kg boxes to be posted London-Melb. It took about two months

Hi everyone!

 

I've got a question for those of you who are slightly further through the process than I am. How long was it from when you completed your medicals to being told that it was all clear? I did my medical at the end of August (5 weeks ago) but I haven't heard anything from my case officer to tell me that he has received them.

 

Last week I tried asking my case officer whether he had received my police certificate (it was a week after i had posted it so I didn't feel it was unreasonably early to ask) and I got a very short, very unhelpful response saying that he would be going through his mail in the next few days and if I had sent it next day delivery I should check with royal mail. If possible, I think he used even less words that I have there and I definitely got the "go away and don't dare to bother me again vibe"! I responded to say that I had sent it first class as I couldn't get to the post office so I would appreciate it if he could let me know once he had been through his mail. I've had zero further contact from him in the week and a half since but yesterday the certificate turned up back here and it has been stamped as received so I guess he did get it. He was so unfriendly though that I'm a bit scared of asking any more questions unless I absolutely have to! I was a bit annoyed actually. I know that their job isn't to answer questions about your application progress or offer advice, but I didn't think questions about whether they have received requested documents was unreasonable!

 

So, did you hear anything official from your case officer following your medical and if so, how long did it take? Also, I keep reading about a "no further information required" letter - or at least I think I have. Does everyone receive this and is this the way that you know your medical has passed? I think I'm starting to panic because 5 weeks seems like an awfully long time...

 

Thank you all!

KT

Hello!!

I just had my visa granted and was in the exact situation you are in - I hadn't heard a peep from my CO (who was PS) after about 3 months and unlike some people here my take on everything is to hassle him as little as possible haha. I was planning on taking a trip to Australia so I just emailed telling him I was leaving the country and then just added into the e-mail - just wondering if you have received my medical results, and he replied yes and I don't need any further info. etc.

I would genuinely not worry - if there is a problem they will be in touch otherwise just take it as no news is good news!

My visa was granted in under 5 months and I think I exchanged 3 emails with my CO during the entire process (and each time it was just to inform him of travel plans and change of address!)

Im thinking its looking like closer to the 6mnth mark than the 5mnth. Its interesting to me that they only issue a few a day. I also find it a bit stange that there seems to be some start of May applicants approved and there is still earlier applicants waiting. I was under the impression that they are in order of date of lodgement. Patience was never something I was blessed with.

Seems a bit slow this week, havn't seen any approvals on here.

I think this is true to some extent but I also feel that my visa was definitely granted earlier than it was meant to have been (not that I'm complaining haha). My CO just helped me out by granting it when I was taking an overseas trip (which was mentioned in my application so regardless of the visa I was going to be out of Australia at this time). He obviously just thought it made sense to grant it a couple of weeks early when I was out of the country rather than make me take another trip a few weeks later.

Hi all.

E-mailed my CO a few days ago (CO is PS) to remind him that I would be going to Thailand on Tuesday for 10 days for a friends wedding.

He responded saying he is now in a position to grant my visa.

Whoohooo!!

So... applied May 10th 2012 visa granted September 27th 2012 (but need to leave Aus before I get it!)

Hi Everyone! Haven't been on here for a while as my laptop has been playing up! Just thought i would add an update to say that ......

 

MY VISA HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!!!

 

I got my approval email on Wednesday 15th from AB which was totally unexpected as my CO LG was on holiday.

 

So it was approved in good time for our flights which I booked after talking to LG.

 

My husband to be is on his way from melbourne (as I type) to come and pick up myself and my boys and we all fly back together this Friday night!!! We haven't seen each other for 7 months!!!

 

Good luck to all visa applicants still waiting or going through the form filling process! It's a long, hard slog....but you'll get there in the end!

 

Now where is that spreadsheet so i can add my stats??!!!

 

:biggrin:

CONGRATS!!

The spreadsheet is here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aopvk3Y5mD7HdGp5V2hESFluN3V0QWNBTDg2TWJoLVE#gid=0

Hellooo

Well it has been a while since I've posted on here but my partner and I have just moved back to Melbourne. I am currently still on an e-visitor as my visa hasn't been granted yet but I e-mailed my case officer (PS) before we left to tell him of our plans and he said he didn't require any further information and reminded me it takes 5-6 months for visas to be granted.

I have hardly had any communication with him as I didn't want to hassle him but I've sort of taken this as the green light that we're all good to go and it's now just a case of waiting... is it silly for me to assume this?! I just figured if there was a problem with the application we would have been interviewed or asked to comment on the problems.

Getting excited now. And particularly excited to start working I am SO bored at home whilst the boy is out working haha.

Hi Greeneyes,

 

After my medical (about a week or so) I just dropped a polite email to my CO to ensure that she received the medical and if there was anything further I could do at that point. She replied instantly stating that the medical had been received the week previously, it was all clear and that she required nothing further. Perhaps doing this would put you at ease. I know I wanted confirmation that I was healthy more than anything!! Good luck!

Aw thanks for this! I am planning in returning to Aus in August (on a tourist visa) as my boy needs to get back to work and we don't want to be apart so I may just wait until we've booked the flights to contact the CO and drop in that I trust everything is ok with the medical check! Thanks for the advice

My application was the easiest ever, no kids, no previous relationships or me or my girlfriend,no criminal record, my job also on the SOL, had been with my girlfriend 2 years not 1, loads of cash to take etc. still took over 6 months

No no... I'm expecting it to take 5-6 months obviously I'm just surprised I haven't been contacted to say he didn't need anything more. Is what you meant above that you did your medical and then didn't hear anything for 5-6 months but when you did that was your visa granted? I just always thought they let you know when they didn't need anymore info.

Yea that's normal. I didn't hear from my case officer for the next 5 months

Oh really? I always thought they contacted you and said they don't need anymore info and then the long wait happens. Hopefully my CO is satisfied but just hasn't bothered to tell me! My application is pretty straightforward to be honest.

I heard back from my CO about 4 days after my medical to confirm that he had recieved it and that no further information was required.

Good luck greeneyes!

Ergh I had my medical almost a month ago and I have not heard a peep from my CO. I don't really want to contact him particularly though but just wondering how long is too long! I was under the impression that once they ask for the medical they generally don't need anymore info...or is that not the case?

I was just wondering how long people waited after getting their medical checks done before they heard anything from their COs?

Eeek money taken and CO assigned! Does anyone else have PS?

Oh aaand he requested me to get my medical check done too which I think is a good thing?!

Eeek money taken and CO assigned! Does anyone else have PS?

And we're off!! My boyfriend and I FINALLY submitted our application today (about a month and a half after we had originally planned to). In the end it probably wasn't as extensive as I'd have liked it to be but it was logistically very hard to get all the info we needed with my boyfriend's (closed) accounts being in Australia. So, here is what we sent off - roughly in this order:

My application

His application

Certified copies of both our passports and birth certificates

My police checks - from both Aus and the UK

A statement from him explaining how he will fulfil his sponsorship obligations

A certified copy of a letter from his employer in Aus stating that he had been granted 1 years unpaid leave, his annual salary, and that he shall be returning to work in august 2012 with the same salary

My statement about our relationship

His statement about our relationship

Our joint statement about the nature of the household

Financial evidence: joint bank statements whilst in Australia (march 2011-July 2011), evidence to show I moved money from the UK to aus to help pay rent etc as I couldn't work, joint bank statements from the UK (january 2012-April 2012)

Joint leases showing we have lived together since Feb 2011

Stat decs from friends and family:

1 from his mum with certified passport copy

1 from his granny with certified birth cert

1 from his best friend with certified passport copy

1 from my best friend with certified passport copy

1 from another of his friends

1 statement from my parents witnessed but not an official stat dec which also says we lived with them from august - December 2011

1 statement from my best friend in the UK

Evidence of travel together to:

Bali, Paris, Australia and St Lucia

Joint invites, postcards and letters. All which show dates and addresses on them. We have a wedding invitation and a thank you card from one of the people who wrote a stat dec.

Photos - I put three to a page. I think there were 10-15 pages all together. Maybe too many but most pics showed us at various events with a lot of the people who wrote us stat. decs

I think that's it! Now just eagerly awaiting a response!

Why ask for advice if you then ignore it? Just be mindful that you already have more than enough evidence. As for evidence showing communication when you've been apart, we have been parted for 5 months yet haven't been asked for firm evidence that we keep in touch. In my statement I mentioned Skype, emails etc but havent been asked for any 'proof'.

It's not that I'm ignoring your advice...I'm just surprised that you would suggest to leave things out that are actually given as examples by the government of things you can include to prove you are a couple.

I gave them everything they wanted and more! I'd rather them have too much than not enough. They are so strict. I went as far as screen photos of friends Facebook photos proving they had been added years ago showing hubby and I together. Good luck. Our visa was granted less than 8 weeks after out forms were submitted.

I am of the same mindset, I'd prefer to have a little more than too little. I won't overdo it but everything I include in our application is stuff actually mentioned in Booklet 1!

Greeneyes - I wouldn't bother with all the things on the bottom of your list. You don't need them, the other evidence is good enough. They don't actually seem that keen on the personal stuff so cut from the flowers down to the photos. All that stuff will just get sent back.

I'm actually just going to send copies of those things and not originals. I've read people say some their find it very strange if you don't include photos and I'm sure I've seen a case where photos were requested because they weren't supplied. I think it's more a case of they don't put that much weight on the personal stuff but it's something they can tick off if you provide it. Also one of the suggested items in Booklet 1 to prove the social side of your relationship is joint invitations which is the only reason I was going to supply that. And also you have to show evidence of communication during periods of separation but we don't have access to our old phone bills so the flower receipt was the best I could come up with!

Hi there

Newbie here. I am British and my partner is Australian... currently living in London and hoping to move over to Melbourne towards the end of this year (depending on processing times, of course!).

Currently in the process of putting our application together. Hoping we have enough stuff....any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

We have been dating since April 2010, a couple since October 2010 and de facto since January 2011.

Current things we have to support our application:

3 x joint leases covering from February 2011 - present

NO UTILITY BILLS (our flatmate dealt with these and we just used to give her the money and in our current house the utilities are included in the rent...hope this wont be a problem!)

3 x stat decs with birth certificates (my best friend in Aus, partner's mum and partner's grandmother)

2 x stat decs without birth certificates

A written statement from my parents who we lived with for 5 months when we first arrived in the UK

2 x statements from myself and my partner outlining how we met, our commitment to one another, etc.

Bank statements from Jan 2011 (our joint account) showing my boyfriend supporting me in Australia when I couldn't work and up until the present date showing both of our pay cheques going into the same account

My own bank statement showing my financial contribution to our relationship in Australia when and where I could (mostly just transferring savings from the UK as I couldn't work in Aus at the time).

Joint travel booking confirmations/tickets to: Bali, New Zealand, London and Paris

Papers showing my partners phone account in my name (as he couldnt set one up when he first arrived in the UK)

My name as a named driver on my partners car insurance

Receipt for flowers my partner sent to me when we were apart for a month between Nov and Dec 2010 (before we moved in together), plus cards and e-mails sent at this time.

Invite sent to us for a wedding we attended in Aus (the groom also wrote a stat dec for us as mentioned above)

Joint postcard sent to us by my mum

Lots and lots of photos! We will probably stick these all on a CD and then print out a selection of around ten that show us with each others family and friends, travelling and looking different (I dyed my hair a few months ago!)

It has taken sooo long to get all this information together.

Is there anything else we could add to that that could further help our application?

Thanks in advance