oppyddrum

I have lived in Newcastle for the last 3 years, and i did not like it at first, but that was because i did not know what was where then. I have grown really fond of Newie (as some of us call it :smile:) The beaches are spectacular (look for merewether, bar, Nobbys and Newcastle Beaches). Merewether beach also has an ocean bath, the largest in the southern hemisphere i think. the view at Merewether is really nice and there is a nice cliff right there for paragliding (if you are into that sort of thing). Stockton beach for awesome dunes and lots of activities to do there (Downhill tobogganing, Quad biking, Horse and camel tours, 4wdriving). you can actually take your own 4WD into the dunes and have a really good time testing the limits of your vehicle (good luck if you break it. lol) There is also Dolphins and whales coming through here in the early winters... you can sometimes see them from the beaches. awesome! if you have dogs, there is Horseshoe beach specifically for dogs, and redhead beach which allows dogs on as long as you pick up after them. There are a lot of nature parks that have really extensive walking and biking trails, look up blackbutt reserve. Blackbutt also has enclosures with lots of the native Aussie animals as well as playgrounds and the like for kids to have a great time on a Sunday afternoon. The Hunter Vineyards are a short drive away for amazing wine and cheese tours. The city is not as good looking as you would expect a CBD but it has its charms and there is a revitalization effort going on at the moment to sort of bring the CBD into the 21st century, but preserving the heritage buildings which are quite a few. lol. Lots of good places to eat and have a good evening out in the city and in some of the neighboring suburbs, there is a very active night live in the city, lots of the suburbs are ghost towns past 8-9pm on weekends though lol. 2 Westfield Malls within say 15 minutes of each other (no idea why lol), and they are both pretty nice with a wide variety of regular and high end stores for your shopping fix. We have got a major NRL team (Newcastle Knights) that you can barrack for as well as a major soccer team (Newcastle Jets). the sporting life in Newie is pretty live. lol Cost of renting in the city has increased a bit lately, and you are mostly restricted to older buildings (with more character and heritage :wink:) and for an old 3 bedroom in or close to the CBD you are looking at about 390/week or more. but if you moved out say 30 mins from the CBD to the newer suburbs, you can get brand new 4 bedrooms for 360/week and on, depending on what you are looking for. There are a lot of new developments as well, so if you are looking to buy, there is a lot of that happening at the moment. There are a lot of good schools at all levels, public, private and catholic. and we have a university (university of Newcastle) which is ranked pretty high, as well as several campuses of NSW TAFE. The job market was really strong because of the coal industry until about 1.5yrs ago when things started to look not as great so there have been a lot of job cuts in the area lately, so you might want to have work organized before you get here... we are hoping for things to pick back up as it is being said that this happens every few decades and then picks right back up, just market fluctuations they say. The people are mostly nice, welcoming and friendly. Yes there are some nasties around the place but not more than you would find in any other major city. As long as you stay int he right neighborhoods, you will usually be around good people. I have seen a bit of discrimination and some racism but again, not more than exists in any other major city. the nastier element are on the minority by far. the drivers in Newcastle are not raging mad like the "Sydney-siders" or even Melbournians. The weather is mostly great, summers are not too hot and winters are not that cold... it gets really rainy at the beginning of winter though, but the sun stays resolute the whole time. and the water temps are usually warmer regardless of the actual air temps. For the most part, weather wise, really good. We are just 2 hours from sydney, an hour from the central coast (beautiful beautiful coastal region), about 12 hrs from melbourne, 10hrs from Brisbane... Wow, i can not believe i have said this much about a city i did not want to like. i guess 3years and counting will do that to ya! lol Let me know if you have any specific questions though. Note to self: speak to the city council about becoming a city ambassador. :wink:

that is weird, My sister got her PR under my parents and she was a full time student overseas (in America and has not lived with them for 6 years)... the criteria i believe is being a full time student and financially dependent on the main applicant... is it too late to have this decision re-evaluated? just wondering.

insurance is not necessarily cheaper. it actually went up for us!

@shsingh: i think you will want to be around the 100k mark to be upper middle class, but that is my opinion.

erm... they don't sound the same to me... my opinion.

your question/concern is not really clear. you might have to clarify to get any useful advice

ok, the processing time is typically under 4 weeks, and once it is approved, you are a citizen... there is no ceremony.

thanks @amdaloia. I do hope you are right. I will come back with some feedback as soon as i hear back from them. sent in the application yesterday.

Yes, i think you answered the question. Just to clarify, my son qualifies as a citizen by descent as i am an Australian citizen and he was born in the US. we are now back in Australia, he is on the electronic visitors visa for 3 months. I just posted his application for citizenship by descent today, and i wanted to know if he gets a certificate of citizenship back in the mail or just an extract and then we have to apply separately for evidence of citizenship. If you are right snifter, that will be fantastic. at the bottom of page 5 of the application form 118 though, they said that we only get an extract and that is not a legal proof of citizenship. I wonder why they would want to make one repeat an application (form 119) which is mostly a repeat of form 118... having to bother our friends again with the endorsement is my biggest problem with that really. I hope you are right snifter. that would be awesome.

I had my skills assessment successful from Engineers Australia as an Electronic Engineer just based on my overseas (american) bachelors and Australian Masters. Truth is they really didn't use my masters qualifications. as long as you are not claiming points for work experience, i reckon your skills assessment should go fine. again, my experience is from an engineering standpoint but i believe an Australian qualification should QUALIFY you as being able to work in that occupation. I do suggest you include all your work experiences as part of the package you send to the assessing body. Good luck!

Hi Everyone, I just have a quick question about a citizenship by descent application; I am applying for my 6 week old son who was born in the states. Does he get a certificate of citizenship once the application is approved? or do we have to do a separate application for evidence of citizenship? Thanks in advance

congrats Doug. Goodluck with the process.

As far as i know, there is no age limit for applying for citisenzhip. Under 18yrs old and over 60yrs old do not have to write the citizenship test though. you might just do the interview and thats it. hope that answers your question.

My understanding is the child has to be a PR or citizen (i could be wrong). I am an Australian citizen and My son (born in the US), has to wait till his citizenship is approved before we can add him to our medicare. in the meantime, his bills are charged to his mom's medicare number.

Parents of PRs and Citizens are automatically considered for the long stay: "[h=4]Visitor visas for parents of Australians[/h]Due to the length of the permanent Parent (Migrant) visa (subclass 103) queue, and the desirability of family reunion, we might grant a more generous Visitor visa. You will automatically be considered for this if you are a parent or step-parent of: an Australian citizen or permanent resident. an eligible New Zealand citizen. We will consider these applications on a case-by-case basis. We can grant visas that last up to: five years for parents outside Australia who are in the Parent (Migrant) visa (subclass 103) queue three years for parents outside Australia who have had a previous Australian visa and complied with the visa conditions, and either: have not applied for a Parent visa have applied for a Parent visa (subclass 103) but are not yet in the Parent visa queue [*]18 months for parents who have not previously travelled to Australia and either: have not applied for a Parent visa, or have applied for a Parent visa (subclass 103) but are not yet in the Parent visa queue. The visa will have three extra visa conditions: Maximum 12 month stay in 18 months: You cannot stay in Australia for more than 12 months on any visit or for more than 12 months in any 18-month period. Health insurance: You must maintain fully comprehensive health insurance while you are in Australia. You could be asked to provide evidence of 12 months health insurance cover when you apply. Reciprocal health arrangements are not adequate to meet this requirement. No further stay: You cannot apply for a new visa while you are in Australia. You must leave Australia no later than the date on which your visa ends, except in extremely limited circumstances. http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/600.aspx they will not be allowed to stay longer than 12 months every 18 months, so they will have to leave and come back.

i heard this somewhere, and don't quote me; I'm sure someone will be along to confirm or refute this. I heard that if she is dependent on you, and you can prove it, she can be added on to your own application as a dependant. she gets the PR same time you do.

My sister is 24 and she got her PR under my parents as a dependent, but she is in school studying for her masters degree. Evidence of being in school (school ID, registration forms, Transcripts, letter of enrollment, etc) was all that was needed to support the application. That said, she already had a 457 visa as a dependant for 6 years prior, so i guess they just figured "yea, we know she is a dependant as per initial records". Full-time education is the only sure-fire way to prove dependency, as most of the other posters have said.

I completed a 175 PR visa on my own without an agent, and my parents did completed a 186 ENS PR application without an agent as well. both went well, we just made sure we had all the documents required, and probably even more than they needed. and once it was all submitted, it was a waiting game. But like others have said, ours were straight-forward cases. no confusions about requirements and such. we knew what we needed and we had everything uploaded on the day of application.

Coming to Oz on a tourist visa with an intention of becoming a citizen is a very interesting one, at least you are straight with it. Well, an important factor will be the skills you have. if you have any of the in-demand skills in australia, with enough experience and qualification, you might be able to get Permanent Residence and eventually, citizenship. another option will be permanent residence by marriage/de facto relationship. if you are in a relationship with an Australian, you might have the option to apply for Permanent Residence and eventually, citizenship. if you have none of these, you might struggle mate. And to answer your question, Your visa started the day it was granted. As per the ETA, see https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETA/etas.jsp Good luck.

wow... sounds like it might have been cheaper to have them here... cost + time. Congrats on the babies.

are you currently in Australia? If not, you don't get a Bridging visa.

There is no residency requirements for permanent residency... the visa cease date is the latest date you have to be in Australia by. any travel after that will have to be done by a RRV (resident return visa). there is no 2 in every 5 year requirement. Residency requirements only apply when you are ready to apply for citizenship. as per your second question, Yes, they can stay in Oz while you stay overseas since you guys already came in together once to activate the visas.

I believe if you have enough points without having to claim points for work experience, you are fine. I did not claim points for work experience as i only had 1 yr post qualification and that did nothing for me points-wise. but i had enough points without that so i went ahead with the application. I am a citizen now. The issue of the occupation being on the list though is a valid one, as long as it is on the list and you have a positive skills assessment, you should be fine. If its on the CSOL list, i assume you are going for state sponsorship then, some states require work experience though i believe. i am sure someone will be along to clarify that.

plus, don't your years as a lawful non-permanent resident count? cos my 3 years on a 457 (which is a non-permanent residence) and 1yr on a PR equaled citizenship for me, and My wife's 1.5yrs on a student visa (non permanent residence) + 1.5yrs on a 457 (non permanent residence) + 1yr on the PR equaled citizenship for her as well.

Great, thanks Catalyst2012.