kkr
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Everything posted by kkr
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As someone who watched people who applied up to 3 months after me receive their grants before me - from the same CO - I can confirm it is indeed puzzling!! Especially when there are seemingly no problems or reasons for it to be held-up. All I would advise is to plan for the full 8-9 month wait and organise your life around that. Keep track on here to see when people who applied at the same time as you/have same CO are receiving news. And be optimistic and hopeful that you may just be one of the increasing number of lucky people getting an early grant :biggrin: Best of luck!
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Visa finally granted! Almost the full 9 months... PMV application sent: 04/09/12 PMV granted: 30/05/13 Now 'normal' life can begin! Good luck to all!
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Finally got the go-ahead to arrange to head offshore for visa grant! I applied 04/09/12 for my PMV, so will be the full 9 months of processing by the time it is granted. So glad I have had good news and am finally near the finish line!
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Ooooh, so CO (VF) is currently on holiday? That helps to explain things! Hopefully we are contacted soon!
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Can't believe mid-October applicants are being granted now! Lucky, lucky people I'm a Sept 4th applicant and still waiting... Anyone else in a similar situation? Should I be concerned?! I never thought processing times could be this skewed... Hopefully I get a 'head offshore' email this week. Fingers crossed!
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Hmmm... that's interesting! When did you apply, kirkhoffmann? I applied on Sept 4th...
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Wah! So many September applications being granted! Hoping so much that I get a 'head offshore' email asap. I applied on September 4th!! And my tourist visa expires in 4 weeks! HURRY UP!! Think my CO (VF) is the slowest and most inflexible of all...I have heard others mention this too... Any other early September peeps out there??
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Wow, littlekitty! So excited to come on here and see that you have received the all-important, head offshore email! I always look out for your name since we applied at the same time for same visa! Congrats - the end has finally come! If you don't mind me asking, did you contact your CO much beforehand re the expiry of your fiance's tourist visa and heading offshore for visa grant? I ask as I just emailed my CO last week, asking how much notice I would get in order to leave the country come grant time. My tourist visa expires on 31st May (just 4 days short of what would be the full 9 months of processing!) so I always hoped it would coincide. My CO simply replied saying she'd be in touch nearer the end of the 9 month period, advising me then to go offshore... I guess I was hoping she'd acknowledge when my current tourist visa expires and indicate that my PMV grant would be made to coincide...would make life a lot less stressful! Am I asking for too much?! Maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily, but would love to know if you had much correspondence with your CO recently, and if you had to give him/her a nudge?
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Thanks for that. Good to know as the end of the waiting game is (hopefully!) approaching. All the best with your plans from here on in!
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Wow...fantastic! Congrats - only 7 months processing! I take it you too were quoted 8-9 initially? And out of curiosity what did you say/do to prompt your CO to confirm when your visa would be granted? Was it because you were planning to travel as a tourist to Oz, anyway?
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Yes, photocopies of bills and bank statements is absolutely fine. Only the more important documentary evidence must be a certified copy (ie. birth certs, passport).
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Hi Austate, As far as I know, COs only return documents where you specifically request this, and include a stamped addressed envelope for their return. I didn't bother asking for any of my documents/evidence to be returned as almost everything I sent was a copy of an original. So, in your case, no need to worry about bad signs!
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Congratulations to you and your family! Out of interest, who was your CO?
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I too have gone down the tourist visa route while waiting on my PMV (applied 5/9/12) and all has worked out well. I came out on an eVisitor in September and as the 3 month mark is fast approaching, I went to DIAC in person, here in Melbourne, and applied for the onshore Tourist 676 to stay until my PMV is hopefully granted. Got the 676 granted for 6 months, taking me up until 31/5/13. Very happy! Makes the 8-9 month processing easier to handle. I empathise with you re the worry of airport immigration! I was SO worried entering the country again on an eVisitor but, in the end, didn't get asked a thing. All the best!
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Yes, wishful thinking, indeed! I know I am just clinging on to any hope of a faster grant date...shall drop that hope now! I am actually in Melbourne with my fiance. Here on a tourist visa for the time-being. I take it you are going to the UK in November? Hope we will be able to track each other's progress along the way, given that you/your fiance have submitted just a day before me!
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Lucy1981 - I feel for you! Is there any other way your boyfriend can stay in Oz beyond December (2nd year WHV or onshore tourist etc)? This would allow you to be together for longer and thus collate more evidence if you are still looking towards a de facto application. I'd definitely get joint names on your lease, if possible, and open a joint bank account, if you haven't already. Stat decs from friends/family who know you can also help to strengthen your case for proving your relationship. As you mention, the advice given by other users on this forum is invaluable and really does help (thank you everyone!). In my situation, we opted for the offshore prospective marriage visa, which we lodged in London at the start of September. As everyone knows, the road to submitting an application is a gruelling one but you will get there in the end. Best of luck!
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Hi all, Have come across this thread in the last week or so andit is shedding so much light on the dark situation of partner visas! Great tohear the experiences of others in the same boat... I am from the UK and applied for a Prospective Marriage Visaon 5/9/12 at Australia House, London. At the time of submitting our application, my fiancé and I believed the processing time to still be 5-6 months, andso set our marriage date with our celebrant for 10/5/13. We were soon informedby our CO (VF) that processing is 9 months, meaning that the wedding datesubmitted on our NOIM and letter from celebrant is approx. 1 month before weshould even expect the PMV to be granted! It is not a problem at all to myfiancé and I to change our marriage date to one further in the future, but Iwas just wondering if the fact our wedding date falls 8 months into processingwill somehow mean we can expect the visa to be granted by that date?! Wishfulthinking?! Will our CO simply expect us to push the wedding date back? Any thoughts are greatly welcomed!
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Thank you for your input, kimsdu. My boyfriend is 33. I am 25. I have used up my WHV in Australia. And obviously my boyfriend is over 30 so can't get a WHV for the UK. I did consider getting a student visa for Oz, but it annoys me to pay so much in fees when I already have a degree and would like to get going on the career ladder! Similarly, marriage for a visa upsets and annoys me too, but if it improves the chances of our application we are ready to do it. I guess professional advice is what we need to seek out at this point... Thoughts on re-entering Australia on an ETA or eVisa and then applying onshore? I never considered it much until now, having heard that DIAC frown upon it etc. but it is most important to us to be together whilst the application process goes on. Am I likely to face problems in doing this?
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Hi all, Very grateful to anyone taking the time to read this and willing to offer their advice/experience. I am British, my partner Australian. We have been in a relationship for the past 14 months (since April 2011). We met in Melbourne whilst I was on my WHV. We began living together in July 2011 and continue to do so now, albeit we are now living in the UK (my partner on a tourist visa here as we have no other options...). Effectively, this means we appear to fulfill the 12 month requirement to apply for offshore defacto so we can return to Australia together. However, I am worried that since we have not been in a relationship for much longer than 12 months, we have a lot more to prove in the eyes of immigration?? Evidence we can provide includes: - our joint tenancy agreeement in Melbourne where we lived for 5 months. (this agreement is still ongoing as we are just subletting the property whilst we are in the UK). - a stat. dec. from the Australian friend we house sat for for 2 months. Hoping this can be used as proof of our 2 month cohabitation in his home. Thoughts? - I had to leave Oz in March 2012 due to expiry of my visa. My boyfriend joined me in the UK in May 2012 and we are still here now, living in a property that I own. - we opened and used a joint bank account in Oz for the last 2-3 months we were there. Obviously now that we have left Australia we are no longer using the account and since my partner is only on a UK tourist visa he cannot work, and I am financially supporting him at the moment. Thus, no current evidence of joint bills, shared expenses. I guess my main questions amidst all of this is, will a CO take the fact that my partner and I have both, out of necessity, spent most of our relationship on tourist visas in our other half's country into account? Our situation has obviosuly restricted the amount of evidence we can have in terms of joint assets/bills etc? Another concern is re: the financial evidence my boyfriend would be expected to prove as my sponsor. He is a musician - not a profession where he can provide payslips, or even tax returns! I'm guessing an assurance of support from his father in Australia could be necessary since my boyfriend cannot fit immigration's financial mould? Lastly, during the period we operated our joint bank account in Oz, I was on a 3 month tourist visa and shouldn't have been working. I did however continue with some cash-in-hand work to survive. So our account statements show that I made regular cash deposits into our joint account. Will this raise suspicion/problems? Everything seems so complicated and against us right now! If we could buy more time to create a 'normal' life and accumulate more evidence we would, but short of moving to an entirely different country where we can both have work rights, we have no options! We have, and still are, considering getting married if this will signifcantly strengthen our case. If anyone can shed any light on even one aspect of this muddle, it would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks. -