milllerz

Pre-grant received today!! Now all we need to do is leave and re-enter Australia and we'd be golden!! Thanks everyone who has contributed to these threads for the invaluable information and sometimes even for the kind words. They really do make you feel a lot better in times of desperation. Thank you all!!! very giddy at the mo.

Finally we have a CO!!! ABPF this morning, Partner health and PCC met, my PCC met. No correspondence from the CO yet. Must call the agent to see if they've had any updates. Very very excited!!!

Any one with updates? No new CO allocations or grants?

Figure it out. My agent has requested that DIAC send an acknowledgement for the application and the email sent was the acknowledgement. The acknowledgement says that no CO has been allocated yet. Damn, I was excited for a moment there. Back to the status checking rituals and waiting.:daydreaming:

As per my usual morning/afternoon/night ritual for the past two months, I checked the eVisa status site and at some point this morning a new line was added, "email sent to you". Other than that, everything else is the same and says "outstanding" , "required" and no ABPF. I'm yet to receive any email from DIAC but I did apply through an agent. I'm wondering if they would be the ones who receive the email? Has any one else had this message pop up on their status page? what does it mean? should I be excited or worried? (please say excited )

Have you explained your situation to the CO? I'm sure that if its out of your control and you've explained it, CO would look on it favorably. Besides, you wouldn't be the first one having to submit Japanese PCCs and I'm sure this has all happened before. Just so you know, even if you applied for a time extension to submit details, the CO has the right to make a decision on the application with what he/she has. What I'd say is to get in touch with the CO via Email and see what he/she has to say about this. If I were you, I'd get cracking. Hope things work out for you. Good luck.

Hi all, its great to see everyone waiting for their 175 getting their COs and Visas granted in such a short time. Makes me very hopeful I've got a quick question that I couldn't find an answer for. probably because its a very specific question to my situation. so here we go. I'm from Sri Lanka, which means there aren't a lot of countries that grant us on arrival tourist visa. So far I've only heard about three countries, Maldives, Singapore and Vanuatu. This makes it a bit of a hassle when having to leave to get the 175 granted after the pre grant. - when the CO tells me to leave OZ to so the visa can be granted, do i need to go to where my passport is from? ie. Sri Lanka, or is it enough to go to singapore or another country thats cheaper to fly to than to Sri Lanka? - if it is enough to go to a another country, wouldn't it be risky seeing as our only form of identification and authority to be in that country is the passport and if we have to leave it with the australian embassy for the visa grant. (I'm not even sure if we need to leave the passports or if they stamp it then and their ) if its alright/not risky to go to another country, i dont mind taking a quick holiday for a week as we will be going to sri lanka in december and i'm badly in need of a holiday. having asked these things, we still aren't assigned a CO and purely being very optimistic at this stage. fingers x'ed Thanks all. Hope some of you might be able to shed some light.

That is just fantastic news. Any day now...

Anyone got COs after the 11th August invitations were sent out? Someone please tell me they haven't put existing 175s on the back burner and calm me down a little. :confused:

Exciting news boys, girls and everything in between!! allocation date has taken a major leap to 19th of March from 23rd Jan for Cat 4 independent/Sponsored/Regional sponsored!!! Oh how I yearn for my phone to go "bling blong" and that email notification to appear... :biggrin:

Initially DIAC announced that first round of invitations for EOIs on 189 would be sent out and applications system would go online on the 11th of August. But they sent out a very limited number of invitations (100) on the 1st of August. Don't know if the 11th thing is still on though. Either way, worried that once the 189 starts processing, 175s would get the backseat. Hopefully no such thing will happen. Fingers X'ed

Congrats!!! You are gonna love it here, well except for the weather sometimes First thing to do IMO would be to secure accommodation, which can sometimes be a little daunting. If you are anything like me and hate having to move, you'd look at a place for the long term. I assume you'd be renting first. Like the previous poster had said, most start off with something short term. If you have a friend or a relative that is willing to spare a room for you for a little while, perfect Finding accommodation, following sites are your friend. - http://www.realestate.com.au - http://www.domain.com.au - http://www.gumtree.com.au (Although this has mostly private postings and may be a bit on the dodgy side.) A few pointers with renting - Sometimes you will get knocked back from properties you apply for no apparent reason. There are a few tricks that i use that have worked wonders. Ask me when you are ready to apply and I'll let you know. Bank account - Somewhat obvious, but mentioning anyway. Can open one with the passport for identification. There are four big banks and a number of smaller ones with their own advantages and disadvantages. Who you go with is completely up to you. I cant really recommend anything here. Mobile phone connection - This is a tricky one. A fair few things to decide here. Which network to go with?/Contract or prepaid?/With phone or sim only/What inclusions matter to you most?. My suggestion is to get a prepaid with a good network(Depends on where you would be living at) during the first few months. After a while you will learn about whats on offer and it will give you a chance to test the waters. Then you will be able to better decide weather to get stuck in to a contract or not. A good source of information on Australian networks/Internet/other tech stuff is http://whirlpool.net.au/ . Very helpful, and sometimes a very cocky bunch. Really, take your time deciding this, because once you get on to a contract, it can be notoriously difficult to get out before it finishes. Tax file number - You will need this for almost anything with an income. Once you have a permanent address, jump online to http://www.ato.gov.au/ and in almost all cases you can get it right away. Be aware of some sites that charge you to give a tax file number, which pretty much forwards your information to the ATO site and charge you for it. Its really easy and straight forward to use the ATO site and it is FREE. (ATO = Australian Taxation Office) Medicare - government health program, best to get this sorted out as soon as possible. They have offices all over the place. visit http://www.medicareaustalia.gov.au for more info. Drivers License - Not only this lets you lawfully drive a vehicle, but also acts as photo identification and proof of age (Good luck trying to get in to a club/pub if you dont have a license). Permanent residents have 6 months (from the first entry, from what I remember.) to get the Victorian drivers license in Victoria. (may be slightly different in other states, not sure) during the six months, you can drive with your overseas or international license if its in English, or if you have a certified translation along with it. If you have held a eligible overseas license for more than 3 years, you can straight away get on the Full license, after a couple of tests and a practical driving test of course. If not, you will have to get on a learners permit for a few months and then on to a probationary license for a few years. Again this is in Victoria, not sure about other states. There are other eligibility criteria and obligations, best to check the relevant websites for the relevant state. For Victoria its http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/ Job - I assume you work in IT sector since you have a ACS skill assessment. Good news is that IT is in demand these days. specially in Victoria/NSW/SA/WA. http://www.seek.com.au will pretty much be your browsers default home page There are tons and tons of part time jobs that can be found easily until you settle down to your proper day job. May not sound like much, but it really helps to get a handle on Aussie culture and make some friends. Car - compared to other markets, cars in Australia are a bit on the expensive side. but its not too hard to find a good bargain if you look around and take your time. the public transport system is quite good in the metro areas, atleast in Melbourne. http://www.carsales.com.au is where i shopped for my car. Making friends and having a good time - this probably should have gone at the top of the list Aussies are quite a friendly bunch, of course there is the odd exception that proves the rule. A kind word to a stranger goes a long way. a "G'day mate" would never go ignored. Loves their weekends and their footy, oh and their beer too. Hope this helped and be sure to enjoy every moment of the transition. Its not everyday you get to start a new life

Good to see things are moving fast, Congrats SandyM!! Hope the 11th Aug doesn't slow things down.

Oh that's great news. Congrats!! I was worried that they might have put everything on hold. Sure do hope we get case officers before the EOI kicks in. God knows what will happen afterwards.

Some have by the looks of it. mj&db above had applied on the 06/09 and gotten a case officer on the 23/07. My application went in on the 27/06. Fingers crossed that it gets picked up soon. @mj&db : Congrats!!! I cant imagine how you guys must be feeling. Yay for you!!