SonicBlue82

Thanks Nemesis. Exactly what I thought. In the off chance that he doesn’t come in on the Work and Holiday visa and instead comes in on a Visitor visa, could he still lodge a Spouse visa onshore to allow him to stay in the country? And would he get work entitlements once the Spouse visa is lodged from a Visitor visa? Also, what travel conditions would he have after lodging a Spouse visa onshore from a Work and Holiday visa and from a Visitor visa? I suppose once whatever visa he is on expires (W&HV or Visitor) and the Bridging (A) visa kicks in he would need to apply for a Bridging B visa each time he wishes to travel back to Indonesia yeah?

He’s in Bali and we met ages ago. I have been there several times and we have managed a long distance relationship.

HI All, It's been a little while since I've been active on the forums! I had quite the fiasco with my own visa affairs... I was on a working holiday (from Canada) and extended to a 2nd year working holiday. At the end of my 2nd year working holiday I applied for an RSMS subclass 187 visa and after several months (11 months if I recall), my employers' nomination for the sponsorship was refused which in turn meant that my visa application was also refused. We took the matter to the MRT and won the appeal. The MRT actually overturned the decision to refuse the nomination and approved it. It was the best possible outcome we could have hoped for. The visa application was then sent back to immigrations and I finally had my PR approved. A year later I was eligible for citizenship and became a citizen on 26 January 2016. Coming up on my 2nd anniversary! Anyway, I took a break from the forums and just wanted to get on with my life! But now I'm back for some much needed help and advice. I would like to find out what options are out there to bring my partner over to Australia from Indonesia. My partner is 30 years old, turning 31 in June. Still eligible for a Work and Holiday visa. Just... Here is what's been running through my head. I welcome any questions/suggestions and discussions that will be of help here. My partner has never been to Australia. First, I want him to experience it before "making the move" and he agrees. Although he is adamant that he will move here for us to be together. Still have to be sensible! By the sounds of it, a Visitor visa (subclass 600) would likely require sponsorship and is obviously a one-time visa for him to come. Not really too appealing. The other option would be for him to come on a Work and Holiday visa (subclass 462) which would be more ideal, allowing him to stay in the country for 1 year. The only issue with the Work and Holiday visa is he would need to enter Australia before he turns 31 in June... not a whole heap of time. I think the better option would be the Work and Holiday visa if we can get him over here before he turns 31 (assuming the visa is approved). He could still come here for a couple of weeks, see the place and then head back to Indonesia to pack up his life over there and come back over. Obviously he would have the ability to do this on the Work and Holiday visa as it allows multiple entries whereas the Visitor visa only allows one entry (I think?). Anyway, assuming he were to come over on a Work and Holiday visa, we would be looking at marriage in the coming months, as I don't know that we would be able to satisfy the living together for 12 months requirement for a partner visa on a defacto basis and marriage eliminates that requirement. Some questions I have... If we were to get married, could we apply for a Partner visa onshore from him being on a Work and Holiday visa OR a Visitor visa which would then put him on a Bridging visa until a decision is made? If I recall, the Bridging visa takes on the same conditions of the previous visa held. So if he were to enter Australia on a Visitor visa and we get married and apply onshore for a Partner visa, he obviously wouldn't be entitled to work. But if he were to enter on a Work and Holiday visa and we were to marry and apply for a Partner visa onshore, he would be able to work. What else am I thinking.... so the partner visa is around $7000 AUD. We wouldn't need to apply until close to the Work and Holiday visa expires, so that would give time to save up the cost of the visa. Is there anything else I haven't thought of? Are there any other scenarios or options I haven't considered? Thanks in advance!

Received my official invitation in the post as well. Citizenship ceremony is on 26 January for Australia Day! 5 months total for me. Good luck everyone!

Exactly right! I called the 131 881 line and went through the prompts for citizenship enquiries and then ceremonies. I used the callback service and actually didn't get a callback for about 4 hours! The person I spoke to was nice and had confirmed I was on the list for Australia Day. Looking forward to it !

Update! Date applied - 1/09/15 City/Council area - Adelaide/Unley Online / Paper - Online Date received the acknowledgement email - 1/09/15 Date of the Citizenship Test - 15/09/15 Date of ceremony - 26/01/16 Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal) - Normal Spoke to the department a couple days ago and they confirmed I've made the shortlist for the Australia Day ceremony. Yippee!

Hi Keep me in oz, I have experience with the MRT with a successful outcome. What can I help you with?

Hi Sardaargs, If there is anyone who can relate to your situation, it is me! I know exactly how you feel and the amount of stress this situation brings. But hang in there - you've done well in appealing the refusal and winning the appeal with the MRT. When the visa application is remitted to DIBP for processing, as long as everything is OK with the visa application, it should be approved. They would have to be really nasty to find another reason to refuse the application. I think you will hear something soon. I believe when applications are remitted to DIBP from the MRT they are generally processed pretty quickly. I don't think it goes to the bottom of the normal queue of applications. Hope this helps relieve some of the stress! I know you will be eagerly awaiting contact from a case officer! I probably wouldn't recommend getting new PCC any visa medical until they request this just in case. If they require a new visa medical, they will issue a HAP ID to get the visa medical done. Good luck with everything. Let me know if you have any more questions and also let me know how you go!

Hi Sardaargs, First of all, congratulations on winning your appeal with the MRT! You're a big step closer to your visa! I was in exactly the same situation. I applied for an RSMS visa and after 8 months, it was finally allocated to a case officer and he sat on it for nearly 3 months and then refused the nomination. There is a "grace period" of 28 days and once this has passed, they move on to make a decision on the visa application. Of course the visa application gets refused as well, as there is no approved nomination to go hand in hand. We lodged an appeal for the nomination and visa application in September 2013. The hearing for both appeals was in April 2014 and about 3 months later in July 2014 the member set aside the decision to refuse the nomination and approved it. The visa application was remitted to DIBP for processing. About 3 weeks after the visa application was remitted to DIBP, a case officer made contact and requested documents. I had to get a new visa medical done, as well an a new AFP and overseas PCC as everything expired. Once that was all sent into the case officer the application was quickly processed and the visa was granted. I would say that you should (hopefully) hear from a case officer any time now. Good luck!

Update! Date applied - 1/09/15 City/Council area - Adelaide/Unley Online / Paper - Online Date received the acknowledgement email - 1/09/15 Date of the Citizenship Test - 15/09/15 Date of ceremony - TBA Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal) - Normal Do you guys reckon I would get into the Australia Day ceremony? I received my citizenship approval letter in the post about a week after I sat the test. Not sure what the cut off date was for making the Citizenship Day (17 Sept) ceremony, but hopefully I'm not far down in the queue for the following ceremony on Australia Day!

Date applied - 1/09/15 City/Council area - Adelaide/Unley Online / Paper - Online Date received the acknowledgement email - 1/09/15 Date of the Citizenship Test - Waiting Date of ceremony - Waiting Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal) - Normal How long does it usually take for DIBP to contact you with a date for your citizenship test? Do they e-mail you or send a letter in the post? I've been waiting a week since I applied and still nothing...

I would highly recommend Mark Northam (http://www.mnvisa.com). Mark was fantastic - I really couldn't say enough good things about him. He's very friendly and professional, although originally from the US, he knows Australian migration laws inside out and is very "in the know". Mark handled my visa affairs after my RSMS nomination and visa application were refused by DIBP. We sacked the original migration agent (who isn't worth mentioning!) and engaged Mark to handle the appeal with the Migration Review Tribunal. Mark kept us in the loop all the way and was so efficient and helpful. I wouldn't be in Australia today if it weren't for him. We won our appeal with the MRT and shortly after my visa was approved. I was originally a bit hesitant about using a migration agent that is interstate, as I thought it would be difficult to have someone represent you when you can't even sit down face to fave and have a conversation. But I quickly realised that it was no problem to communicate via e-mail and phone to get everything done. Skyping is also an option if you prefer. Mark is based in Sydney and I am really grateful for his service. I would 100% recommend him to anyone! Hope this helps!

My particular ANZSCO position didn't list any specific job tasks / duties / responsibilities so the original case officer went 'fishing' for another ANZSCO position that he felt was a better match and refused it on that basis. It was very petty and unfair... we were never given an opportunity to address his concerns before he refused it! But its all behind me now!

187 GRANTED!! Here's my timeline: My application was at the Melbourne PSE office. Occupation is Hospitality Manager Nomination lodged with DIBP - 11 September 2012 RSMS (187) Direct Entry Non Decision-Ready visa lodged with DIBP - 11 September 2012 Acknowledgement of valid nomination received - 12 September 2012 Acknowledgement of valid visa application received - 12 September 2012 Bridging visa granted - 12 September 2012 Nomination lodged with RCB - 10 October 2012 Nomination approved by RCB - 13 November 2012 Case Officer allocated to Nomination - 9 May 2013 (8 months after lodging application) Nomination REFUSED - 2 August 2013 (11 months after lodging application) Visa REFUSED - 2 September 2013 Nomination appealed to MRT - 21 August 2013 Visa appealed to MRT - 12 September 2013 Notice from MRT to attend hearing - 26 February 2014 Hearing at MRT in Adelaide - 16 April 2014 Notice of Decision and Reasons from MRT - 15 July 2014 - Decision: MRT 'set aside' refused nomination and approved it. MRT remitted visa application back to DIBP for processing New Case Officer allocated and requested documents (new visa medical, new police checks, etc) - 5 August 2014 All documents sent to Case Officer - 26 August 2014 187 Visa GRANTED - 1 September 2014 My immigration woes are finally behind me and I can get on with my life after 2+ years of misery! Happy days!! Good luck to everyone

Agreed. Lodging the nomination and visa application together is risky. Using myself as an example, I am onshore and we lodged them together and what happened? The nomination was refused, which in turn meant that the visa application was refused. Thankfully my employer was with me all the way and we appealed both the nomination and the visa application to the MRT and recently won our case. The nomination is approved and I'm waiting for DIBP to process my visa application. In my circumstances though, I was at the end of my 2nd year working holiday. Lodging the nomination only wouldn't provide me with a bridging visa to stay in the country, so we had no choice but to lodge the nomination AND the visa application, so that I could get a bridging visa and stay. Applying offshore on the other hand - you're not restricted by time or anything... so I would definitely just lodge the nomination first and once it's approved, then lodge the visa application. But good luck to you Oriental!