stevie129

I feel your pain. Back when we did our medicals I had to wait 3 months for my medical to be assessed by the MOC... Absolute nightmare and the stress involved with it. Hopefully your results will soon come through

I have used both UK forex and moneycorp and they are both very good. Seeing I get the zero fee for all my transfers, I only use moneycorp now

My wife and I only had 3 months to validate our pr visas (fault of our agent instructing us to arrange police checks too far in advance) We went out before our deadline(made a holiday out of it)and returned to the UK. Moving back to aus in October. You will have to do what we did or make the permanent move before your 3 months is up. Failure to do either of these WILL result in your visas being cancelled.

You won't get 5 points if you have less than 3 years overseas experience. For work experience in Australia you need a minimum of one year experience to gain the 5 points.

One is the skilled migration stream where you must have qualifications and experience in a shortage occupation. Not true. I was offered a 457 when I was straight out of uni with the sponsoring company even paying some of our of relocation costs.

The only point I was making was that an application should not be left to the last minute. From my experience of this happening to me with a certain company I am sure that there are other shoddy companies that do this too. From the OP post, they said about it needing to be lodged before their deadline. And i seriously doubt that it would have been them delaying the app considering what's at stake. Like anything in life- you get good ones and bad ones. Hence the importance to do your research before committing yourself to a particular one. This is an open forum so people will be posting about their experiences too. Of course there will be threads discussing the odd horror story regarding a company. But it would be naive of someone to avoid using an agent because of this, when realistically speaking I'm sure the vast majority of them act very professionally.

I am certainly not tarnishing the reputation of a whole industry, that would be ridiculous and unfair. I can only speak about my personal experience with the company that I used, which to put it politely turned out to be a disaster. The agent had everything that was required from me from the beginning but still decided to leave my application to the last minute. As a result of his carelessness, nearly ended up with my application not getting lodged. Of course, it's not their fault if the website is down or a technical glitch but leaving an application to the last minute does not allow for potential problems that can and do occur. Even when it had been lodged he made a balls of it by filling it with incorrect information which I personally had to fix. Unfortunately I just had a bad company but ironically I am always recommending people to use a migration agent but to choose carefully.

I'm a Biomedical Engineer and using my agent, applied to Engineers Australia using the Sydney Accord route. Sent them my degree along with my work reference. Came back assessed as Engineering Technologist and was told by EA, if I wanted to be assessed as a Biomedical Engineer then I would have to do a CDR. Didn't bother seeing Engineering Technologist is still on the SOL

Can't understand why some agents wait to the very last minute to lodge an application and do not consider the potential issues that may arise from doing this. My agent was the same. Mine was left to the week before and he had problems filling up the online application due to to an error on the DIBP website. As a result, my application just about got lodged on time, on the actual deadline itself.... My agent told me that if it wasn't lodged on time, then I would have to wait for another invite and start again because immigration would not take responsibility for the technical error on their website. Don't suppose you have another credit card you could try? If not, might be worth trying your card again in case there was a system glitch. It's your agents responsibility to do everything possible to get the visa lodged seeing its their stupidity for waiting till the last minute. Good luck!

Angry with you over an unavoidable health issue? Really?! Time for a new girlfriend in that case

Well this is another car crash waiting to happen. If you have plenty of time and money to waste then carrying on with what your doing...... However, if you decide that you would like to see a visa grant letter this time instead of another refusal perhaps now (being sarcastic) is the time to get in touch with an expert such as Adam or wrussell

The permanent visa is a 5 year visa which allows you to live indefinitely in Australia. It is only the traveling to Australia part of the visa after five years becomes invalid. To be able to come and go to Australia once the five years lapse you either apply for a resident return visa (RRV) or be in the position to apply for citizenship. To be eligible for a five year RRV, you need to be legally living in aus for at least 2 out of the 5 years. So in answer to your question you will not invalidate your visa. You can come and go for the length of your visa. But to get a five year RRV you'll need to have lived at least 2 years out of the 5 in aus.

It's 90 days its been extended to, not 6 months. I would definitely go for the permanent residency. Yes it may be more paper work and a longer process but for the security that comes with it... it's worth it.

That's a good point JoanneAch. I overlooked that bit about the IELTS being dated after receiving the invite. On this error alone, if the application was lodged it would be refused by the co

Personally I think that it's good thing to hire an agent because there are so many rules and regulations which are constantly changing. I have seen many people who have not used one and have got their visas granted but on the other hand I have seen a good few people who have done it themselves having their visa refused. A migration agent will be able to advise you on possible visa options, the process etc. I certainty wouldn't say the process is easy by any means. All it takes is one slip up to have your visa refused. The way I look at it, would you go to court without having a lawyer to represent your case?

All I can suggest is to get in touch with George Lombard. He is a migration agent who specialises in cases that have medical issues

Hi Dave, Unfortunately DIBP will not be sympathetic towards your situation that's for sure! Do not lodge your application. You will lose your application fees and your application will be refused. Case officers have rules and regulations to follow. If an applicant lodges a visa application which does not tally up with the EOI that was submitted, then the case officer must refuse the application regardless whether the applicant still meets the required 60 (or +) points benchmark. Why have you not been able to get your certificate for your qualification? I thought that the Skills authority would have needed this for your skills assessment?

They are the ones that I regrettably used...... Bunch of unprofessional, deceitful, twisted sh1tes! Oh well least I still got my visa

Lol, no this won't be an issue at. All the best

It really comes down to what visa you are eligible for. If you can meet the criteria and points benchmark for skilled migration (permanent visas), 189 skilled independent or 190 state sponsored then going for one of them is a no brainer. There is also the option of a temporary 457 employer sponsored visa but I REALLY do not recommend it to anyone, particularly if you have a family. With this visa you need to find an employer to sponsor which is very difficult these days. Not only that but you are tied to this employer and if they do let you go then you have 90 days to find another employer who can and is willing to sponsor you. Failing that you will have to go back home. With the permanent visas you don't have these insecurities to worry about and you can also work in any occupation once these visas are granted.

Yeah I've previously used both of these forms. Form 956 when I hired my migration agent and then form 956A later on when I sacked them. Obviously for the latter form my signature was only required. Date when they sign it will be fine.

I got the ace the IELTS book by Simon Braverman on Amazon to help me prepare for it. Really do recommend it, worth every penny. Shows you the structure of the tests and tips on how to get a high score. I past first time with flying colours. All I can say practice, practice and more practice!

I really can't understand at all why you are creating so many hurdles for you and your family. You are an Australian CITIZEN already in your own right and should NOT be applying for any visas for yourself! Like everyone else had already said you should be applying for your Aussie passport instead. Why are you not taking anyone's advice?! You obviously don't realise the implications of bringing your family out on a 457. Not only will you be faced with very high school fees to pay but also the risk of having the visa cancelled when immigration find out at some stage, in which they will. Your visa should never have been granted in the first place.... Must say it's a first for me seeing an Aussie citizen wanting to jump through all the loopholes for an Australian visa :wacko:

We had to take out medical insurance on our 457 as part of our application. I just got us the cheapest quote through a private company (can't remember the name) certainly wasn't BUPA and that was sufficient. As we are from the UK too we signed up for Medicare and the private insurance expired a week after we signed up

Understandable... But do we really need to play this broken record again?? I have said it before and I will say it again- you need to move forward and stop dwelling on the past! You made that conscience decision to move back to the UK and fair enough, it didn't work out for you. But at least you had the choice, others don't have this luxury. Loads of people on this forum have given you valuable advice but you choose to ignore it. On all your repetitive one-liner posts you have never thanked anyone for their advice or support. Tbh, I think you are just enjoying the attention seeking....