ClarinhaOz

Got the best news ever today, permanent resident visa has been granted today, barely a month after we lodged, still can't believe how quick it was!!!!

Thanks TeacherBen! Have lived in Waterloo when we first moved to Sydney, it was quite nice, loads of students and near the Sydney CBD but also felt quite 'impersonal' because students come and go so I was missing the 'community feel'. When we lived there, we were sharing a very large duplex apartment with another couple and were paying $380 a week inclusive of bills for a bedroom and huge private bathroom and own courtyard. Then we decided to get our own place once we both had full time jobs and knew where we had to travel to (in our case, Macquarie University and North Sydney CBD) so we asked around and decided the best place for us was Crows Nest on the lower North Shore and we've been living there for over a year now and absolutely love it! It's very well connected transport-wise with buses and trains on our door step, very safe, loads of restaurants, cafes and activities. To give you an idea of rent, we're paying $560 a week excluding bills (although water rates tend to be included in most rents), that's for a modern 70m2 one bedroom apartment with underground parking. A good website to check out for rents is: http://www.domain.com.au, you can just have a quick check of different areas on there but overall we found rents don't vary hugely (unlike London!) unless you live very far out of the centre. And you'll soon find out some areas are better avoided...like King's Cross and some areas in the West of the city. When you look at rents, you also have to factor in your likely income which in my case was twice my UK income and in my partner's case about 1/3 more but then cost of living is quite a lot higher...but overall, much better quality of life (the weather and Sydney itself are amazing!!). Any other questions, feel free to PM me Good luck with your application!

Sorry hathikhanhvan, can't help on that one . Should have mentioned that my partner and I are already in Oz, have been living in Sydney since March 2012 and loving it! Originally came on Working Holiday Visas from the UK, partner got sponsored in June 2012 and have now applied for PR with 189 visa as we’ve decided to stay for the next few years and see how it goes!

Hey there, Any 189 Visa applicants in November? We lodged our visa application on 12 November with all docs front loaded including Police Checks and visa medicals were done on 5 November. Anyone else in the same boat? Would be good to share timelines and experiences :hug:

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It is currently lost in the post , was sent from the UK with tracking and has been stuck in Sydney for a couple of weeks so that's the other 'stressor', not sure we'll ever get it in the post and the IELTS test centre in the UK is claiming they have no record and they can't issue duplicates anyway. However, the Immigration Department documentation also states the following: 'you will need to provide your IELTS test result as evidence of your English language ability. You only need to provide the Test Report Form (TRF) Number that is on your IELTS certificate". We have the scores and the TRF number but the issue is whether evidence of having taken the test is still available when the test has been taken over 2 years ago....Any idea?

Hello, I am hoping someone will be able to help/reassure me . My partner and I are currently applying for a 189 Visa, we've been invited to submit our application following the EOI process (my partner is the main applicant). Although my partner is British, he had to claim his IELTS test scores to reach the required points for the 189 visa. He provided his TRF number as required in the EOI. His IELTS test was taken in August 2011 in the UK and the IELTS test centre where he took the test is now claiming that they have no record of his scores in their database because the test was taken over 2 years ago. However, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection's documentation (http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/1119.pdf, on p.20) states that "test results must be no more than 3 years old at the time you apply'. So, I was wondering if anyone had any similar experience? We're feeling rather stressed as if the test results are no longer valid, we will probably need to cancel our application and wait a while to reapply (and we are very eager to get PR as soon as possible given that we are currently on my partner's 457 visa and that he is keen to change jobs...). Any help/advice would be MUCH appreciated!!! Thanks