Beffers

There's no guarantee his partner and kids would get a visa after he moved here, but he should contact George Lombard, who is a migration agent who specialises in dealing with medical obstacles. http://austimmigration.com.au/

Yeah I thought the same, that you go thru your skills assessments first, and then you progress application with the code from VETASSES?

I live in the Dandenong Ranges and it's a great area. It takes about an hour to get to CBD on train. Our township is green and leafy, and it feels more rural up here but we are still classed as Melbourne Metro, but the city is a world away. In terms of regional Vic, I loved Ballarat and could quite happily live there, and I like it out Gippsland / Bass Coast way too.

Prospective marriage visa is the right way. If you do come over on a tourist visa, then make sure you have a return ticket otherwise Immigration may not believe your story should you get stopped, and if they discover otherwise, then it's a 3 year ban with no guarantee of a visa after that ban period. If you travel on a tourist visa, and then apply onshore for the 820 partner visa, just be careful on arrival.

I don't think it does. It's the flip side of migration. Big hugs xxx

Such an important point regarding travel within the period immediately before application is submitted and assessed. Double check this very carefully, with an agents help if needs be as you wouldn't want to submit, then disappear travelling, to find that you're ineligible or something and come back after 6-12 months to find no citizenship and eligibility down the loo due to this particular trip.

You say you voluntarily left as tho you were doing Australia a favour?! You were being held in detention for a serious visa breach and you asked to leave to return to your home country. Therefore Immigration escorted you to the airport. Why do you think they did that? To make sure you left, and didn't 'escape' en-route to stay in the country illegally. Immigration files aren't just erased, nor are people who breach their conditions done any favours. I'd be very surprised if you were ever allowed to enter Australia again (even if you did apply for a visa after the ban, it's not guaranteed and many applicants who have flouted the system before are often refused as they fall down on the character requirement amongst other things) and as such, please - if you and your wife want to be together - it will probably need to be in a country other than Australia. And that's all that @Nemesis meant. It's highly unlikely you would secure a visa any time soon and so you either accept the separation from your wife which is obviously far from ideal, or you make arrangements to be together elsewhere. @Nemesis is right when he says other couples before you have been faced with similar situations. This forum is designed to assist, but also the hard cold facts of Immigration can't be watered down or tweaked to make the outcome more palatable. Your situation is unfortunate, but you must've also known you were breaching your visa for every day for each one of those eight years, and that's the hard truth.

I would be very surprised if you don't have a ban, especially after immigration agents escorted you to the airport etc. Consult with a migration agent who can work with you to see if there is any way you can be with your wife, but I would agree with Very Stormy, you would surely have a ban?

A friend of mine returned to the Uk last year otherwise they would've been outside the 3 year residency rule and would've been stumped with international fees as not entitled to home fees or student loans if non resident for 3 years immediately preceeding university entry. So unless it's changed in the last year, there is still a habitual residency requirement.

Every firm is different. Sometimes they have an agent like Crown who book flights, find your accommodation, organise your container all up front with no expense to yourself. Others will book your flights but then you pay for container and say accommodation for 2/4/6 weeks on arrival and you keep receipts and claim it back, with agreed expenses limits. Depends on the relocation policy of your new employer.

Although this depends on where you love and work. We live outer suburbs Melb and pay 1700/month rent. We don't work in CBD, but each have a half hour drive so not a long commute or expensive fares. Although train fares in Melb from outer suburbs are only 40 bucks a week anyway which I don't class as expensive, having lived in outer suburbs of London and that was an expensive commute!!

We had travel insurance for the first two weeks and then used our AirBandB address for our insurance (with permission from AirBandB host).

You need an agent to guide you through this. Lying to Immigration would be taken very seriously and would possibly mean he couldn't get another visa. An agent will help you navigate the landscape and give you some honest advice about the best pathway to take.

We had a 3 weeks in an AirBandB on arrival in St Kilda, handy for jumping on a tram and going to the CBD, but also handy for beach and chilling. We arrived 16th June last year and had our rental to move into by 3rd July, and that was with a change of preferred area in between (we had chosen Seaford - just north of Frankston - to start with and had a house and school place sorted, then had a change of heart, and ended up in the Dandenong Ranges which suited us much better, more trees, less people)! We hired a car to get out and about after our first week and then on week four, purchased a second hand Holden to get us about for around the $2K mark. The funny thing is that we wanted to be near the CBD for the same reason but neither of us work in the CBD, so it kind of cancelled itself out! If you want to go down the holiday park route, think there's a Big4 around Seaford/Frankston area. If you go down the AirBandB route, negotiate a better deal for anything longer than one week. We got our second week discounted and paid about half price for our third week, and was offered a fourth week at a discounted rate as well but didn't need it in the end. Our AirBandB landlord also provided a reference for us, for our real estate agency for our long term home rental, which was really handy, and said we could use his address for post so our medicare cards and TFN were registered there initially until we found our feet. Our AirBandB was a two bedroom ground floor fully self contained ArtDeco apartment, literally five minutes walk from Botanic Gardens and Barkley St in St Kilda, and about a 10 minute walk to Luna Park. Very handy. Good luck!

Do you have a Visa sorted? Have you visited Australia/Gold Coast before, and do you have an idea of what area you'd be looking at? People move for all kinds of reasons, and in terms of better quality of life, only you will know that once you move - we all have different values and requirements for our lifestyle, and what suits one person won't suit another. Maybe a recce would be good idea?

We also had a letter on our Immi automatically which shows up in an email, it's standard procedure. But then a week after applying, we had a separate official email from our individual case officer (with their name and direct contact details) asking for both meds and police checks to be done (COs will generally ask for both). That's why I asked for clarification as lots of people are mistaking the standard letter/email on Immi as an official request. The risk of this mistake is that you jump to do your medicals but as its not an official request from an Individual case officer, there's a risk that they will expire before the visa is processed, if you understand what I mean. And no, not Canada. We we applied from London!

It all depends on what evidence you provided with your application, and whether the case officer deems this adequate enough to prove you're in a genuine, committed relationship. I've seen occasions where they have granted this without issue after three years, and other cases where they've granted the 309 only as they have t been satisfied by the evidence presented. There's no automatic assumption that the 100 will automatically be granted.

Do the WHV and spend some more time together. Immigration would be unlikely to accept an application for PMV based on two weeks of face to face contact. When you come over on WHV, can you register your relationship with the NSW authorities? Also if you are going to want to be considered a defacto, then you will both need to accept the fact her Centrelink payments will probably change once that happens. You won't be able to have it both ways, in terms of becoming defacto AND keeping her welfare payments.

I'm in a different state so can't comment on Adelaide specifics, but all those feelings are perfectly normal. I'm just over a year in and I've never looked back. I was told to buckle up and brace myself for the ride. I've embraced everything about Australia, worked hard to forge friendships and make a life for our family here. It's been bloody awesome and I wish you every best wish in making this beautiful country your new home. Saying goodbye is sooo hard, and it's hard to camp out for the first few weeks. But container arrival day is like Christmas and you'll find your feet soon enough!!! Enjoy!!!

Yes there are two of us but I could afford to rent my house here on my salary alone, and I am not a high income earner, regardless of whatever assumptions you make, and that's in addition to Childcare costs which I'm sure you don't have. Granted, I don't live grandly but I can live here and I haven't got millions!! The reason I commented is that because OP said you need millions to migrate, and that's categorically untrue. OP also said there's no jobs if you're over 40 and that's untrue otherwise I'd be unemployed!

It has clearly changed a lot since you left. BUT I migrated to Melbourne last year, and I don't agree with all what you've said. I understand you speak from personal experience but your statement could put others off, when it's just a single viewpoint. We moved last year and have a decent enough rental for $1700/month, We both secured good jobs and we are late 40s/early 50s. Housing is fairly expensive compared to most of UK, but I am from London and so Melbourne doesn't seem that pricey to be honest. If you want a modern house in the perfect suburb then yes you're gonna pay top dollar, but we don't have millions at all and we are managing just fine.

My husband was away from Oz for 26 years and got his original one back so they're definitely for life!!

If she been in same trade for a long time then you may stand a better chance with her as lead application. I don't think you'll have enough experience in electrical industry and your age may go against you by time you qualify. At the moment cut off is 45 but you could get half way thru your degree and the age may be cut to 40. Speak to an agent for an assessment of your best chance for visa now. PR is a must as you wouldn't want to uproot your family for a temporary opportunity only. Good luck!

Our Australian stat Decs were witnessed by a notary etc. Our UK ones were witnessed but not by a notary. In terms of our own statements on our relationship, we typed up separate ones and signed and dated these as individuals. We were advised by Australia House to do separate ones last year but that may have changed. We also then wrote a joint supporting statement for each bundle of evidence we uploaded, so our numerous pages of financial evidence had a cover sheet breaking down what pages constituted what evidence, and how this supported our application (I.e. Pointing out joint expenses etc), for social, we put in a statement as to what evidence we provided and cross referenced this to our Stat Decs by witnesses where appropriate, and also to annotated bank statements to show expenditure relating to social activities, so all out evidence and statements were all interlinked across different evidence types to prove we were genuine, in other words, it wasn't just words on a page, it was supported by evidence to prove it was real. Basically we didn't leave any wiggle room for Immi to doubt the genuine nature of our relationship.

Was it a letter that was showing on your Immi file or was it an email request from the Department? As I say, last year the Form 80 was showing on the list I was sent of documents requested, but that may have changed. As for processing times, I was told 12-18 months last year and got it in 3 so I've never really understood how they work lol