Ronansmyth

Thanks everyone. Yes, my wife Aussie, so we would borrow through her. We've been speaking to our Australian accountant and were filled in about the Capital gains tax.

one to mull over I think.

Great news! Well done!

Good luck!

 

When did you submit and how long before they asked for the medicals and Police check?

Thanks!

I submitted in early April. It took 7 weeks to be allocated a C.O and in the letter she sent me it told me to book the Health Check and police check for after 20th of August.

Medical done and Police Check submitted last week. Just a waiting game now...

Best of luck with the move. It will be some time before I am in your position (health checks this week) but the amount of stuff to do before the move is daunting.

Hope the move goes smooth!

8 months and 16 days! I wonder if today will be THE day? :-)

 

@TheEscapePlan - have you heard anything yet?

My fingers are crossed for you! Good luck!

Medical Test week has come. Both that and police check this week. Then it will be back to waiting :o/

My wife and I are moving to Sydney at the start of 2016 (all things going well). She is Australian and has some property in Sydney with her brother. He has seen a potential investment opportunity, but for us to invest would mean selling the property we have in Oz (fairly straightforward) and also borrowing to make up the rest.

I suspect the best option for us would be getting a mortgage from an Australian lender whilst we are in the UK, but I am not sure what the process for this is or if there are any pitfalls. This would be a renovation project (my brother in law is a builder who does this for a living) and we are confident there will be a healthy profit for us, but I am not sure about the mortgage process. We also have the option of freeing up equity in our home in London.

has anyone any experience of getting an Oz mortgage when in the UK?

thanks

Cool that's like our situation...my Ozzie partner loved the uk ! So 4 years on, how are ur mates finding oz ?

They love it and will never come back.

I married an Australian girl. At the start of the relationship she was clear that for us to have a long term relationship I would need to be prepared to move to Oz at some point. I thought that would be cool, and liked the idea of the adventure. Over 10 years later and she loves the UK and I am making us move. Also, all my best mates moved over to Melbourne about 4 years ago - almost all at the same time!

Finally heard back from my CO today about the planned trip to Melbourne in Dec for a wedding (smack-bang in the middle of month 8 and 9). She confirmed they would check if I was in Oz and let me know if I needed to get out of the country for the grant to happen and then said "In essence, there is nothing you need to do."

I'll just continue to sit and wait. My medical is in 2 weeks.

Got my health check booked for Aug 22nd, so everything feels like it is moving.

December/January still feels a long way off!

Totally agree !!!!

 

I managed to work out the email address for my CO and used that and did get a reply :-)

Are you prepared to share the magic email formula....?

When I was re-allocated my current CO (last week) mine also said http://www.immi.gov.au/contacts/forms/europe under the email part.

 

Looks like they might not disclosing their emails addresses anymore?

 

Weird because it still says

 

"If you have a general enquiry about the processing of your application, please contact the Europe Service Centre (ESC) using the contact details provided in the signature block. Please do not send any general enquiries to the familymigrationlondon************** mailbox."

Maybe it is a policy thing. Is your new CO R.N by any chance?

No not at all. I'm going to send you a PM.

Cool, thanks. I assumed I was missing something when everyone else said they had emailed their CO.

The letter should have her personal email on it and you should use this. If you only contact via the general email then you will not get a personal reply from your CO. Who is your CO out of interest?

My CO is RN. I just checked again and the letter definitely doesn't have her email on it. It says this under her signature:

Email: http://www.immi.gov.au/contacts/forms/europe

Is that what you use?

They are seriously lacking Marks & Specers stores in Australia aren't they 'Dawn2002! My friend from the UK emigrated out to Sydney a few years back and every time she comes home she pops to M&S for a prawn mayo sandwich :-) seen as they are in most other major cities of the world I'm surprised Australia don't have them yet - or do they?

That's hilarious. A friend of mine came back at Christmas and every day posted a different sandwich (either Pret, M&S or Tesco) on Facebok. He was decrying the lack of decent "sandwich in a box" options in Melbourne.

Did you not get a first contact email with your CO name etc and their contact email?

No, it had a leter attached with her name and it said to use the general email for replies.

Is there a standard format like firstnam.lastname@immi etc?

When your CO was allocated (assuming you have been allocated one), he/she will have emailed you so use that email address to contact the CO directly

That is the email I have been using, but it appears to be generic. I will sit tight and await a response.

Omg! So excited right now! Just got the email from our CO. Our application has beenapproved, time to celebrate

Congratulations! Great news!

She was really great. I emailed her and she said I will be ready to finalise by the end of the month (this was on about the 23rd I think of May) and exactly on the last day of May, the grant came through.

 

Email her at the end of November stating your intention to travel to Aus for Christmas and ask if the visa will be finalised by xx date (pick a date) and hopefully she will grant by that date for you. She comes across as quite terse in email but she's actually really nice. We always started emails with chitchat, hope you are well, weather crap type thing and she got a lot friendlier.

What email address did you use for contacting your CO? I have the main query email address and emailed that (to let them know I will be travelling to Melb at the end of the year for a wedding) and just got an automated reply.

I got it!! Received email today. Subclass 100!

So happy right now took just over 7 months

Congratulations! And so fast! Well done!

Hi,

 

We're just about to apply for my partner's 309/100 visa and needed to know how do you indicate on the application that you want the 100 status to be considered immediately. Is this considered automatically if you demonstrate the qualifying conditions, e.g., 3 year pre-existing relationship? I have spoken to an agent about our application but with all the other expense of migration we were hoping to complete the form ourselves. MovingtoTasmania - did you use an agent as your timescale for approval is very quick?

You don't need to indicate that on the form - the Case Officer will decide using (hopefully) common sense. I am in the exact same boat and looking at my Health Check details online, where it says "type of visa" it has 100. My and the wife have been married for 2 years and lived together for the last 9 years, so I was hoping for that!

Good luck with your application!

Hi, Thats a very good question. Im in the same boat and about to do the same.

I cant see how the payment can be taken without it, lets see if anyone can come up with an answer.

I applied on paper. I didn't' tad d&d any additional info other than what was asked for on the form. The money was taken straight away. They really don't hang around with taking payment.

Submitted my 300 Subclass visa on the 16/6/14. Payment was taken on the 18th so now it is just a big waiting game.

Good luck! Don't worry if you don't hear from your case officer until 8 weeks or so - that was what had me the most nervous. Welcome to the waiting game...