bobby122

Hey all,

Any advice on doing the whole 'leave the country in order for the offshore visa app to be granted' bit will be welcome about now! It's approaching the 6 month mark for us and so we want to start planning a trip overseas so that we can be prepared... Has anyone had the experience of being in Aus and having to leave to get the grant? Do they communicate far in advance of the grant being ready? Do they give you a certain time frame to be out of Aus by? How long does it generally take to come through once you leave? All that kind of stuff would be awesome to know!

Thanks in advance

I got an email ten months after I applied entitled 'depart for grant' (CO knew I was already in oz) In the email it said I had until mid Feb to leave the country for 3 days. And I had 28 days to reply to the email with my flight details. Then the day before I left I had to email CO to reconfirm/remind them I was leaving. On the 2nd day of my holiday in Fiji I got my grant notification via email.

I live on the west coast and this morning it is super smoky everywhere. In dire need of rain (never thought I'd be wishing for that, I spent all winter moaning about the rain)

Thanks for the thought, but three years after applying for the Temp Spouse, to be told we probably still have over a year to go.......the word SOON is no longer in my vocabulary.

Without me searching back lots of pages, what is all this about? I've just been granted 309, but applied December 2014. I was expecting 100 (so PR) by this coming December. Is this not the case?

Applied 27/12/2014

Finally got 309 granted 3/2/2016!

@bobby122, @unclejames and @Gazbad - I too am onshore and coming up for 6 months in waiting (only a couple of months now perhaps) can I just ask, how much time did you all get to 'depart for grant'? and do you have to book a flight within 28 days? This info will be really helpful for me and my overactive planning brain!

 

Thanks in advance!

Sorry for the very late reply, but yes, I got my depart for grant email which said I needed to reply within 28 days with my flight details, and then reconfirm them the day before I fly.

Dont you only have 28 days from the depart notice? I presume you know what your doing but thought I'd point it out.

No, the notice had a date I had to have departed by, which was sometime next year. I had to reply to the notice within 28 days with my flight details.

Not been on here in ages, very surprised to see how quickly visa's are being granted now!

Although I have my 'depart for grant' I am not actually departing until February next year (I'm already in Australia) so will be 14 months since lodge to grant for me!

Hey bobby122, the activation date is a really important one for me, can I just check... you said your activation date is 12 months from your last Police clearence? does that mean you did your Police clearence was dated 2/10/15, did you only just supply that just before the grant?

 

I can see from your signature that you did your UK one in May 2015 and your USA one came through Otober 2015, so its 12 months from your USA one right? I wonder why its not from the UK one?

Hey, yes the activation date is 12 months after the date on my USA fbi check (it took ages to get)

So the activation date is actually about 18 months after my medicals and UK police check. I'm not sure why!

I uploaded the fbi check to my immi account on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning I got the grant email (interestingly it wasn't my CO who granted it!)

I got my 'depart for grant' email just now! I have until 2/10/16 to validate it (12 months from my last police check)

10 months to the day!

Well its been a while now ( a week ) since we had news that someone got their Visa Granted, well Wango, Ip77, Bobby122 ,Nadin77 and Myself are with in reach of the 10 mth mark soon so hopefully we will be getting an answer very very soon..... The wait seems to get longer the closer you get ;-)

 

But it s worth the wait ;-)

Well I FINALLY got my FBI clearance yesterday after 7 months, so I'm hoping once I upload it and email my CO, I will get the go ahead to leave the country to get my grant. With work and stuff though I don't think I'll be able to get away until next month.

We recently found out we are expecting a baby so I will glad to get off this Working Holiday Visa!

What date did your CO want them by? If you don't have them back just send in the receipt or proof of requesting them so the CO can see yu have at least started the process.

They never specified a date (except a birth certificate which I had 28 days to upload). I have emailed the CO telling him what the go is with the FBI check.

Long time reader and lurker, but have followed you all religiously!!

 

Wanted to share the good news that my husband has been awarded his 309 visa today, exactly nine months since application! Applied on 29th Dec 2014, had LC and have to enter by 31st July 2016 (one year after police check which was earlier than medicals).

First grant I have seen for someone who applied after me! 9 months exactly is pretty decent.

The best thing you can do is email the CO and ask them when is the latest they require the Police/medicals. We applied 31/12/14 and we had until 30/09/2015 to submit ours.

 

 

I hope this is not the case. I applied 27/12/14 and still haven't submitted one of my police checks

Hi guys, just a quick update, I was assigned my case officer yesterday (VF) which is almost 3 months since I applied so everything is starting to feel real now!

However, I was wondering if anybody could help me with something. My CO asked that I complete my medical on or soon after 24/10/15 but I'll be on holiday in Melbourne at this time and I don't return home until the 5/11/15. I was wondering if anybody knows wether I would be able to do my medical while I'm over there or does it have to be undertaken in the UK? If not should I just let my CO know that I will be a bit late?

 

And congrats to everybody who is getting their visa's granted. I would be extremely jealous if it wasn't for the fact I'm going over at the weekend :wink:

You can do your medicals at any time, it doesn't have to be exactly at 6 months.

3 months down for us @Jen44!!! (Well tomorrow that is but I wont be able to post tomorrow lol!)

I'm nearly at 9 months! The wait doesn't get any easier...although I'm already in Oz. Would love to be able to get this bloody visa run to NZ (or Bali if I'm lucky) out the way!

WOO HOO! WOO HOO!!

 

Hi everyone, just thought I'd share the fab news that my visa was granted two days ago (hangover only just gone for me to be able to post on here!!)

Gone straight to the 100 too. I have been given until the 28 May 2016 to validate, which is 12 months from when I did my police check, which I did after my medical.

 

For all those that worry about contact from CO's - apart from an initial letter of acknowledgement when I submitted my application, I never had any contact with my CO and trusted that if they needed anything they would let me know. So no news, is good news!

 

Thank you to all those that post words of support and advice on this forum and help many of us through what is a stressful process. I wish everyone a happy ending to their journey.

Congrats pookie, were you expecting the 100 or just 309? I'm assuming I'll just get 309 because we are just shy of 3 years but 100 would be a fantastic surprise!

Great to see some grants, but if that timescale keeps up I definitely won't have my fbi pcc back by the time mines due to be granted!! Which is soooo annoying, it takes so long and I'm delaying it even more!!

Also, my police check is taking 14 weeks. If I had applied for it in June as requested, and then fingerprints get rejected (which it did), and have to start another 14 week process, youd be waiting much longer than 10 months of so for the grant.

I applied for the pcc in March and still no closer to knowing if I have an acceptable set of fingerprints in the fbis hands

Who is waiting onshore? I am...trying to persuade other half on a trip to Bali or Fiji..! But more than likely NZ..wonder if it'll be October, November, December or even later! Wish I could just book it!

Again thank you for that as I misread the info (i thought it meant for up to 3 months in a 12 month period....)

That puts my mind to rest.

Now just to find out if hubby's wage will support all of us.... time to contact BOSS... and away we will go....

Hi Jen, if you are under 31, you could go on the Working Holiday Visa, then you could work too. That's what I have done while waiting for the grant

Because it confirms that they have got the documents you sent. A simple auto-respinse like that means that people know their email has been recieved, and it saves COs spending time writing personal acknowledgments.

What many people fail to realise is that every single CO has to recird every single contact with an applicant on that applicants file. And they are all dealing with many files. So every moment taken responding to an email or phone call takes valubale time that could be spent on processing files!

Having an automatic response like that can save an awful lot of work. If the Co then needs to make contact they can, but if someone is just providing documents it saves the CO from extra work.

It's not an email address just for sending in documents though.

My CO told me to email that address if needed to get in touch. So when I left the UK I emailed him saying I had left. I then got the auto message above, saying it was for docs only and specifically "Any visa and citizenship enquiries sent to this mailbox will not be actioned" so you can see why people get confused!

The day after I got that auto email, I got an email back from my CO.

What's the go on being named on a mortgage whilst waiting for a 309? Do you have to wait for it to be granted?

They didn't even have Immigration in Tassie when I was there earlier this year, usually have to go through Immigraton on the mainland these days. If they've started international flights again then its only very recently.

Yes it was immigration in Melbourne, was in a massive rush to make my connection flight and ended up in the wrong passport line by accident :err: was lucky I arrived when I did, the following day all flights arriving to Launceston were cancelled due to the weather!

So I have arrived in Tassie. Mank weather! Woman at immigration yelled at me for being in Aussie passport only queue, didn't say anything about ticking 'migrating permantly' box on landing card or just 1 way ticket. Been applying for jobs but think I'll find it harder until I get the 309.

My automated acknowledgement email said 9-12 months but next correspondence from CO said 10-14

Hi,

 

Quick question for anyone who might know...

 

If applying for a whv can I use the same medical that I have used for my 309/100 or would I need another chest x-ray?

 

thanks

You don't need a medical for WHV :smile: