Rad28

Finally status in immi changed for me, it is showing as granted. However, I haven't received my visa grant letter from MA yet, she is on leave currently and would return tomorrow, well another day of wait. Visa Applied:12-Dec-2014 Granted:4-02-2015 Just to add I thought of travelling back from Australia on Bridging B visa, today morning 9:00 am I queued up to submit my bridging B visa form at department of immigration and when I returned home at 10:30, I got a mail that visa has been granted, then I rushed again to department of immigration to withdraw bridging B visa form, else it would have costed $150 more for processing charges.

Congrats mate. Please let us know, did you got email at 04:00 am in morning(GMT+11). Also, did the status changed now on immi account, is it showing finalised? Thanks.

Hi All, I have found that there's a form 1005, which can be used for ammending the existing bridging visa. i.e. it can be used for seeking permission to work on the basis of an employer nomination associated with an outstanding application for a subclass 856 or 857 visa; or a Business (temporary) (class TB) visa; or a Medical Practitioner (temporary) (class UE) visa; or a Business (long stay) (class UC) (subclass 457) visa I'll be writing to my MA tomorrow to know, if it is possible for my employer to allow me to work based on this form, please let me know, in case any one of you have already explored this avenue.

I believe immi no. can be reached from outside Australia with the international code i.e. +61-131881.

Well as per the call I had today with immi there is no process to renew the 457 it is treated as a new application everytime we apply for it, even if the application is straight forward, there should be someone looking at it, I have heard as soon as case officer looks at it, he can provide the approval but not sure what's taking them so long to atleast look at the application(this is the information from calling immi everyday). On the other hand one of the external MA told me there is step for external third party checks that sometimes takes long. My visa was applied on 12th December through the company's MA, though I am on bridging visa that allows me to stay here but I can't work till my nomination is approved.

Did anyone tried callig immi yesterday or today? I have been calling since yesterday on 131881 but no response, since last week, once I select the options I was told my place in the queue and usually after an hour my call gets answered but I am not getting to know my place in the call queue when I am calling today, has anyone experienced the same.

Not sure, they may be checking the employment and education documents, just to add, my old 457 visa expired in January and the new one has been applied by the new employer on 12th December. Since I already had 4 years 457 that expired in Jan. not sure why getting the new one is taking so long.

No Action for me today, Status is still In Progress, my MA told we need to wait and nothing can be done to expedite, I called up few other MAs and found from one of them that my application may be waiting for the external third party check. Please let me know, if anyone knows about external third party check for 457 visa.

My visa application was submitted on 12th December 2014 and the status change in front of my name "Processing - Please wait for the department to contact you" happened around 10th Jan., I am not sure if this happens for all the application, however, the status of application is still "In Progress" as of today and there has been no correspondence.