HarveySpecter

From personal experience of having had a reciprocal Medicare card and 457 insurance policy, you will likely still be stung for the MLS. I am also with BUPA and was also told that the only way to avoid this was to purchase additional cover. I decided not to do so and was required to pay the MLS each year. Which turned out to be quite expensive on top of the insurance!

Hi there. Yes I have - recently got my 189 visa grant. I was lucky enough not to need to try and claim any points for work experience (Took IELTS which gave me the extra points I needed). Might be worth running your experience by a migration agent to see what their thoughts are. Good luck with the process

I don't know much about Uber, but just wanted to say I'm glad your daughter is okay and hope she is able to recover from the experience soon. It must have been terrifying.

Yes, I qualified in the UK 5 years ago. So far as I'm aware that hasn't made any difference to what I had to study - although if you are very experienced I understand it may be possible to get certain additional exemptions.

I got my academic and PLT assessments done in NSW, so can give you a bit of information about my experience of that process. Timing-wise, personally I'd focus on the training contract for now and then wait to see if you enjoy your training contract before thinking of qualification in Australia. It's quite a process to go through if you later decided that you don't like working as a lawyer. The academic assessment focused on the content of my degree. I had to take 4 additional academic subjects, which took me about a year studying part time in the evenings (on top of working full time). How much extra study you would need to do will depend on the content of your degree. When I was taking the extra academic subjects, most of my fellow students with a 3 year UK law degree had to study 4 or 5 academic subjects. But this depended on degree content, so varied from person to person. If you don't have a 3 year law degree e.g. did a conversion course, then I think there may be a requirement to study a greater number of subjects. I remember I found quite a useful booklet on the LPAB website which gave all of the criteria for assessment - would be worth trying to have a look at that.

Visa granted today! So happy - what a relief! Called DIBP up this morning (had to try about 20 times). Spoke to someone who said that my visa was in the queue and would hopefully be processed shortly. Didn't fill me with hope, but half an hour later I noticed my Immi Account had been changed to "finalised".

I think most of the Feb lodged guys now have visas, but I'm still waiting as well - you aren't alone!

Congratulations! Were they annoyed you contacted them? Looks like I'll need to give it another go. I'm on holiday at the moment and it's the least relaxing holiday I've ever had!

Tried calling but there is now an automated message saying please refrain from contacting them if you have received an email saying that processing times will be longer due to the planning levels for 2014/2015. They are aiming to work through these applications in the next 4 weeks. Also said if you haven't heard anything by 1 August to email them. So the wait continues

Congratulations! Must be an amazing relief I'll try my luck tomorrow. Do the Adelaide teams have a different phone no?

That's great! Jut a bit frustrating you have to call and chase to get progress. I'll try the same. Were you on hold for long?

Fingers crossed lots of grants come through on 1 July, but I have a feeling that it may take a while to clear the backlog. I got an email saying my application has everything required (it sounds like a few people have got these) so I'd hope the actual grant process would be straightforward. But nothing about the process has been very quick, so I'm not holding my breath!

I know what you mean about checking emails! Its easy to get a bit obsessed. I didn't realise this process would be so frustrating and stressful. I'm sort of resigning myself to the idea that I could be another few weeks still - even if grants kick off 1 July, I'm guessing there must be a bit of a backlog of applications. Hopefully it will all be over soon PS - I'm sure it won't be a 'no' for you, but I know what you mean about not being able to book anything until you know for sure.

This. I've been waiting more than 2 months since providing my police check and still don't have a grant!

What sort of things do you enjoy doing? There are various groups around Sydney - try having a look at the Meetups website. There are groups for just about everything - from bootcamps to drinks. I've been to a couple, but have personally found that the more activity-based events are a bit less awkward than the standard drinks events! if you are into sport, that could be a good way of meeting people as there seem to be lots of teams/groups around. A few of my friends play netball and have met a lot of people through that. I must admit that I most of my friends here through work initially (I've had 3 jobs since being here), but have slowly met more people through friends of friends etc.

Hey Shelz it looks like we lodged a couple of days apart and I'm still waiting too. Fingers crossed we get a grant soon I'm already in Australia, but grant can't come soon enough for a couple of reasons! Good luck with interviews and house viewings! HS

I know exactly what you mean. The wait is driving me insane! I got a delay email last week, so it is a waiting game now. Its just frustrating to see that some applicants who applied in April recently got grants, when we applied in February...

I feel your pain - I submitted my extra info about 2 months ago and haven't heard anything since. I think it's just a case of waiting and trying to be patient...which is really hard!

Awesome! Welcome to the waiting game Looks like we will all be waiting a bit longer, but fingers crossed we get some news soon. Good luck with it!

Try not to worry, I doubt you have gone backwards now that you have a CO Im not sure what each status means/how accurate it is? Mine still shows as "in progress" but absolutely nothing is happening! My final document was uploaded 6 weeks ago. I know I just need to wait patiently, but just want everything to be sorted out now. The uncertainty is the worst!

That the quota for the number of GSM visas that can be granted this financial year has almost been reached and that once this has been hit, we will need to wait until July for the next years quota!

Same for mine - think there must be an overall quota which applies regardless of specific occupation.

I hadn't even realised there was a quota! Did they say they will notify you if your application is put on hold until July? This waiting game is painful.

Well it looks like those of us without grants yet could be waiting quite a while longer based on the updates on some of the other threads. Really really hoping this isn't the case!

I feel your pain! Its starting to feel like it will never happen! Its been almost 4 weeks since I sent the additional info now, hopefully someone will pick it up again soon