SiameseCat

Does anybody know if it's safe to use my UK laptop with a power adapter in Oz? I'm reading that there's a difference between a plug adapter and a voltage converter but I really don't fully understand which one I need to get hold of (assuming it's safe to use). - I once used my UK hair straighteners with a plug adapter whilst in the US and they literally exploded next to my face after seconds of use! Hope someone can help, thank you

Thanks!

Hi everyone, Sorry if this is a daft question - but I will be entering Australia soon to activate my visa (skilled 189) and was wondering if I need to bring anything with me as proof when entering the country? Is the visa grant automatically linked to my passport or do I need to print out the Visa grant document? Do I need any other proof with me? Thanks!

@ Alexis - How long ago did you actually apply for a police certificate? I'm aware that the process has changed in recent years. You are mistaken when you say: " Any record for Northern Ireland and Scotland is done through the local police force. " I got my ACRO police clearance done in SCOTLAND (recently), I submit my application online via the official ACRO webpage. If you still don't believe me - taken directly from the ACRO webpage: "Police certificates from the ACRO Criminal Records Office cover England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. All citizens and residents of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (including those resident in Scotland) should apply through ACRO Criminal Records Office." https://www.acro.police.uk/Police_Certificates_FAQs.aspx

He says he has lived in N.Ireland his whole life. Why would he need a police clearance from a country he's never been a resident of? The DIBP ( http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa/Char ) clearly states: When is a police certificate required? If you are over the age of 16 and have lived in any of the countries listed on this page for a total of one year or more in the last 10 years, you must get a police certificate from that country.

Who told you that you need a paper from Garda Siochana? Police certificates are required from all countries you've lived in (12 months or more) within the last 10years. You say you have lived in N.Ireland your whole life so you will fall under the United Kingdom. The ACRO police certificate covers the whole of the UK, I got mine done for Scotland. Taken directly from their webpage: "Police certificates from the ACRO Criminal Records Office cover England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. All citizens and residents of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (including those resident in Scotland) should apply through ACRO Criminal Records Office."

My VISA 189 was granted yesterday, much faster than I expected! VISA application lodged: 15th October '16 CO assigned: 27th October '16 (asked for medicals and police clearance) Responded with additional information: 21st November '16 VISA grant noification: 2nd December '16 Good luck to everyone still waiting - hope you all get your good news soon :cute:

Mine came back positive after 2 weeks

I would say you only need to make sure the reference reflects the time period of work for which you are claiming points for. If you're 18 months away from applying and claim points for another 12+ months of work experience then you would need a reference to back your claim. You'd get asked for it during your skills assessment anyway. I only used 'personal' references (work colleagues/manager) during my skills assessment. When it came to submitting my PR visa which was around 6 months later, I just asked for an additional generic reference from HR confirming I was still employed with the same company. But there's many other ways of doing it, such as providing tax records, payslips etc

Hi all - back with another question :embarrassed: Would I need to notify or update my 189 visa application if my employer name changes? I’m not actually leaving my role but my team is being moved to a new legal entity contained within the same global organisation I’m currently employed by. Although I would still fall under the umbrella of my current org, a new employer name will appear on future payslips and I’ll be issued a P45 form next month. I’ve read that any change in circumstances during the visa assessment should be made known but not sure about my case? Thanks!

Thanks for the replies. I had my medical completed on the 15th but the clinic submitted my results on the 18th because I was told the blood tests would take a few days to come back. So it's already been a few days waiting for me but not really because of any delays. I'm hoping that everything can be finalised on Monday given I was considered a gradeA case:smile:

My ‘View health assessment’ is now displaying the following: Examinations ready for assessment – no action required The required health examinations have been completed and submitted by the panel clinic to the department. This person's case will be processed or referred to the department's migration medical services provider, Bupa Medical Visa Services, for further assessment. Can anyone advise on how long the department typically takes to process a medical case once it’s been submitted? The examining doctor on the day said I was a grade A case and I’m assuming the remaining tests came back normal as the clinic didn’t contact me.. or is there a way to validate this? Does the ‘View health assessment’ display change to something like ‘complete’ once it’s been processed? How will I know when the department has processed my case? Thanks:cute:

Thanks rammygirl. I'm just over thinking everything it seems :embarrassed: I thought everything needed to be completed within the 28days so I sent for my police certificate and booked the medical straight away. The certificate is already back and uploaded and my medical already completed. I'm just waiting for the results to update on immaccount! As I still have time to respond to the CO I was thinking to wait for my results to update and then click on the 'information provided' button before replying to inform everything's done :smile:

I'm by no means an expert but here are my thoughts: Do you have any other work experience that you are claiming for? I ask because I have around 6 years of work experience (in the same IT role/same company) yet they only awarded me 3 years of experience. Based on all the posts I have read through this is common practice for ACS.. I have no idea why Were both your undergrad and postgrad degrees assessed as comparable to AQF qualification with a major in computing? I was not awarded any extra points for my Masters degree but was awarded for my Bachelor degree (even though both my BSc and MSc were comparable to AQF qualification with a major in computing). I have also read in previous posts that ACS doesn't award any work experience until after the completion date of your relevant degree.

The email address is a '@border.gov.au' address which seems like a generic processing office email. Do they want me to email them back with my written acknowledgement that I received their email? The confusing part is that under the 'Submitting documents' header it says: "Do not email us to advise when you have attached documents in ImmiAccount." So I don't really understand what's meant by 'You should provide your response in writing'. I already have my police certificate and my medical is booked. So it will be completed within the 28days. Do I still need to upload evidence of booking the appointment?

Hi all - sorry if some of these q's sound a bit daft! I've been asked to provide my police clearance and medical results: Where do I upload my police certificate? Under "Character, Evidence of" it only gives me the option to upload a form 80. Should I upload the police certificate under 'Attach more documents' ? Do I click on the 'Information Provided' button as soon as I upload the certificate or should I wait until the medical has also been completed? I’m getting a wee bit confused with some of the wording in the CO letter: “Timeframe for response You must respond to this request within 28 days after you are taken to have received this letter. You should provide your response in writing. Please send your response to me using the contact details provided below.” I thought the medical results were updated/uploaded by the clinic as soon as the medical was completed. But the wording above indicates I need to attach something additional in writing? ..

Monkey1980 and javadxster, I'm just curious: do you have other family members on your application or are you applying as sole applicants? Have you ever visited Australia? Do you have family members in Australia? Do you have other citizenships? It's strange that it'is taking so long for you while others are processed in a month. I wonder if there's a reason for this EDIT: Just realised Monkey1980 mentions kids in the application. Maybe family applications take longer to process?

I take it you have read through the ANZSCO occupation descriptions? https://more.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/7641/ANZSCO-Descriptions-2015.pdf It is so detailed that just reading through the duties of each occupation you can easily determine your title. By the way, my job title on my employment contract (Developer) was different to my nominated ANZSCO occupation. This is because all my employment duties perfectly matched the duties under a different ANZSCO description (for me, Systems Analyst). I received a positive ACS skills assessment really fast. You don't need to worry if your job title on your contract is under a different name as long as you have evidence (reference) that your employment duties match the duties of your nominated occupation. I really suggest you have a word with your manager/supervisor. I told my manager about my plans and he has been so supportive and excited for me. We even went through the ANZSCO descriptions together before concluding I come under a Systems Analyst. It also gives him a good understanding of what needs to be included in the supporting ACS reference

Most people should be able to provide details of all their travel in the past 10years. Everything is done electronically nowadays, so for me, all my flight details and invoices are stored in my past emails and can still be accessed. I just used the search option on my hotmail account to type in the name of the place and all relevant booking information comes up. You could also look at the places you've checked in at on your facebook timeline. I have stamps on my passports for all international travel too. I was able to find everything I needed to fill out form 80 (similar question on travel). If it's more than 10 years ago, I would imagine for countries that are not considered "high-risk" they would accept you not being overly specific with your dates. For one of the countries I just wrote (2 weeks in June) and specified it was a holiday. But they'll likely want further information if you were being vague about the dates of your visits to countries like North Korea, South Sudan, Columbia etc :-)

You can have a look at: http://www.border.gov.au/forms/Documents/26.pdf and the following thread: http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/243005-what-does-standard-medical-examination-involve.html

Thank you for the reply SOMV - it's for a skilled 189 visa, yes

So I have just realised my p60s and payslips contain my old address as I hadn't directly informed HR of the change. I have now updated my address details with HR but obviously can't change what has already been issued. All my VISA application details contain the new address. The address on my p60s and payslips does appear in my address history on form80 however. Will this discrepancy cause problems for my application?

I agree with Nemesis. Your CO hasn't noticed that your form 80 is already uploaded. If there was incorrect or incomplete information on the form the CO would state that to you - not request that you upload the form. I have spent several months reading post after post relating to the whole process, as I am not going through a migration agent, and I can tell you this isn't the first post I have seen where the CO asks for form 80 when the applicant has already uploaded it.

I got all my documents certified completely free at my nearest Justice of the Peace court. The Justice of the Peace checked my photographic evidence on the day (passport) and then took my oath, sworn testimony to tell the truth. They had a stamp to certify the document as a true copy and one providing the courts’ contact details. Then the JOP signed and dated each page. The whole process was supervised by a Judge or lawyer, I believe it’s a legal requirement. In England, they are referred to as Magistrates’ courts - there's a few in London. In theory, the process should be pretty similar to the Scottish courts. If you do a google search you will find your nearest court. Call them up for an appointment and they'll specify what you need to bring with you on the day I don't know the difference between notarising and certifying - but I do know DIAC accept what I did!

Thanks for the input I'm just going to do the same and put 'approximately' next to the dates for one of my holidays. I found a lot of my travel dates and locations through tracing back my facebook timeline and looking at my 'check-ins'. Most other travel I was able to find through email invoices of flight bookings. I was also able to find all my previous addresses from uni through my online amazon account. They store all delivery addresses you've ever used. Paypal is the same if you use ebay. By the way, the new form 80 only asks for your address history in the past 10years. My previous work I found through past CVs. I have old emails of when I applied for part-time positions and it's saved as an attachment. Thankfully I didn't have to go back as many years as you!