Jen56johns

Thanks Pom Queen. SO no further status updates via their online system? I had thought they would use it to give more regular updates.

Sigh...  just impatient now to see him again.  Thanks for replying!

Hi,

My dog arrived in Melbourne on Thursday night. We haven’t seen him for 4.5 months and he’s been staying with lovely friends who looked after him until her could travel.

I got the notification from PEQ that he’d arrived and was settling in, but nothing since.  Initial quarantine checks are supposed to take 48 hours.  We’re past that time now but no status update.

Can anyone shed some light on the experience at PEQ, how often you get updates, when you get notified to set up the check-out appointment etc?  I’ve been googling madly but there’s no info out there that I can find.

At the moment, I’m assuming that no news i good news as I was worried about him surviving the flight.  He’s a fit dog, but I knew it would be stressful for him.  

After so long though, I can’t wait to see him and have the final piece in place to feel properly settled in Melbourne.

Thanks to anyone who can share their insight.

Jenni

Hi! Just popping in too.  We arrived in Melbourne on the 30th of May.

Tried to get all the big things done before I started work - buying a car, sorting out Medicare etc.  Some advice - make sure you do your research about what you need to take as evidence to set up your Medicare accounts.  As I was the Australian, I needed evidence I had quit my job in the UK and was returning permanently.  So I took my P60.  Hubby just needed to show his visa.  Get your joint bank account set up before you go into Medicare and take the letter from the bank with you.  Go first thing in the morning or you could wait for hours.  Also, if you have a child and intend on claiming family benefits or child care rebate, ask to get your Centrelink account set-up while you're in the same office or you'll end up going back again to prove your ID.  That's the best bit of advice I can offer you all.

And I can relate to Beffers.  It took 4 weeks to the day after the ship arrived for us to receive our stuff.  We were simply waiting for the quarantine period to pass and them the customs inspection!  The ship arrived on time too.

So glad to be here.  We even took our boy up to the snow today.  Who would have thought we'd have to take him to Oz to see his first snow!?

Good luck to everyone.  I hope your grants are speedy!

Congrats Tina and Beffers! I've been popping back in every now and then to see how everyone was getting on.

We are currently in Antigua to celebrate my hubby's 40th.  Our stuff got shipped the day before we left and we fly out to Melbourne on the 29th of May.  We've got an airbnb booked for a month while we look for rental accommodation and I start my new job on June 5, so it's all coming together well I think.  Just need to sell the cars.

Good luck to everyone on settling into Australia and starting an exciting new adventure.

xxx

35 minutes ago, unzippy said:

9.30 this morning, an email arrived saying 309 and 100 have been granted.

Submitted Dec 13th, uploaded the last bit of evidence Fri eve, granted on the 18th Apr.

Ha! I knew it would be soon after you uploaded the AFP clearance! Congrats! I know how you euphoric it feels and the relief of knowing a very crucial aspect is in place to start your life in Australia.  Good luck with your emigration! I hope life in Australia is all that you dream it to be.

53 minutes ago, unzippy said:

Once done there doesn't seem to be any way of notifying them within immi to say I've done what they've asked.  So I replied to the original email that asked me for the extras.

Zippy, they will know. I guess their system alerts them when a request is complete or something, but when I was asked to add my citizenship cert my CO said something about seeing the link appear and then she would grant the visa.  Shame it didn't arrive yesterday or you might have had your visa today!  Fingers crossed for next week.

There's a whole raft of people who can certify documents.  One of my friends is a pharmacist and she did all of mine for me.

According to the migration booklet: 

6 minutes ago, Lever40 said:

Quickiest Ive seen on here is 1 week... yes you read that correctly...

I assume they frontloaded everything.  wow!

Just now, Lever40 said:

Awesome News. Thats really quick! Bet you're over the moon! 

We are, thanks! Weird thing is it went from application received to application finalised. Just when you're convinced nothing is happening...  So glad we frontloaded.

I can only guess at why it was so quick - I suspect it's because we travel to Australia every year and my husband has 10 years' of evisitor visas on the system. But who knows?

The relief of everything just falling into place only reinforces my feeling that this move is meant to be!  We are going to Melbourne too. My new job is on St Kilda Rd so we're looking at south eastern suburbs.

Good luck to everyone. I hope your visas come through soon.

1 minute ago, TinaK said:

Excellent news!! When did you apply??

We submitted on the 25th of Feb 2017.  That's 5.5 weeks!

On 4/5/2017 at 10:10 PM, Jen56johns said:

OMG! I just got a call from the High Commission, they asked me to upload my British Citizenship certificate and then assured me they would issue my husband's 309 and 100 this afternoon!  Check out my dates!  This is super quick!

We are ecstatic!

They're through!  K (my CO) was true to her word and the grant letters came through within 30 minutes of uploading my certificate.  OMG!!!!!

OMG! I just got a call from the High Commission, they asked me to upload my British Citizenship certificate and then assured me they would issue my husband's 309 and 100 this afternoon!  Check out my dates!  This is super quick!

We are ecstatic!

20 hours ago, SheldonMeldrew said:

Hi I am quite new to the site and have never emigrated before. I am in (and from) England while she is now in Australia (her nationality by birth) and I wondered if I can apply for a partner visa when I go out there on holiday. I'm hoping I can get a bridging visa and work in the country while we wait and see what the decision is. Thank you to anyone willing to advise.

Hi. We considered the same thing as I have a job to go to in Oz and thought it might be better if husband went in on a tourist visa and then applied and also got a bridging visa. We decided against it because it takes much longer for applications in Australia and it's not recommended as they can be touchy about you entering on a tourist visa if they suspect your real reason for going is something else. We rang and spoke to the advisory line and got this advice.  But people do it and it does work for them.

You can absolutely do this without a migration agent. the migration handbook is pretty detailed https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/1127.pdf.  Read it a few times and start making a list of the evidence you have and need, who you will get statements from etc etc.

But Snifter's question is key. Are you a defacto couple? If not, then this visa is not for you.

Good luck!

2 hours ago, unzippy said:

Edit.

Now got email saying she hasn't been that naughty, cert to follow in the post..

Hmmm...  I'm guessing it got overlooked!

On 28/03/2017 at 6:52 PM, Jen56johns said:

Did you get an email to say it was being posted? I got an email a day after I submitted mine to say it had been processed and would be despatched the next working day. It said 10-20 days for international. I submitted on 19th of March so let me know when you get yours - it should be this week with that time frame.

Unzippy, I received my AFP clearance today so you might want to chase yours. I think the fact that you haven't received a postage confirmation email means it hasn't been processed yet.

Anyone know why we're missing posts from yesterday?  They were there last night, but gone this morning...

5 hours ago, unzippy said:

Good news!

So the Aus police check took 2 weeks from submitting to arriving in the post?

I ask because my wife submitted hers on the 9th March and has yet to receive anything.

 

Maybe she's naughtier than a thought!

Did you get an email to say it was being posted? I got an email a day after I submitted mine to say it had been processed and would be despatched the next working day. It said 10-20 days for international. I submitted on 19th of March so let me know when you get yours - it should be this week with that time frame.

6 hours ago, FlowerFairy said:

Oh my goodness, I'm in total shock and so happy! I applied 14th Jan and I just got my grant an hour ago, I was really not expecting it in 2 and a bit months!! I can't really complain at all when so many people are hanging on for months waiting, but it's a 309 I've been granted and I was expecting a 100 as we have 4 children and have been married 11 years so we meet the requirements for waiving the 2 year waiting period. Was I supposed to specifically request going straight to a permanent visa as I assumed they'd just grant it automatically? Maybe it's because the grant was so quick perhaps? Sorry if I sound ungrateful, I don't mean to be, I'm amazed to have a grant so fast.

Wow! Congratulations! Did you front load? Did you have any contact from you CO? Fingers crossed for the rest of us. It's only been a month for us and I'm so impatient!

i think that appear automatically, it shows in my account too but my C/O hasn't requested it yet. They have been in contact for other details but haven't advised to book my medical. That said, if I don't hear in the next couple of weeks I'm going to book mine anyway as we need to be in Australia by mid July for my husband to start his new job. Others on this forum front loaded their applications with all information including medical sand police checks and it's been fine. The only reason they advise you to wait I believe is because they are only valid for 12 months. So if for some reason the process takes ages, you might need to have them done again. But based on current processing times based on everyone in here, I really hope it doesn't take that long for all our sakes!!

Ah... ok. And here I was hopeful that we were going to get a super fast visa! I understood about frontloading but didn't realise that the health assessment option appeared automatically. Well, let's hope it doesn't take longer than 12 months then.

Thanks for the explanation TinaK and Lever40.

Welcome! Good to see your visa moving along already! Some folk have waited months for that. Unsure why you didn't get an email though, pretty sure immi account will show that you require a medical before its requested, I waited until I had C/O contact.

Hmm... should we have waited then? Health assessment required appeared under the Attach Documents part of the home page, so we just clicked on the link, completed the assessment and booked in for the medical.

Is that's what supposed to happen? Or does it only appear when the C/O has requested a medical?

Congrats Jacqui! That's fantastic news!

Hi all! Been following you all for a while to see how quickly the visas are moving. We applied on 27/2/17 and within a week our immi account said medical requested. We didn't receive an email and it didn't appear in the immi inbox, I just saw the notification on the main page when I logged in. So my husband is doing his medical right now and I jumped in and got his police clearance sorted and that went up yesterday.

Really curious to see how long this takes as my husband has had an evisitor visa continuously renewed for the last 9 years as we go from UK to Oz every year, and i wonder if that will help in any way.

We are moving on the 29/5 to Melbourne as I have a new job and he will go in on a 600 visa unless a miracle happens and he gets his 100 granted before. I'm hoping we're straight forward as we've been together 10 years, married 7.5 and have a 3 year old son. Lots of evidence, joint bank accounts and mortgage. Fingers crossed.

Good luck to everyone. I really enjoy reading this forum and seeing the visa grants come through!