Parkesy

2 hours ago, millski88 said:

Update on virtual ceremonies (from the one person i've seen online to post about their experience)

• Currently only Canberra office performing online ceremonies, with randomly selected applicants (likely picked from those who already had a ceremony scheduled and cancelled)
• Starting Monday next week, Melbourne DoHA office joins in the initial batches, followed by other state's offices
• After this (not sure of exact timeframe), local councils will be briefed on the process and will also start hosting virtual ceremonies

Apparently took 6 minutes today for this person to complete theirs and ask lots of questions.

EDIT: Just confirmed, case officer said the local councils will resume on their lists once they're up and running, rather than a national pool. But a national team will continue picking up slack across all councils too.

Awesome update mate. We should honestly grab a beer soon!

18 hours ago, millski88 said:

Nah! Oh shit... congrats! Today too. Pretty damn quick turnaround time with a Jan approval! Good stuff.

Nah we're still waiting 

Mate...got cancelled. CV19

@millski88 You had yours yet??

Ceremony date locked in: Tuesday 17 March, Fed square Melbourne 

2 minutes ago, millski88 said:

Haha. Awesome. You might get given one at your ceremony??

I hope so but my friend didnt get one so Im not getting my hopes up! Fingers crossed!

47 minutes ago, Ausa0000 said:

 

Thinking they should make applying for citizenship an Olympic event, it's definitely just as difficult as a marathon and with a lot of hurdles thrown in.

Touche

1 hour ago, millski88 said:

Given that me and the OH are (hopefully) within the last month or two of our wait, it's getting to the 'obsessive checking stage' I'm sure we're all so used to from our immigration journeys... I wonder if i can lighten the mood (and waste some thumb-twiddling time) by posing a question to the group -

 

 What are your plans for your citizenship ceremony day?

 

We'll hopefully have the in-laws visiting from the UK over our ceremony, so they'll be joining us. Aside from them we'll almost certainly max-out our invite allowance with close friends and others who have helped us along the way. 

Ceremonies in our area are late afternoon/early evening, and always during the week, so we'll likely get off work early and have a drink in a pub nearby, then go out for some food as a group after.

My UK passport expires in about 4 months, so i'm keen to order both new UK and Aus passports at the same time and have them both brand new (hopefully with a good photo this time!). I think that'd be a really nice touch at the end of this 7 year journey!

So what are you all going to get up to?

 

Oh I like this.

To celebrate, depending when it is I think my partner and I will go for a dinner date at one of our favourite Japanese restaurants in Melbourne (Izakaya Den - check it out!).  The weekend following the ceremony I think will go away for the weekend into the aussie bush, maybe camping or a tiny house, and disconnect from technology and the like, perhaps somewhere down the great ocean road.

I might even crack open the book 'Bill Bryson - Down Under' - the book that inspired me as an impressionable 12/13 year old to move to this great land of ours. 

Finally if I dont get one - I will buy myself a gum tree and try and keep it forever.

44 minutes ago, millski88 said:

Oh s**t! Mine was 5th July 2013 

I've been in marketing/digital projects and was working in non-profit for a long time, and that's when I got my 457 + subsequent 457 + 186 PR.

Since then though I moved to a role at group company which does recruitment & training. I'm actually about to jump ship from here though to move in to my first agency gig, which is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but with the visa arrangements hadn't been able to previously.

 

Haha. Freaky. If we had been in the same industry then I probably would start believing we are actually in The Matrix.

Agency is fun but tough in my experience!  A lot of bad agencies out there so let me know where you apply. I've been a senior role for a while and I have worked with a shed load of good and bad agencies here in Melbourne. Many are just not that good!

15 minutes ago, millski88 said:

Fingers crossed!

We've been lucky with quick turnaround on the initial stages, but now our ceremony wait is looking more average - swings and roundabouts hey.

Our stories are incredibly similar, i'm near 7 years too. 

I think posted letter and email sometimes depending on you council. My other half's parents want to come over for a visit and will try and align it for when we get our ceremony, so i'm quite glad of this contact i've got at Moreland council... don't have to wait for snail mail to get the date confirmed!

All the best mate, let us know how you go.

I know its weird haha!

I will have to check but I think my first flight into Aus (Syd) 3 June 2013 (I always get mixed up between 13 and 14),I just dug out the flight details.  Time flies!

We are almost identical except I didnt do a second working hol. 

What sort of company you at now? I've moved from the University to a government entity but Im going to move on. No budget to do anything fun after Ive finished my major projects.

Just now, millski88 said:

Quick approval! nice one.

Same day I think! Really hope the ceremony in the city comes quick now - not that it matters really but its been nearly seven years and I reckon they owe me one ha! Fingers crossed I get in the March ceremony held in the city as opposed to May! I saw that there are 100 people at the aus day one in the city and the mayor is presenting which would be pretty cool. 

My friend just told me you get the invite by post which surprised me! Also he didnt get a tree!

On 10/01/2020 at 11:20, Indianinoz said:

Great to know your test and interview was amazing. What do they ask at interview and do they ask for original documents?

Have you been approved yet? Only after you have been approved does your wait for ceremony start... A lot of people have been approved soon after passing the test/interview, but some have had to wait a few days/weeks.

Hi mate, thank you. Its very straight forward and you will go great im sure.

They asked me hardly anything.

1. Original documents - in my case new birth certificate, passport, driving licence and a recent utility bill

2. Anyone else applying with me?

3. Have I ever been convicted of a crime or have any cases pending?

I just checked my immi account and I have been approved!

Awaiting ceremony now 

45 minutes ago, millski88 said:

Nice, so your test is at the city office? Let us know how you go today.

We're in Moreland council area yeah, quite a bit of a queue for ceremonies in Moreland. Luckily i got this awesome person who does the event management at Moreland council call me after i put in a website enquiry, she'd been super helpful and told me i could call whenever i needed to check her lists. I can't say it'd be the same for every council though, it's often tricky to get any info in advance of your invite, from what i've heard.

Yeah it will be city. Friend of mine who lives two doors down did his in the city and had to wait about two months which isnt too bad at all.

Did my test this morning. Got there at 8.45am for my 9am but I was taken straight through. 10 minutes chat with the interviewer and updated a few documents (new birth certificate).

Took test and was out in 4 minutes. 100% and out on the street at 9am! Couldn't believe how fast it was.

Cant wait for that ceremony now. In a great mood!

2 hours ago, millski88 said:

Hey mate!!! Yeah good, me and the mrs both got 100% - I was out of the test centre before my appointment time it was that quick haha.

Just keeping track of progress of the waiting list with my local council. We haven't got on Australia day ceremony or the one after that (mid Feb), but i've been told they may have a second February ceremony, so fingers crossed we'll get on that.

Good luck tomorrow, you'll smash it!

What council area are you in @Parkesy? 

 

Amazing, thats exactly what I want to hear haha! Well done! Im Darebin council so I should probably take a look. Are you brunswick area I cant rememeber?

@millski88 how was your test? Seen you passed! Congratulations! Heard about the ceremony yet? Ive got my test tomorrow morning finally!

Got my appointment and test today. Scheduled late Jan.

Pretty fast turnaround of 2.7 months to get the invite.

10 minutes ago, millski88 said:

Yeah definitely quicker than expected! 

When the change to immigration bill was announced i panicked and wished i could have submitted for citizenship back then, now i'm glad i couldn't in a way... unfortunate for so many people here waiting that the influx of applications have just gotten stuck.

Yeah so keen to get mine. Ive waited enough over the years! Sam as you - working hol, 457, work transfer, 457, 186, CITIZENSHIP.

Same ANZCO too ha. You in Melbourne again I cant remember?

On 09/09/2019 at 09:16, millski88 said:

Think we've finally got our appointments in order.

Me - 17th October
OH - 24th October

OH needed one as late as possible in the afternoon, so probably not feasible to hold out for the same day. Happy that these aren't too long to wait now, and fairly close together.

Averaging 95-100% on the practice tests, itching to do it now!!!

Awesome mate. Moving quick that hey! Think we are owed it after the PR debacle! Hoping mine comes through soon. Its like our visa lives are in sync haha!

There seems to be some crazy differences in the timelines - not that im surprised given this is my fifth and final IMMI process!! Annoying as hell.

What has been the average you have seen on here recently?

Not that I really care about it as I have PR but Im certainly looking forward to becoming a citizen of my adopted home!

Long time no speak kids.

Just an update for HR Managers.

My mate go approved today.

HR Manager
TRT, LR
Applied 2/07/19
Approved 03/09/19

No questions.

8 minutes ago, millski88 said:

Seems crazy all over the place/pot luck, kinda like our 186 wait haha.

Have seen 3 months to ceremony, also seen 16-18 months with no test appointment.

Mate hows things been? Great this PR malarky hey!

You were right about people heading back to the forum around this time. Wonder who else will turn up! Im mentally prepared for 2 years before I have a meltdown.

Ideally Im looking for 36 hours.

12 minutes ago, Tanwi said:

Hello welcome back. 

Wait times for this period I wouldn't know on a realistic scale but it looks like applications get test dates pretty quick. 

From my own experience as well as what I have read on other forums. 

Som have already completed the process or are half way there. Those who lodged in this year 2019 (myself included) is what I am referring too. 

Probably best to think in terms of what DOHA posts up as estimated times, as not to gets to discouraged

Mate I am very familiar with the process times (hence the amount of posts I have!). So frustrating ha! I actually think I cracked their processing strategy in the end as I could predict the time and occupation quite accurately. Not sure you can do that with citizenships!

Hello citizenship people!

Back on the forum after a 12 months break. Conferral application is in today. So much easier than PR hey! Took me a few hours max.

What are the realistic wait times at the moment? Im aware of the published guidelines but what is the average we are seeing on the forum? 

2000 pages and counting. That is a lot stressing! Imagine if we had all put that much effort into something productive haha!!

1 minute ago, Hex said:

@Parkesy

Slightly off topic - have you found a decent forum like this for POST PR / Citizenship application help (apparently this is all done alone - not many / if any MA help with this)? 
- I'm not going anywhere, but will be applying in December and would be great to know if there is a site like this to help out. 

Only just beginning the search but had a lot of friends get theirs recently so I will lean on them. I've done my own visa applications since (3!) since arriving here so this one should be fairly straight forward!

I will have a look and see what the go is and report back.

3 minutes ago, boo-yaa said:

Sadly not mate  

Just passed the 11 month mark. Hopefully something soon

That is Sh1t!

Cant even remember how long mine was. Feels like a bad dream I had. Felt a lot worse at the time.

Think though...when it comes how good its going to be

I actually came on here to check what everyone is saying about citizenship as im applying in June - that how fast things move post PR! Time stands still when you are in it but trust me, it passes.