On 07/07/2020 at 17:05, jadee said:

Hi! Thank you for your reply- as we returned back to the UK for a few months to pack up after validating our visas- this exceeded the 90 days so we will have to pay again unfortunately! I was just wondering if I send for the ACRO check now- 7 weeks premature of being eligible for citizenship, or would this pose a problem? I just wanted to be in a position to apply on the earliest date possible to prevent any additional wait times, It's already looking at 26 months.

 

Any help would be great!

Hey, yes you can order your ACRO test now, as long as they are not 12 months old you will be fine. BTW if you are in WA, they just started the test and interviews

Those of you in WA, test resumed on 6th of July,Good Luck 

In-person citizenship interviews and citizenship tests have recommenced in Western Australia only from 6 July 2020.  Eligible individuals will be contacted and invited to attend a citizenship interview or test.   There is no need to contact the Department about your citizenship interview or test.

We will gradually restart interviews and citizenship tests in other states and territories when it is safe to do so.

Those of you in WA, test resumed on 6th July

In-person citizenship interviews and citizenship tests have recommenced in Western Australia only from 6 July 2020.  Eligible individuals will be contacted and invited to attend a citizenship interview or test.   There is no need to contact the Department about your citizenship interview or test.

We will gradually restart interviews and citizenship tests in other states and territories when it is safe to do so.

2 hours ago, jadee said:

Hi everyone!

Does anyone know if I can apply for the police check/ certificate/ clearance prior to being eligible for citizenship?

In approximately 7 weeks I can apply for citizenship, but I am conscious the processing times are longer than ever, so was hoping to speed up the process as best as I can.

I understand police check have a 12 month "validity" period for other applications but don't want to buy the check twice if it will be void for the citizenship application.

 

Any help would be great! Cheers

Hey,

You don't need to do Australian police check as department does it internally. You only need foreign police check if following applies to you

If you have spent a total of 12 months or more outside Australia since we granted you a permanent visa, you need to give us overseas police certificates from every country, including your home country, where you have spent a total of more than 90 days since you turned 18.

If above does apply to you, then you can surely get your police check. But keep in mind that there are no CitizenshipTests happening at the moment, so there is potentially huge backlog of application that need processing 

3 hours ago, hawkmoon1704 said:

So we are planning to return to Sydney after 2 years away and wondered if anyone else has ping ponged during Covid. Are there any restrictions on this type of traveller and what are the basic rules on return? Simple 2 week isolation? Do we organise this ourself or do we have to somewhere special?

Thanks for any and all info on this.

As long as you are PR or Citizen, you are allowed in. You have to isolate yourself in hotel for 2 weeks, paid by NSW government. Due to recent spike in cases in Victoria, they are not taking any international flights and i think NSW also put restrictions on number of passengers that can arrive each day.Please read the article below

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-04/nsw-coronavirus-cap-on-arrivals-to-ease-quarantine-pressure/12422504

4 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

Can I just say that I don’t see what the problem is? As far as I’m aware the only time citizenship is better than PR (except in the emotional sense) is if you are travelling outside Australia and lets face it, none of us are doing that any time soon.  My government has just taken three months to renew my passport and I still haven’t got the new one - it’s probably going to take another month to get here. I’ve had a good whinge about that a couple of times because me and my passport don’t like to be separated, but it isn’t the end of the world, really it isn’t.  

I guess it depends on your circumstances. In my case , i can't access student loan so   have to put my degree on hold until i get the citizenship. It could have been good time to be at Uni considering current economic downturn

19 hours ago, lastdrop said:

Hi All,

I'm also in the process of doing the citizenship application online. We've already received the NSW Police Certificates, do I need to have it signed  (certified true copy) by a JP?

Thanks

Hey mate, you don't need Australian police check for citizenship. Department does the check on your behalf directly and you need overseas police certificates if following applies to you

If you have spent a total of 12 months or more outside Australia since we granted you a permanent visa, you need to give us overseas police certificates from every country, including your home country, where you have spent a total of more than 90 days since you turned 18.

1 hour ago, Csc1980 said:

Hi,
 
Does someone know after my first withdrawal 10k from my super, I have a balance of 15000 in my super.
 
Can I withdrawal anther 10k this July?
Or I have to have at least 20k remaining then I am allowed to take out the second time?
 
Thanks

 

You can withdraw upto $10000 from July 

5 hours ago, M.muhammad said:

Hi Everyone,

I am in the processing of lodging my citizenship application via immi account. At the stage of attaching documents, I am going through a few issues. I am trying to attach pdf documents but while attaching, the immi account auto converting them into JPG images and saving them as individual image files. For example; I have attached a 2-page pdf file ( passport) and when i click attach it takes me to another page and shows me 2 jpg images, stating that your pdf file is converting into an acceptable format... kindly confirm. On confirmation, it saves it as two individual files with page 1 and page 2 description.

I have used the same file for other visa applications and it all goes well.

Also, i tried attaching the 1195 form, considering that might be there as an issue with my file but when I tried attaching, it gives an error "Unable to attach the PDF file provided. The number of Pages will exceed the attachment limit"

I have also email technical support and waiting for them to respond.

Is anyone else also having such issues or am I doing something wrong? Kindly help.

Thanks

Mine were converted the same way, I don't think that's  an issue. With regards to 1195, how many pages does your pdf file have ? 

2 hours ago, jadee said:

Thank you so much for you helpful advice! That is exactly what I needed to know! 

I will sure make a start scanning documents and I think I've completed our 10 year travel history so I'm hoping I've made a dint in the process!

Good luck with your application I hope it's quick! 

 

Cheers!

Download form 1300t, it is for paper application but will give you rough idea what information you need

18 hours ago, rajiraguraman said:

Hello,

I just need a clarification regarding my submitted EOI for 189 visa application.

I am a PhD graduate from Deakin University, Australia. My program was a full time study but was a collaborative program between an Indian institute and Deakin University, Australia. I was at Chennai,India for 3 years during my PhD and last one year I spent at Deakin University. 

When I sent my skill assessment to Engineers Australia for assessment (233914 Engineering technologist) I was given a outcome letter saying Bachelor's is my highest AQF. Looks like my master's degree was not suitable for that stream that I applied to.  I am just wondering if I will be getting only 15 points with regard to educational qualification for this case or 20 points because of PhD. I have not claimed Australian study requirement because of this reason.

 

Could anyone please clarify.

You can still claim point for your highest qualification, even though if it is not related to your occupation

8 hours ago, Goof93 said:

Hi everyone, bare with me as im kinda new to this..

I have a few things I feel I need clearIng up as the obsession of how to get a 189 has taken over my life 

I would appreciate any help and I think others who may not have the same occupation as me could find very helpful as well so any help is welcome. 
 

Firstly I’m relying hugely on gaining as much points as possible by sitting the IELTS test, now this may seem a crazy dumb question but is the IELTS test based the same for the UK as it is for Australia? I cant remember why but i was under the impression that whatever country the testing centre was in that the test there would be marked in accordance with what that country are looking for, for example is there an IELTS for Australia and an IELTS for Canada and an IELTS for the UK etc or is ielts the same all over? Sorry if I haven’t explained my question this in the best way possible. 
 

Secondly I’m a 7 year qualified car mechanic who spent a year in Oz in 2015 on a working holiday visa with my partner, to cut a long story short my plan all along after researching visas while i was in Australia was to come home and build up my points through years experience. Im now at least 5 but less than 8 years post apprenticeship. Now im going to jump way ahead of myself here but if i had to get accepted on a 189 visa is it mandatory that i work within my skilled occupation that i have been accepted on or Is it possible to work in another line of work? If so would this in anyway affect my chances of gaining Australian citizenship in the future if i never worked as a car mechanic whilst on my 189? 

 

Another huge couple questions form me... My partner of 7 years is 27  years old the same age as me. I don’t imagine she would have any issues getting superior English in the IELTS test, she has just recently become a qualified nurse in the UK. I really would like to know does she need to get her skills assessed as i will so i can claim points when putting her on the visa? Also considering she has just qualified am i still able to claim these points or does she need years experience the way i did? 

In terms of “the que” am I up against every other occupation on the list with way more points or am i up against car mechanics only? i have had a look at the 190 also however i would like to work in WA or Queensland and a mechanic isn’t on their list. At my absolute best and with a lot of studying I believe i could get 80 points. Has anyone ever heard of a mechanic on more than 80 points and not been invited? For that matter has anyone ever heard of a mechanic gaining a 189 visa?

Like i say any help is welcome guys hope to hear some answers as I’ve given myself a sore head over the last few weeks

 

Hey mate, IELTS test is jointly run  by British council, IDP and CELA.  British Council one tend to use British english and mostly British accent, on the other hand IDP is more Australian.Both have the same type of questions and way of marking etc. I would suggest try the PTE exam, most people score better in PTE than IELTS.

You can work in any occupation after the grant, it won't effect anything. You will have good chances with trade occupation for 190 visa. hope this help,You can message me if you have further questions.

15 hours ago, ToowoombaBlue said:

This is from the Immi site......

Choosing to receive correspondence by post

In order to receive paper correspondence by post, you must complete Form 1193 Communicating by email with the department and attach the completed form to your application in ImmiAccount.

If the application has a status of finalised in ImmiAccount, send a copy of the form to the nearest Immigratio

Thanks very much, I completed and attached the form to Other section

Hi Everyone,
I submitted my citizenship application today. When I click on messages it shows the following

The applicant has not agreed to receive electronic correspondence for this application.
Note: Electronic correspondence for this application is sent only if the applicant agreed to communicate via email in the application.

I read that need to attach form 1193, but not sure which section shall i upload this form. Thanks for your input

I applied for mine today, Lets hope they start the tests again very soon

On 04/05/2020 at 20:15, sydneyishuk said:

Hey,

I’m located in Randwick too 

Amazing !!  I will be following you closely haha. I am applying for mine on 20th of this month

14 hours ago, expatica said:

I feel like I've done something really wrong lol. I submitted for my citizenship, and it asked info about my parents and siblings during the application, cool, had to fill out that same info for my PR. But in both the document upload part, and if I wanted to update details of my application, there are sections for both my parents?? Like to upload documents for my parents? And in the update details section, it asks "which applicant" and my parents are in the dropdown??

Like, why are my parents in these sections? Or is this normal and I'm freaking out.

Hey mate, i had the same thing for my PR application.  I didn't upload  anything to my parents section and got my PR without any issue, so don't worry at all

38 minutes ago, sydneyishuk said:

Hi all,

New to the forum, applied just yesterday!  I know I am in for a long wait 

Has any one been called for test recently during Covid-19?  I am based in Sydney NSW.

Thanks!

Hey mate, just wondering which council in Sydney ? i will be applying on 20th of this month and i am in Randwick

8 hours ago, Sigemup said:

Hi guys,

I have question about the scanning of photo for the form 1195. How big should the photo size be ? I mean the harf copy is as per the specs. But how big should the scanned soft copy be ? 

Should it be same size on the screen as the actual photo (i.e. 35mm by 45mm) ? Or should it be scanned copy be A4 size ? I am very confused about this.

Thank you

Hoping that someone will answer soon, confused about the same

I did last year, 130 days in total

22 hours ago, Aysh.a said:

Hi Russell,

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my query. As it is a Phd from an Australian university which is already in the required AQL level, hence I understand that there is no role for vetassess here. I had a impression that I can claim points only for the degrees that are assessed by the assessing authority. I really feel better reading your reply.

Thanks again!

Hey mate, I did my Finance degree in Australia and successfully claimed points for it. I never got it assessed by any authority and my occupation was totally different

20 hours ago, Ritu Kamboj said:

Hey friends, i am applying for Visa 489 in July 2019 . will i get invitation ? Do anybody has idea for how much time does the window opens for Software Engineer. I have 70

+10 Points for Visa 489

As per earlier comment, it will depend on the state 

3 hours ago, AnnetteV said:

Many thanks for your comments. It means I can apply May next year

Same here, May 20th according to the calculator