Ausgirl42

Hi all, Long time lurker, first-time poster! I'm Australian, have lived in UK for 17 years, desperate to go back to Aus. Partner (fiance) of almost 7 years is Scottish, and we submitted his 309 visa application on 22/08/18, have uploaded identity docs, social media relationship proof, 3 x form 888s, my Aus police check etc. Got the automated immi prompt for medical, which partner has booked in for on 5th Sept. Since we booked it, status has changed from "Submitted" to "Received" I have applied for my UK police check (not yet been prompted for it) and will be applying for partners in the next day or so. Hoping we are a fairly straightforward case - no children together but he has a 9 year old that is not immigrating with us (staying with mum, obviously, but looking forward to visiting!) We were originally advised by an immigration agent (a paid phone consultation) in Australia for other half to come over on a tourist visa, then apply for the partner visa onshore to obviate the long waiting times. We had concerns but he told us "everyone does it" - after seeing some people on various forums mention breaching tourist visas and being turned around at the border and/or banned for three years, we decided the risk wasn't worth it and feel a lot more comfortable now that we have applied "properly". We didn't use an agent for our application and have just done it ourselves. Just hope it doesn't take too long as we are waiting to get the visa before we push the button on putting the house on the market!