mia.oh.my

We've had 3 quotes now for the partial shipping of our 3 bed house (we're going to keep it and rent it out). London > Sydney. All quotes in the region of £2K for a shared 20' container (John Mason, Pickfords and Bournes). We have opted for John Mason in the end. Seeing as I plan to make the most of our office printer, what useful documents would people recommend keeping back from being loaded into a big metal box, heading out to sea.... for a long time... print outs of our visas, driving licences and various ID? Any other ideas, most welcome! 

On 20/12/2018 at 22:53, rammygirl said:

Who did you insure with? I would always recommend a third party rather than the removals company for this reason. 

We're just getting quotes now. Out of interest, why would you recommend a 3rd party insurer over the removals company? 

@samie97 We had separate accounts. As the Sponsor, I uploaded the basics required, but all the supportive evidence, we filed under my partners account. IMMI links them together so I wouldn't worry. 

@mppc How did you make do while you were waiting for all your possessions to arrive in Australia? 

@Marisawright @Jo P On this note about shipping (we're intending to use a Movecube), we're dithering about whether so send stuff out ahead of us and then making do with borrowing stuff from friends and family to tide us over. Or shipping our gear when we leave and then renting a full household 'kit of goods' (bedding, crockery, furniture etc etc) and wondered if anyone had any experience with doing this and if they would recommend it? It would be for the short term until our stuff arrived in Sydney. So 3 months, I guess? Most apartments I've looked at online are furnished with white goods anyway.

@Belfastchild That's odd they've asked you for another UK police check. Are all the names you've been known by on your certificate? I also thought they were asking for my UK police check again but it was on the checklist page, under my name, that it was a bit clearer and they weren't asking for it again. The letter is formatted in a confusing way! I never had any luck in getting through to a case officer previous to our grant but I think a few people have listed a contact number for the department on this thread.

@Bruce down under RFIs for police checks etc come through as an email (and will also be noted on your IMMI account). 

Hurrah! Great news [emoji2]

@ticklebug74 you have a year to activate the visa by entering Australia from the date of your medicals and police check.

Can you let me know who the shipping company is @Thom? Thanks.

@Dmb81 I'm not sure why I had to do a police check. I'd submitted a UK one, but maybe it's because we're taking children with us? I don't know. Maybe have a look through this thread and see if anyone else had to do similar - even if just living in Australia as a child. It took about 15 working days to come through, was inexpensive and straightforward - in case you decide / or get asked to do one. Thank you for the well wishes. Same to you!

32 minutes ago, Dmb81 said:

Fantastic news for you both @simonp85 and @mia.oh.my when are you both starting your adventure?

Do you mind me asking what your RFI was? I notice it was requested for both of you after 3 months. I've sold my house and have two interviews so now trying to get my hubby's through without any RFI's

 

Ours were for my Australian police check (even though I have never lived in Australia), and UK police check and medicals for my husband and 2 young kids. We're flying out to Sydney at the end of November to try and get settled before the start of the Aussie school year. 

And we're in! Grants came through this morning  Thank you everyone on this thread for the moral support, sharing and caring and encyclopaedic levels of information... and to @CEP for the most invaluable spreadsheet, which gives a really good indiction of timings and helped form our decisions up until this point. Good luck everyone still waiting. 

Having replied a couple of hours ago to say no news, just after 5pm I got notification that both my 309 and in the same minute my 100 were granted!
Beyond happy! 

3 minutes ago, Belfastchild said:

Any of the October’s heard anything? Seems to be quiet the past few weeks. 

Nope 

Morning everyone, 
So in still waiting [emoji29] I actually dreamt ladt night I had an email asking me to leave.......
1 day I will wake to that email xx

1 minute ago, mppc said:

 

Thank you Mia - Fantastic - can you give me the name of the site you used so I we can request one too? 

Sure - it's here: https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/services/criminal-records/national-police-checks 

7 minutes ago, mppc said:

Thank you so much for you help, its such a confusing process and i hope to get as much uploaded as I can to save time. 

I've just had my Australian Police check through. It was as straightforward as the UK ACRO one. It took about 15 working days to arrive. I also asked them if they could send a copy to my family in Australia so they would receive it faster and then scan and upload it to me - just in case my copy got lost over the oceans somewhere! 

@AdStanna This is everything [emoji1369][emoji1373] Wonderfully put! And here’s to the next chapter in your life. Congratulations!

Ah thank you so much! I literally had a mad little panic [emoji85][emoji23]
 
Does anyone know how medicals are uploaded? I.e. do we get to see the full report? My husband has his on 19/03. Dx

HELL YEAH, LONDON!! Congratulations to all those with the winning ticket.

For those who submitted their RFIs under two separate accounts, Sponsor and Applicant, when clicking the 'I confirm I have provided information as requested' grey button, did you just do it on the one account? I uploaded the final piece of evidence just now, under my Sponsor account and clicked the confirmation button. Great. Then went to the Applicant account and went to press the confirmation button there too, but now it's greyed out i.e. I can't click it which I'm sort of panicking about. I'm guessing as the two accounts are linked and all RFI documents are uploaded, and I pressed the confirmation button under the Sponsor account, that that's why I can't press it under the Applicant's account? Our status on both Sponsor and Applicant accounts now says 'Further Assessment'. (Sorry if that made no sense!)

@belfastchild I’m an Australian by descent and have never lived in Australia and was asked in my RFI for an Australian police check. Now I’m stressing out it won’t arrive within the 28 day window, despite it having being despatched 3 days after it was requested. (Another wait to add to an even bigger wait!)

  So you're not planning on staying long?  If you're planning a return to the UK eventually, then do make sure you maintain your UK bank accounts and consider paying NI contributions while you're away, to safeguard your UK pension.    It may be a long way in the future, but also be aware of residency requirements for further education.  For instance. if you return when a child is 18 and ready to go to university, you'l be up for full international fees - so you should plan to be back in the UK before they turn 15 to avoid that.

 

 

I have citizenship and my kids and husband will be on PR.

@rammygirl He should set up an Australian ABN even if his only source of income is from the U.K.? We definitely need to speak to someone who deals in expat finances... it’s in my never ending list of things to do! I’m not sure how sustainable it is for us in the long term either, but his industry doesn’t really exist on the same scale in Sydney and it would be good to have a company to come back to when we get back to the U.K. (I would work in Australia as normal).

I wonder... has there been any pattern with what the RFI requests relate too and the time it then takes for the grant to then come through? I just don’t understand the seemingly sporadic nature of it all. How some have had grants soon after their RFI and others are still waiting.