Sickofqueues

1 minute ago, jo888 said:

which state you has applied ?

NSW, but that shouldn't matter.

Good day all,

Our PR visas got granted a few minutes ago. Thank you all for your support and best wishes to those who are waiting.

Regards, Avi

On 15/03/2019 at 13:26, Hex said:

@MaggieMay24 Are you certain on this? 

I thought that the PCC needed to be valid at the time of viewing by CO.
- Valid meaning, that it was stamped and valid for the time period provide per the country where it was given? 

I'm happy to be wrong, but just wanted to confirm for future? 

I am pretty sure that's not the case. As someone who has uploaded four PCCs to my PR application, the general rule is that the PCC should be issued in the last one year. Most countries (none of the four I got mine for) put a validity on it. After all, how can a PCC be 'valid' for one year? That would mean that the issuing authority can magically predict that the applicant will not commit any serious crime for the next one year! 

All they really say is that "As far as we know, this person hasn't done anything too bad". That's all it really is.

Hi all,

As we wait for out visas (we've now provided the PCCs that they asked for), I have two questions. The first one is easy:

1. After uploading the documents requested by the CO, is there anyway to message/ping the CO to tell them that "Hey, the docs you wanted are ready" or do you just wait and hope they are keeping a tab?
2. This one is more detailed. I am aware of the 2 year commitment to the employer as part of the ENS visa (and also know that it can almost never be enforced if you leave before that). After my visa is done, my employer will recontract me to a different (subsidiary) company. By law, the new company is totally independent and has nothing to do with my current company. So essentially, I will leave my company and join the new company on their request. My question is that wouldn't this jeopardise the employer's ability to enforce the 2 year commitment even further because they would have themselves moved me to a different company within that two year period (and as I said, they CANNOT say that the companies are related in anyway)?

Appreciate your responses. 

2 hours ago, Friskycharmer said:

Hi akiradiaz mine hasn't changed either i wouldn't be to alarmed.

I uploaded my new police check on the 4th of Feb so hoping by the end of Feb they will have looked at it.

Slightly different with the NZ police checks as they have to contact the ministry of justice to confirm there isn't a 2nd page so can take longer.

Gotta love a long wait eh 

Bureaucracy and more red tape. Might as well check with the Ministry of Agriculture if the food production in NZ is normal.

On 08/02/2019 at 08:35, sawar said:

1 week max

I think I've seen some people who took 3 months. Can be due to a number of reasons. For example, we were contacted in 4 days but since we don't have the required police clearances ready, we might have to wait for a couple of months.

21 hours ago, SAJ.N said:

Hi KBK,

Is your agent Deloitte / similar company with processing priority or normal agent ?

There is nothing called priority processing for an agent. Bigger agents tend to be more thorough, based on experience, but that their name is not supposed to have any impact on the processing of the application. In terms of the sponsoring employer, bigger ones will tend to  get their way (not necessarily quicker) only because from a CO perspective, they have less to investigate about in terms of the legitimacy of the company.

Good day all,

Finally some good news. My nomination has been approved (as of Feb 2, 2019 but got the official confirmation today). No documents required (I do work for a large company). Now it's the visa's turn, which might take a little while as we need several police clearances.

Relieved, nevertheless.

18 hours ago, Friskycharmer said:

Anyone managed to get the NZ police certificate sped up ? 20 working days for a police check seems stupid to me. 

It takes 6 months to get one from the Iranian embassy.

18 hours ago, Hex said:

Hey guys

A question that is a little unrelated to the visa process and more on pregnancy / birth etc. 

A friend of mine (who has PR) just had a child. This child can automatically get Citizenship.

My understanding is that, by law the mother and father would still need to follow the same route as they would have without the child to get Citizenship, however, this blows my mind and I wanted to confirm my thinking was correct.

Because (although it would only be at extreme cases) - this law would then allow the parents to be deported on a PR visa, however, the child could stay (separating a new born from her mother).

I'm pretty sure, a while ago there was a law that stated, any new born that gets Citizenship, would immediately allow the mother (only) to apply and get same immediately (to avoid this loop-loophole). 

Does anyone have any insights on this one... I thought it was pretty interesting. 

Hi Hex,

Yes, children of parents who are permanent residents can become Australian citizens (there is a brief procedure that needs to be followed).  The parents would have to satisfy standard citizenship requirements. 

I am not sure what you mean by 'separating a new born...'. If a parent(s) is(are) deported, they can take their child with them to their home country; the only benefit will be that the child will have the option to return to Australia at a later stage in their lives.

In the United States, you can give birth on a tourist visa (or other temporary visas such as student visas) and your child becomes a US citizen. This has led to a lot of scams with tourists (lots of Chinese rackets) going to the US solely to get their newborns US citizenship. I have two friends who were PhD students in the US and had children there, but had to return to India as they could not get work visas, with their respective children (the child has the right to go back to India; this is the case with every country I know of, including those [like India] that do not recognise dual citizenships).

1 hour ago, Aron said:

Hi Hex,

Please could you let me know what are the majority parts of tax claim that a 457 visa holder can claim?  I am a bit keen to know because for last 2 years, each year I only claimed back a few hundred dollars out of 30K+ tax paid each year,  Is this a normal number?  I have a feeling that I might have lost a great deal of money. 

Hi Aron,

The only thing you can claim back on a 457 (that you can't otherwise) is your medicare levy. Even that, you can only do if you have not applied for and received a temporary medicare card (which you are eligible for if you have applied for a PR).

On 23/01/2019 at 16:47, Whites.uk said:

Does anybody have experience with changing Job Titles in their 457 role, then applying for a 186 TRT?

Worried the Department might refuse me for the slightest raised eye brow? 

My MA said the following on the subject;

 Would anyone be worried?

Yes, I went from being a senior to a manager. However, we carefully maintained 70% or so of my original job responsibilities with the new role. 

16 hours ago, Friskycharmer said:

Hey guys and girls update from me. 

My MA just contacted me as he’s been on the phone to the case officer today. 

I need to get a new NZ police check done as my one is more than 6 months old. 

It has to be less than 6 months old and have a consent form with it. 

Other thsn that I’ve been advised my application is fine and this is the final thing needed to get my golden email. 

Although it’s not a grant I’m happy knowing I’m on my way to freedom

Hi,

Can you tell me what is this consent form you are talking about? I have also submitted my NZ police clearance, and although  it is fairly recent, you never know with these idiots. 

20 hours ago, SR744 said:

Hello All, 

I was wondering if there were any other copywriters out there waiting for their 186 visa? Or any who have recently got theirs approved?

I lodged in February and anxiously waiting for the good news (all being well!). 

Not a copy writer, but a technical writer (different ANZCO). Also applied in Feb 2018.

13 minutes ago, KBK said:

Hi,

Does this affect me , My details are

Occupation : Software Tester

Country: HR

Stream: 457 -  186 TRT

Applied on : 21 May 2018(nomination & application)

State: NSW

Number of applicants: 2

Immi Status: Received

No, because of transitional arrangements for 457 visa holders. Basically, if you had a 457 with pretty much any occupation (originally the CSOL), then you can could be nominated for 186 visa. The March 18 deadline, if I remember correctly, would only apply to 186 DE nominations, not TRT, so you should be alright.

Additionally, I don't think your MA would have filed for a visa you are not eligible for!

On 28/11/2018 at 10:44, SAJ.N said:

Hi Eddy,

28 days, still is not too bad. Police check report from my country takes 4 months :)))

I've already applied for a new one and got a letter from embassy that it is mentioned it takes long if CO asks during this time !

Hi Saj, can you please check your direct message? Have sent you one. Thanks!

On 28/11/2018 at 20:08, Friskycharmer said:

This is in relation to the police check convo earlier today. Your CO must of thought you were a bit dodgy

Hey Jonathan, can you confirm you did you write to (and got this response). I have a similar situation and these rules can be so stupid. However, if what they've said to you would also apply to us (as it should in theory), then it should save us some hassles.

Thanks!

Hi all,

Silent reader but decided to start responding to some questions and here is my profile/timeline update:

ENS 186 DE

2 people HR countries

Occupation: Technical Writer

Onshore

Visa and nomination lodged on Feb 2018

Have already updated this in the Google spreadsheet. I am also in the process of securing my Canadian PR because I have very limited expectations from the Australian immigration system.

Good luck everyone and let's keep sharing information like we do to keep the clock ticking.

Hi all,

Silent reader but decided to start responding to some questions and here is my profile/timeline update:

ENS 186 DE

2 people HR countries

Occupation: Technical Writer

Onshore

Visa and nomination lodged on Feb 2018

Have already updated this in the Google spreadsheet. I am also in the process of securing my Canadian PR because I have very limited expectations from the Australian immigration system.

Good luck everyone and let's keep sharing information like we do to keep the clock ticking.

44 minutes ago, ICT Customer Support Officer said:

Not sure if it's been asked before. 

We are on 457, applied 186 in Feb.

As far as I understand we are eligible for Medicare (blue or something like this).

Question: if we will apply to Medicare and we will get it, do we still need to pay for 457 Health Insurance (Private fund)? 

As far as I understand as we are still on 457 (expires 2020) we must have the appropriate level of cover.  Is Medicare cover good enough? 

How does it work?

 

Thanks. 

 

 

Everyone has a different opinion on this. My two cents:

457 requires you to have a certain level of coverage. That certain level is actually below what Medicare offers and therefore being on Medicare will suffice (for those interested, it is Medicare level cover minus GP visits).

However,  there are other things to consider. Firstly, depending on your wage, you will probably need some level of private cover to avoid the medicare levy surcharge (MLS). So, taking medicare and giving up on private insurance will cost you roughly the same as taking medicare and having the lowest level of cover possible to avoid the MLS. 

Not having private cover also has other repercussions such as the lifetime health cover loading that will apply if you do take one in the future.

More importantly, signing up for Medicare means that you cannot claim an exemption on the medicare levy in your tax return (which you can on a 457). In my case, it makes no sense financially to sign up for medicare. Here's how: As a couple, our health insurance is about $210 a month. And we pay (and claim a refund on) around $350 a month of medicare levy. If we take medicare, our insurance will come down to around $160 a month but the $350 will now be non-refundable, so we'll end up paying $300 more every month. Given that we are very fit and don't really want medicare (we can get much better insurance for around ~!$350), I've decided not to sign up till I have an option.

Hope this helps.