mt9754

There's not much inviting going on for anyone at the moment for 189 or 190. 
https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skillselect/invitation-rounds

You have a good number of points so I would leave your EOI in the system.

11 hours ago, HeretoThere said:

Hi all hope you are doing well.

I received a state sponsored 190 invitation for NSW and submitted the application for the visa in early April.  The job is not on a priority skills list and we would be moving as a family of 5 once the visa is granted. Do the quotas mean that we will be waiting longer than usual (in Immi it says 9-12 months)?  I'm not sure exactly how the quotas affect this type of application.  We are not in a rush to move and have not been assigned a CO yet or had medicals/police reports requested so I am just waiting for contact on next steps. Just wondering if anyone had a general idea of how the reduced numbers might affect this type of application or if we would still receive the application within 12 months.  Just seeing if anyone else has a similar situation.  Thanks all if anyone has any ideas!

If you've been invited then i'd expect you have already been taken into account in the numbers.

I tended to look at Immitracker for a guide more generally.  Looking today it seems they slowed down granting 190 visas about 4 months ago but there are early signs the grants might be beginning to pick up again.  There are still a large number of applications dating back to December 2019 but we've seen in previous years that they can clear the backlogs within a couple of months.  It's pretty much impossible to predict when your application will be picked up.

Last year I did my medicals straight away around this time of year and it turned out I had complications with my Xray - it took about 3 months to sort it out - seeing private specialists to prove I was fit - NHS didn't consider it a priority as i was still standing (to paraphrase!).  While this was going on, HA started blitzing the 190 backlog.  About a week after I submitted my final medicals I got a direct grant.

They have an offer of kids under 16 fly free if you book this weekend, felt a bit of a weird offer to be launching in the middle of this situation.

I didn't stay there but the Airport hotel does appear to be available for bookings by the hour.  And because it's airside, you should be able to access but remember you will have no luggage.

You might be eligible for free accomodation: https://www.qatarairways.com/en-au/hia-hamad-international-airport/transit-accommodation.html

https://oryxairporthotel.com/

I think it would depend what Visa she came over on in February...

At the time you apply you must have been:

• living in Australia on a valid visa for the past 4 years
• a permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen for the past 12 months
• away from Australia for no more than 12 months in total in the past 4 years, including no more than 90 days in total in the past 12 months

Have you tried using the Residence Calculator? https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/tools/residence-calculator

1 hour ago, rtritudr said:

You don't have to prepay.

To be fair you don't have to prepay in the US either.  It's only tourists whose credit cards aren't accepted by the pump that have to head inside to prepay (or authorize if you have a credit card).

In the US they like to pre-auth before you start (they don’t seem to trust their customers?), whereas i’m more used to picking up the pump before needing my wallet.

Ah I saw that, and a lot of options (E10?!)

Great thankyou! :), trying to avoid being “that guy” that doesn’t know what is going on haha.

Hi,

Silly question but in Australia is it like the UK where you normally fill up first and then go into the store to pay, or is it more like the US where you often have to go into the store first before filling up?

If it helps, I am using a Wex Motorpass fuel card.

Thanks in advance!

5 minutes ago, Daffyduck said:

Strangely, both UK and Australian delegates are being quoted as saying that movement of people will very much feature in the trade deal likely to come into effect 1st Jan 2021.

Yep, it may well do.  Remember prior to the EU the UK and Australia had special arrangements, but i very much doubt it will be free movement.

Most political leaders out here seem very keen to limit immigration, numbers have fallen substantially over recent years.  Free  movement is very much against the grain at the moment and “free” means losing control which i’m pretty sure Australia/UK won’t want to do.

You don’t need to register.  Some people have been emailing requests for waivers and they get a generic email reply to that effect.  I can understand why as i would feel more comfortable having something in writing even if it is generic.

My personal opinion is i don’t like relying too much on temporary rules as you never know when they’ll change their tune.  So out of abundance of caution I would be trying to make a move fairly quickly or atleast taking enough actions to be able to demonstrate later on you are still trying to migrate in case things start getting messy.  It will probably never happen but the process is so expensive and long I personally wouldn’t take any chances.

If prep is going well, don’t forget the new one way Qantas flights from London during November.

The issue is everyone gets it at once and so you can quickly have 500,000 people die in a very short period of time unless measures are taken.  

Now that treatments are becoming more effective, hospitals have more ventilators and partially effective vaccines might be on the way, governments have begun changing policy focusing on not letting hospitals get overrun (as per Europe).  This allows a far greater degree of business as usual.

The NZ approach was excellent at dodging the first deadly wave, buying the country some time while we learn more but I can’t see a future for that policy.  Even NZ will have to transition at some point when they deem the risk of uncontrollable numbers of deaths has reduced enough, maybe a partially effective vaccine will tip the scales for them.

Yep, i searched emails and logins for airline carriers.  Don't forget trains and ferries too.  I had to use extra pages, it took about 4 hours to collate.

Last year, it took anywhere from around 4 days to 3 weeks.

There's too many factors and too few applicants to really make any generalisations about how the process works or when you might receive news, but I would say check your spam!  My golden email landed in my spam folder!

Impossible to say, all the processes have been thrown out the window recently.  The October round hasn't even been run.

I mostly use Zoom or Teams.

If your friends don’t have a PC and you need to go old skool then Skype can be a good compromise, their call rates to UK phone numbers are cheap and it’s fasssttt https://secure.skype.com/en/credit

Or Vodafone - look at Combo Plus, they have an offer of $12 per month for a PAYG bundle which includes 500 UK minutes.

When i noticed Medicare didn’t cover dental, the ambulance to take you to hospital and only covered some of the other fees I have to admit i didn’t look any closer, I will look into it some more, maybe i can reel in my hospital cover!

Medicare doesn't cover much at all (compared to the NHS for example) - I wouldn't cancel Bupa without doing some research.

I mention getting your airline to rebook as it is usually a lot easier and cheaper.  If you can find a flight, call them up and get it arranged, this is what I did with British Airways, they can't claim force majeure if you can demonstrate there is an available flight they can plonk you on.  It sounds like you've already cancelled with Air Canada but worth remembering for next time.

Compensation: Yep can understand you have more important things right now, but it's an easy way to get €600 per person after things calm down.

Before that, remember your airline cannot just cancel your flight, under EU law it is their obligation to offer re-routing (even if it is on another airline).  So ring them up and make it clear you still intend to travel.  It helps if you can clearly demonstrate other flight options, ideally with partner airlines.

If your airline and you both agree, the rerouting could be done to a nearby airport (eg Brisbane).

Also, if they cancel with less than 14 days to go, you are also entitled to compensation.

Checkout: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/indexamp_en.htm#shortcut-26

From the immitracker (take with a pinch of salt) it looks like most case workers are processing 190 applications lodged around Nov/Dec 2019 at the moment.  It's clear to see they have been processing applications more slowly since July.  190 processing does seem to come in waves though, last year they had a large backlog similar to this year and started working through them quickly from September and pretty much cleared the backlog by November.

All i would suggest is double and triple check your application to improve the odds of it sailing through once it gets some eyes.

Hope this helps!

I think it’s quality of life more generally.  Not busy like the UK, lots of sunshine, beaches, good for families and more recently the direct flight to London helps tips the balance.

If you've not changed job then you can claim the points.

But you mention you've moved company.  I was under the impression this means you need a new ACS assessment if you want to count those 4 months?

It's an interesting topic.

Lockdown too much - people die of domestics, undiagnosed cancers, missed hospital surgeries, and other ailments just because people are too scared to access health services.  They also die of poverty due to loss of income (a big!!! killer - food, environment etc).

Lockdown too little - you kill ~3% of the population, with the old and fragile being affected the most.

Sometimes I think the lockdowns in Australia are too strict, sometimes I think the lockdowns in the UK were too lax - only time will tell what was the right strategy.