Collingwood_21

Thank you both so much for responding! And thank goodness - that's the answer I wanted I have so much leave built up from the past 2 years it would have been so sad to not use it. I will have a job in Aus and obviously still live in Aus with my partner (who is also applying for citizenship but won't be joining me on all these trips as he doesn't have as much annual leave). So I think I can demonstrate the ties!

Hello, I am going to apply for citizenship in early 2022 (once I hit my 1 year anniversary for PR - I have lived in Aus since 2017 so I already fulfill that residency requirement). For obvious reasons I haven't left Australia since 2019 and I want to go on a few holidays in 2021, see family abroad etc. I know there is a requirement to have not left Australia for more than 90 days (cumulative) in the 12 months before applying for citizenship. I have fulfilled this. Can I then leave for more than 90 days a year after I have submitted the citizenship application? (Not that it matters but I won't be leaving for 90 days in a row or long term, just multiple 2 week trips here and there and I think there is a chance it could go over 90 days when they're all added up). I know citizenship can't be approved while I am outside Aus and I don't mind if my citizenship process takes longer. I'm just trying to organise my travel plans and set expectations if I can't go away for more than 90 days a year until citizenship is approved. I hope that makes sense±

I've literally just done this myself! You can apply online then send your passport to the UK. It took 3 weeks to get to the UK, 3 weeks to process and about another 10 days to get back to Aus. The passport office ship it DHL so the return was quick at least. Then update your PR on myimmi (you need a scan of the passport). It was pretty painless.

Thanks for your response that's good to know especially from another agent! We would definitely like to engage an agent for the nomination section as that seems very complex but once that's approved I'm not sure if it's needed. I agree that $5k seems high for just the second part. We were quoted $7k for the whole thing including nomination, $5k for no nomination and $3k for just the skills assessment! And I was an existing client for the BVB application.. It was the same agent who did my 457!

Thanks for the vote of confidence! Good to know others have managed it :)

Hiya, My partner and I are both British and currently on a TSS (him) and a separate 457 (me) (both ICT business analysts). His company have agreed to sponsor him for a 186 Direct Entry as a business analyst. We are looking into the cost of a migration agent with quotes of around $5000. Do you think it is worth it? My logic is that his work will use an agent for the nomination section so that part is solid. The rest is "just" the ACS assessment, proof of our relationship and police checks. It doesn't seem too difficult. We also have a few friends who have anecdotes along the lines of "an agent just fills in forms you could do yourself". I also found this when an agent wanted to charge me $700 to apply for a bridging visa B for me. It was one form so I just did it myself with no issues. Do you agree/disagree? Does anyone have any stories of doing it themselves? Would you think that doing parts ourselves might work too (i.e. we do the skills assessment on our own etc)? If anyone has any Melbourne based recommendations that would be great also! Thanks