bowbow

3 minutes ago, LisaC said:

I am so frustrated and confused as to the process and reasons for delays. They say they are prioritising those with exemptions but this is clearly load of rubbish as I have my exemption and I am still waiting on my eVisa which I applied for on 20 January so ahead of this person who doesn't even have an exemption. I did it in the right order; eVisa first so I could include my TRN on the exemption and also included my Visa Grant Number from a previous visa this apparently helps. Exemption came through a few days after I applied and have gone in and updated the eVisa with a copy of the exemption but still nothing.

Obviously it is great that you have the eVisa but how can they say they are following a process when they clearly aren't. I have never had an issue getting an eVisa before and my daughters ones were granted in minutes. We fly in 2 weeks but I might have to cancel if we don't get anything soon.

Have emailed the address someone earlier recommended but not holding out much hope to hear anything back which is also frustrating as when you know people are getting theirs granted quicker and without an exemption in place it makes you wonder if there is an issue but as no one has requested anything and no one will talk to you, we are left in limbo.

Sooooo annoyed and stressed

If you're a Twitter user it might be worth bombarding George Brandis here - https://twitter.com/AusHCUK?t=q27MpUuuEM6hTarBmvEEmA&s=09.

He's replied to me once or twice. Could be worth trying. 

Hi again all,

I'm just helping my mother with her travel exemption (her eVisitor visa has been granted). It asks for intended travel date. Does it matter if, in reality, she ends up travelling a week or two later? From the above I assume not, but it's always dangerous to assume!

Hi - does anyone know how long a travel exemption and visitor visa is valid for prior to using it? E.g. could my mother start the process now even if she didn't actually want to fly until say March? Given the uncertainty around timings for approvals I'd be minded to get the ball rolling, but obviously don't want to do that only for the exemption/visitor visa to expire before they need to be used! 

On 21/05/2021 at 10:42, FirstWorldProblems said:

As is everything beyond food in your belly and clothes on your back.

And whilst not being able to spend time with loved ones is indeed a first world problem, it is nonetheless a problem for people and terribly upsetting for many on a daily basis.   "rich" people have feelings and emotions too and are equally deserving of empathy.  

Not that it matters, but we certainly weren't rich.   We needed the childcare over the holidays as we both had to work and had to make many other sacrifices to retain our connection with the family.

Excellent post. Some people are just plainly lacking in empathy unfortunately. 

Thanks everyone

Is the sense that Qatar have been more reliable in terms of not bumping people off purely anecdotal, or does anyone know of any stats to back it up?  Just wondering whether to book with Qatar, Emirates or Singapore.  This won't be until towards the start of November most likely. 

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/become-a-citizen/by-descent - assuming your mum was an Australian citizen when you were born, and you were born outside of Australia. 

3 hours ago, emanyalpsid said:

Yes, although you can't have one without the other!

Luckily baby doesn't need the visa to become a citizen. When looking at fees would the citizenship app and citizenship by descent come under one 285 fee or is it 285 + under 16 citizenship by descent fee (220ish from memory)? Then presumably plus passport fee which i see is for 5 years at this age, presumably more expensive because your doing it from UK a bit like the adult fee?

Citizenship by descent application for our daughter cost us $220 AUD.  

Then, using the citizenship by descent extract we were sent having completed this application, her Australian passport has cost £130.  This was done by post (which I think they are only doing in the current circumstances) - I don't know if it's more or less when/if you have to go in person. 

12 hours ago, Quoll said:

You'll just have to be prepared to travel to London if you arent already there for interviews when getting your child's passport and once registered as an Australian citizen they will have to travel on an Australian passport.  Assuming you are an Australian born citizen or a citizen by descent who has lived for a while in Australia, it should be straightforward.

Just having an Aussie partner and being mother to an Australian child is no guarantee but it sounds like you have a load of data to support the longevity of your relationship and she should get a partner visa without issue but, as the others have said, she will have to do the time to get her own citizenship.  If she is with you on a permanent resident visa then she wont be disadvantaged.  

Get it all under way right now then you will have time to consider when you might leave.

The Australian High Commission is (at least temporarily) processing certain passport applications by post rather than needing to go there in person.  We have recently applied for our daughter's Australian passport that way (having obtained her Australian citizenship by descent a month or two ago). 

14 hours ago, paulhand said:

It’s the former and ‘facilitation’ refers to facilitating you being allowed to board an aircraft after your most not arrive by date has expired on the system. 

Got it, thank you. 

On 14/11/2020 at 08:33, paulhand said:

The Department has finally addressed the often asked issue of what happens if you cannot meet an Initial Entry Date on a permanent or provisional visa due to COVID. This form allows you to request a Travel Facilitation Letter and is for use once you have firm plans for getting to Australia. It’s fairly self-explanatory:

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/departmental-forms/online-forms/travel-facilitation-letter-request-form

 

Is the idea behind this to allow you to secure an extension to your Initial Entry Date, or to get some sort of priority so as to allow you to meet your existing Initial Entry Date? From your post I assume the former but calling it a Travel "Facilitation" Letter makes me wonder?

On 10/04/2021 at 18:47, SamB1 said:

Thanks for the replies - this is really useful information. 

I think that we'll look to getting an off-shore application sorted out soon, to try to get it in the pipeline as quickly as possible. 
I should be able to gather most of the documents together fairly quickly, but it looks like I'll need to get the health assessments sorted ahead of application.
Is it best to have these all sorted ahead of sending everything off?

I think my daughter is eligible for citizenship by descent (after a period of 2 years in country). Would it be a better idea simply to add her as part of lodging the application?

For a 309/100 you can't book the health assessment until you've submitted your application - doing that generates a referral letter you need to book it with (or at least it did in my case). I submitted my 309/100 on 28 Feb, booked a health assessment in straight away and had it on 4 March with both the 309 and 100 then being granted on 23 March at the same time. 

Just now, Laura Zorzi said:

In my opinion (and experience), 12-month wait seems a bit too much. 
Further, once your child's citizenship application is approved, you do not have to apply for the certificate, but it will be posted to the postal address you declared.

Our daughters application was approved in just under 3 months. Does anyone know how long it normally takes for the citizenship by descent extract to then arrive in the post? (In the UK specifically.)

Thanks - are you sure about that though?  I did think that but when you log on to the passport application form (which I know ultimately has to be delivered by hand), where you have to prove Australian citizenship it asks for "Australian citizenship certificate (or extract from the register of citizenship by descent)".  This website also suggests the extract is sufficient to obtain a passport - https://www.passports.gov.au/getting-passport-how-it-works/documents-you-need/citizenship#citizenship certificate: 

What counts as a citizenship certificate?

Australian citizenship certificates can also be known by other names:

• Conferral Certificate
• Evidence Certificate
• Declaratory Certificate
• Citizenship by Descent (extract)
• Certificate of Naturalisation
• Australian citizenship certificate of an adoption in accordance with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption or bilateral arrangement
• extract from the Register of Australian Births Abroad.

Hi vongole83, just wondered how long the gap was between your child being granted citizenship by descent and receiving their citizenship extract in the post?

16 hours ago, newarrival said:

Immigration have asked me for proof of income. Since coming here I use Transferwise to transfer funds from my uk bank (Halifax). In order to go to a recent 3 month statement I need to access my Halifax account.

Unfortunately they seem to have changed the way you log in and now require a phone to get a code. It's an old phone number I no longer use or have access to.

So I rang Halifax using telephone banking and used the "voice is your password" for security so they know it's me. Except they dont know it's me. I wanted them to change the old number for my AU number so I can log in to the account and print off a statement for immigration but they said they couldn't change it.

They said you need to come into the branch.

I said I'm 10,000 miles away. 

So what is the use of the voice security if I cant request a mobile number change?

Now how am I supposed to get a statement from Halifax in time? I have 6 days to get one.

 

 

 

 

Make sure they understand the importance of your request, and timescales, and tell them you want the issue escalated as a complaint immediately. I remember having an access issue with Halifax a while ago and it was just the person I was speaking to not knowing how to sort the problem - there's always a fix, you just need to speak to the person who knows how. 

Hi Robin, yes we received that email on Friday 19th, so a bit over a week before the application itself was approved. Good luck. 

If it's helpful as an (anecdotal) indication of timelines - our daughter's citizenship by descent application was approved today, having been submitted on 4 January. 

On 27/03/2021 at 10:54, returningtooz said:

Hi everybody. Hope you are all well and are progressing well through the stages! 
 

I am an Australian and have been living in the Uk for the last 12 years. We have recently decided that life or us is back in the UK and have started the process for my husband (Uk citizen applying for 309/100) and our 2 kids (who are applying for citizenship by decent). We lodged our initial application on 24th March and then were in the process of collating the requested documents for upload as a part of the next stage. We then received a request for more information from what appeared to be a case advisor on the 25th. Our questions are, does this notification happen instantly or does this mean a case advisor has been assigned to us (status has also changed from submitted to intital assessment) and would this be the point at which we will need to arrange for medical and police checks or with this come in the form of a specific request for information? Just conscious of their 12 month validity so don’t really want to have to undertake twice! 
 

We had prepared ourselves for a long process so can’t quite believe that would have already received a request for information. 
 

Thanks in advance for any advice for two complete novices! 
 

 

If I was you I'd just get everything now and upload it. I uploaded everything asap and my 309/100 was granted in three weeks. 

2 hours ago, Ozthepowerful said:

I need to book a health check in London. Does anyone know the availability of appointments. Assuming there is a quick turnaround to get the appointment as I have 28 days to get this done? Also does the Health check automatically get applied to your application?

I got an appointment at the Knightsbridge clinic quickly - called on the Monday and my appointment was on a Thursday (I think they could have got me in even sooner). They said they generally have pretty good availability, so just give them a ring. The health check results do get uploaded automatically yes (or at least that's what happened with me - if there was an issue with them I suppose they could call you first, I'm not entirely sure).

I have a good news story to share for those applying from the UK (and maybe more generally?):

- 309/100 application submitted 28 February, attaching everything I could at the time, including UK police check 

- Medical carried out 4 March 

- 309/100 visas granted simultaneously on 23 March

Ours would have been a very straightforward case - together for 10 years, living together for almost 9, joint property owners for over 6, married for over 3 years and we have a child together born in 2019.  But I am still pleasantly surprised that it's all been granted so quickly... 

To be fair the instructions aren't very clear on this particular point - I wasn't sure myself.  I ended up using an English-qualified lawyer friend of mine as the 1195 form just says "Legal practitioner" rather than "Legal practitioner admitted in Australia" (or similar - as is the case for accountants).  The problem is that the form refers to "profession or occupation" but is then is actually quite a bit more prescriptive than that in some cases.  But wrussell is a Registered Migration Agent and has said it's fine, so if I were you I'd just go with it! 

Hi, I also have a mortgage related question so thought I'd post here rather than start a new thread. 

Depending on how long my onshore partnership visa takes to come through, I may be on a bridging visa for some time. Assuming I am working and have an income, does anyone know about obtaining a mortgage when on a bridging visa? Google suggests it's possible but wondering if anyone has direct experience. My wife is an Australian citizen. If it matters, it's likely that our loan to value ratio should be small (well under 50%) as we should have a fair bit of cash from selling our UK home before moving. 

Thanks 

14 hours ago, Marisawright said:

 

If the visa hasn't come through by the time you're ready to move, you can stlil get a visitor visa for him to go with you, and then the visa will come through while he's there. 

 

@Marisawright if one took this approach and entered on a visitor visa with a pending offshore partnership visa app, what happens if the visitor visa expires before the offshore app is determined?  Do you have to leave?  Or do you go onto a bridging visa - if so would this bridging visa have work rights (in the same way that the bridging visa you're granted if you're awaiting the outcome of an *onshore* partnership has work rights)?  

Obviously if the answer is "that's too complicated, speak to your own lawyer" then fair enough!