jhog90

Hey folks I’ll soon be travelling alone with my children to Australia when we move. My partner is emigrating also but joining us a few months later (he’s staying here fir 3 months and moving back in with his parents to save a bit). Do I need his “permission” to travel with our kids alone? Is there anything with UK or Australian border authorities need? We are together and live together. Googling is a bit confusing as all the advice I can see is pertaining to parents who are separated/divorced and have custody agreements. For context I am Australian and a naturalised British citizen. Both our children are Australian and British nationals. My partner is British, and will be entering on a spouse visa. Apologies if this is the right forum, wasn’t sure which exactly was most relevant to my query. TIA

Thank you all so much for your advice. Move Cube has been booked! Asked my sister about the second hand cars and she said since covid it’s been an insane market so good to know. Hope everyone has a nice week

Hello all Thanks all so much for taking the time to respond. Really appreciate everyone’s replies. Those who’ve used a Move Cube…how much do they fit? I’m kinda asking how long is a piece of string but curious to see if containers may be more suitable/economical. also thanks for the tip re private health insurance definitely something I’d have not thought about but v useful to know.

I (Australian) have lived in the UK for close to 10 years now and the time has finally come to move back home. Moving at the beginning of September and now that’s looming closer I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed and clueless about it all. It’s dumb I know but when I moved to the UK I was young and carefree and simply packed a backpack and loathe it winged it haha. But 10 years, a (British) partner, and 2 kids later…I know, even though I’m Aussie and Sydney is home, there’s much more to moving to the other side of the world with a family in tow. So, strangers of the internet, I come to you to ask how the bloody hell do I do it haha? Looking for tips and advice about absolutely anything around moving/arriving in early days. A few things for context - partner visa is sorted - will be staying with family initially - Not needing to pack up an entire household but will be needing to take more than what you’d be allowed on a plane - When I left Australia I was young, still living at home, and had no real “adult” experience of Australia. Any tips on life admin stuff that I should be aware of are appreciated Many, many thanks for any advice :-)

Thanks both for your replies. We’d love to make it back to Aus before baby arrives but due to everything we need to tie up here logistically it’s not really a possibility. It’d also mean travelling when heavily pregnant which I just don’t want to risk. Because of the visa coming through a lot quicker than we anticipated we aren’t financially in a position for my partner to go ahead of us, return to the uk, and then make our final move when baby’s citizenship has come through. Fingers and toes crossed that things will go smoothly with baby entering on a 651 visa, then immediately getting on baby’s citizenship by request application (I’m also paranoid that border staff will have an issue with all of us being either in aus passports or a residence visa). I’m so glad my partners visa came through quickly but it has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works. Thanks again so much for the time you’ve taken to reply…no words can describe how anxious visas and bureaucracy make me and you’ve both brought some relief with the info.

Hey folks My partner just got granted his 309/100 visa in an unexpectedly quick time and he’ll need to enter Australia by the end of December 2023. We’ve also just found out I’m pregnant and by the time baby is due there will not be enough time to apply for Australian citizenship by descent (from abroad), and then baby’s first Australian passport (again. Is it permissible for baby to enter on a British passport with the 651 e-visa and then apply for Australian citizenship by descent once in Australia? We applied for Australian citizenship by descent, and then an Australian passport for our first born from here in the uk. But we are concerned that for second born there won’t be enough time for both to come through. Thanks for any advice and happy new year everyone

My partner and I are applying for a 309 visa from the UK. We went back and forth about engaging the services of an agent to help us (the cost of living crisis has us watching every penny) and eventually decided to make the sacrifice and go with an agent. We began working with our agent in mid May of this year. We still haven’t submitted our application. It feels really slow and I’m just wondering how long have other folks’ process been from starting with an agent to submission? Of course everyone’s case is different but for a bit of background my partner and I have been together for 4 years; living together for 2; have a son; and have plenty of things to indicate we’re in a couple- multiple joint bills; multiple joint back accounts; joint purchases; correspondence from HMRC, the NHS, the local electoral roll to both of us; individual bank statements; photos; and all the standard ID stuff. TIA for any insight :-)

Any advice/experience on having HELP debt as a sponsor for a 309 visa? Currently living in the uk and now worried my debt will hurt my partners visa chances

Hey all thanks so much for the help. I think I may just take up that idea and pay for the check over or even just the whole hog and hiring an agent. The thought of getting rejected is literally making me feel physically ill so even though it’ll mean being worse off in terms of money the piece of mind/approval is very much worth it

Hey folks In the process of applying for the 309 visa for/with my partner and v overwhelmed by the whole process and hoping to get some advice clarification on a few points... Do the documents I submit need to be certified? Confused about this one bc on a few blogs I've seen people specifying they had documents certified. However I can't find anywhere on the Home Affairs info page specifying documents need to be certified. When I applied for my son's (Aussie) citizenship by descent it was explicitly stated that the documents I submitted needed to be certified. Most of our supporting witnesses will be British (currently live in the U.K.). I'm concerned having majority non-Australians as our supporting witnesses will "hurt" our case. Any insight on this from folks who've been in a similar position? Being his sponsor what actually do I need to do to support my partner’s application? Do I need to lodge an entirely separate sponsor application? Or attach a form to his application? Quite confused. We applied for a travel exemption for my partner to enter Australia during the covid restrictions. We ofc had to show evidence that we were in a realtionship. His exemption was approved. I'm thinking of including this to strengthen our case...my logic is home affairs has previously "acknowledged" our relationship and travelling abroad in a pandemic demonstrates our commitment to each other and our families? My partner thinks it'd be irrelevant so just wondering what others' thoughts are. Form 888 which is filled in by supporting witnesses…anyone applied from the uk? V confused about what to do bc the form won’t be considered a stat dec unless it’s filled in by an Australian (or permanent resident) in Australia? Any general advice/need-to-know information from anyone whose done it for those applying without an immigration specialist? I'm terrified that our application will be rejected and we were initially going to use an agent/lawyer but unfortunately our financial situation has changed and it's something that we can no longer afford. A massive thank you to anyone who chooses to comment/offer their wisdom :-) I’m stressing so much over this application (I hate paperwork and when I moved to the uk I used immigration agents for my entire visa/residency process) so really appreciate any/all help

Thanks! Will repost there

Hey Westly thanks for the info

Hey folks In the process of applying for the 309 visa for my partner and v overwhelmed by the whole process and hoping to get some advice clarification on a few points... Do the documents I submit need to be certified? Confused about this one bc on a few blogs I've seen people specifying they had documents certified. However I can't find anywhere on the Home Affairs info page specifying documents need to be certified. When I applied for my son's (Aussie) citizenship by descent it was explicitly stated that the documents I submitted needed to be certified. Most of our supporting witnesses will be British (currently live in the U.K.). I'm concerned having majority non-Australians as our supporting witnesses will "hurt" our case. Any insight on this from folks who've been in a similar position? We applied for a travel exemption for my to enter Australia during the covid restrictions. We ofc had to show evidence that we were in a realtionship. His exemption was approved. I'm thinking of including this to strengthen our case...my logic is home affairs has previously "acknowledged" our relationship and travelling abroad in a pandemic demonstrates our commitment to each other and our families? My partner thinks it'd be irrelevant so just wondering what others' thoughts are. Any general advice/need-to-know information for those applying without an immigration specialist? I'm terrified that our application will be rejected and we were initially going to use an agent/lawyer but unfortunately our financial situation has changed and it's something that we can no longer afford. A massive thank you to anyone who chooses to comment/offer their wisdom :-)