Search the Community

Hi there, I'm an Australian citizen by birth and my husband is a US citizen ... so although we're not Poms, I keep seeing this site pop up in my searches so thought I would post here and see if anyone can share any advice. We've been married 3 years during which time we've been living together in the US. I really want to go home as I'm very homesick and miss my family and friends in Australia and we don't really have any close friends or family where we live here. We visited Australia for a month at the end of 2008 and my husband loved it and is happy to move. We would also like to start a family and I would find it very hard without my Australian family around. We applied for a spouse visa in July 2009 but it was refused a couple of weeks ago because my husband has ulcerative colitis and a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth said he would potentially cost $100,000. He is in remission and perfectly able to work, he just has to take medication. We had put through a health waiver request but that was refused and I'm not exactly sure why - the letter we received didn't state which compelling and compassionate circumstances were considered or not, just that they decided not to exercise the waiver. I had put together a lot of information about our financial situation (which I believe is good, we own a house and have savings) and job prospects (my occupation is listed on the NEW skilled occupations list and my husband's was on the old one which was in effect at the time we applied), had six statutory declarations from family and friends stating that they'd be willing to provide care and support, and I also included a statement about wanting to start a family and how it would affect me emotionally if I wasn't able to return home. After getting the refusal I was so devastated that I rang the case officer and asked her if she could give me a better explanation of why it was refused - she sounded very flustered and just kept saying "it's the cost, it's the cost". When I said "but I'm an Australian citizen and you're basically telling me I can't live in Australia", she just said "you can live in the USA". I guess I was naive in thinking that the health waiver is exercised as a matter of course for spousal relationships. After doing some research online and stumbling across a 2007 Australian National Audit Office report on DIAC's administration of the health waiver process, it appears it's only exercised around 12% of the time. We are now applying to the Migration Review Tribunal and I wanted to find out if anyone knows anything about the process. Is it something we can do ourselves or would we definitely be better off getting the assistance of a lawyer? I have sent off the form and just received a letter and receipt today which stated I should send in evidence as soon as possible. I had spoken to an Australian lawyer over the phone prior to sending the application off and he said I should wait before sending any evidence. Is that right? What do I need to do next, do I just ask the Australian Embassy here to give me a copy of our DIAC file? I'm just not sure what the steps are - I had a look at the MRT website but I couldn't find anything which laid out the exact steps that would occur. If anyone can offer any assistance or clarification about the MRT process or point me in the right direction, I would very much appreciate it, as this whole thing has made me very frustrated and anxious. I just want to go home. :sad: Thank you very much if you can help at all.

Hi All, I have applied for my 187 RSMS application in May 2016 when i was on bridging visa A and because of that i was granted a BVC with Nil conditions. In December 2018 my nomination and visa was refused that business doesn't need a manager. we appealed to AAT and i was given same BVC with NIL conditions and yesterday we have lost the appeal and now going for FCC and will have to apply for another BVC. My question is about working rights. Will it come with same working rights as my previous BVC ? or do i need to apply for work rights separately? i am asking all this because i need to make arrangements at my work place by giving them enough notice if i am going to loose my work rights for some time. Incase i need to apply for work rights by showing financial hardship, do i need to mention about my de facto partner name as my family who is on a student visa and not capable to supporting me or should i not mention about her, Is she my family in Australia?? Please please please help me by answering these couple of questions about my working rights when applying for a new BVC for my FCC for 187 RSMS application. thank you

Hi there I’m wanting advice on a AAT review please.. I applied for my 485 visa on the 11 of March 2020 which has been since refused based on incorrect dates on my completion certificate which states the 13th I was in contact with the university prior who stated in a letter that upon successful completion of my final two units my completion date is expected to be to 10th of March. This was uploaded in my visa application. I successfully passed these final units and results were published on the 10th so I applied for 485 on the 11th. I needed to apply for a new visa urgently as my student visa was expiring on the 15th.. Later on the 17th March I finally received my offical letter of completion (which was after my student visa would have expired) but the completion date sated was the 13th instead of the 10th.. We have been in contact with the university and the only difference between the two dates is that the 10th is when results are published and the 13th is when they’re entered into the system.. so technically my completion date was still the 10th and I would have been unlawful in the country if I had waited for the 17th for the final letter to come in before applying for 485.. Is this grounds for a AAT review? Would appreciate any advice Thankyou

Hi guys, Just curious if anyone knows this. Myself and my girlfriend are 8 months into a strong partner visa application and during her medicals she tested positive to Hepatitis B. Immigration requested liver and blood tests - liver tests came back 100% OK - however the blood tests have come back HBsAg positive with evidence of chronic Hep B - this is understandable, she contracted it as a child and was treated, never had complications since. However more blood tests have returned and the doctor has advised us she needs to come back in for some sort of an injection. We were wondering if anyone knows, considering this is a family visa - how bad Hep B needs to be before they refuse the visa? Advice muchly appreciated. :unsure:

Hello, Application for RSMS187 submitted in Feb 2017, nomination and subsequent visa refusal in March 2018, due to migration agent submitting application without all relevant fininacial documents for the visa. My position is secretary which at the time was on the list. My agent took no repsonibility and asked for a further $6000 fee to go to AAT, claiming good success chance. I couldn't afford the agents fee + AAT fee so submitted appeal application on my own. 2021, Today I received notice the the nomination has been approved but my visa has been remitted back to immigration to consider the remaining criteria for my visa. Has anyone had a similar experience or any knowledge of how likely I am to be successful? It is also a bit messy because my ex partner who was but is no longer defacto on my application, became abusive and there are restraining orders in place that he has breached and received a 6 month suspended sentence for, but he is still eligible for appeal, I really hope he doesn't affect my visa. We had a son together who is now 2.5 years old, he has no contact and has provided no financial support. Thank you in advance to anyone who can give any advice or share experiences.

Call me paranoid but I can’t stop worrying that my 482 visa might be refused. It was only submitted last week and I have no specific reason to be worried, so really I’m just coming on here for a bit of reassurance. My skill is on the medium skill shortage list (materials engineer), my skills were verified by Engineers Australia, my employer was accepted as a standard business sponsor, the position was advertised locally for one month.... etc. All the boxes have been ticked! Plus the employer and I are working through a registered migration agent (TSS Immigration). So given the basics above, is there much risk of a refusal?

Hi guys, my nomination has been refused for 187, and the reason is the owner has sold his business to someone. I don't understand what to do now and how to buy a time to work it out something. It has been 13 days since my refusal. I have studied MBA/MPA and I have 1.9yrs experience as an accountant from overseas. please guide me asap. Thanks in advanced.

Hi everyone, a newbie here to this forum and forums in general so bear with me! My fiance and I applied for a 189 visa (her as a defacto) on 3rd Feb 2014 as an Architect from being on a 457 in Brisbane for the last 2.5 years. I had my skills assessed through AACA, had meds etc. Without any further correspondence until today (25th March 2014) I have been refused a visa based on the basis that I have provided an incorrect skills assessment. Now, apparently, the AACA have two different kinds of skills assessment - one that is for use as registration of an architect and one that is for the purpose of migration. I had no idea of this at the time and applied assuming that there is only this form of skills assessment. After my refusal, which both my fiance and I feel completely distraught about, I contact the AACA and they explained that if I sent them a stat dec stating why I needed the other certificate, they would send out the correct one. My problem is that my CO has 'finalised' the application and my EOI has been removed. The CO stated that as there was no valid skills assessment at the time the application was lodged then they can do no more on the visa apart from refuse it and finalise it. I have had no request for information during this process - if I had, then I could have supplied this, or withdrawn the application. As it stands I have lost the application fee, and either face a tribunal which will cost $1600 or re-apply for another visa with the correct skills assessment certificate which will cost another $4000 which we simply cannot afford as we have our wedding this year. Can anybody help with any advice? Is it worth to go to a tribunal with what I have described, providing I receive the correct skills assessment letter dated back when I received the other one? Could this situation be changed and not even go to a tribunal if I can get this information to my CO? My fiance and I are completely floored by this news and can't believe that something like this can happen without any correspondence from them in the interim. If anybody requires more info, just ask and I will let you know what I can. Any advice would be appreciated - especially advice which won't cost us any more money!

Hi all, Looking for some advice on reapplying for a 189. Have just received a refusal notice for my original application as my skills assessment was dated after the date my visa invite (12 days!). I thought I had a valid skills assessment at the time of my EOI, but later realized Engineers Australia had omitted a year and a half worth of experience due to lack of evidence which put me below the required 3 years. I submitted further evidence to Engineers Australia to rectify this. My question is, seeing as how I unwittingly gave false information in my expression of interest, will this have on a negative impact on a new application. I have just submitted a new EOI. Absolutely gutted, thought we were in! Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hey all, Just a quick question you folks may be able to help us with to put our minds at ease! :smile: Our offshore defacto visa has been lodged, case officer assigned and they have got back to us requesting further information which has been provided. Also been told to do the medical after a couple of months. The question I have is, at which point would a visa be rejected due to character issues if they have already obviously looked at the application and asked us to go for a medical. Would it be right at the start of the process or further down the line ? Thanks!

My oh's visa has been refused today on the grounds that he doesnt have the relevant australian work experince, he needed 12 months to qualify for the extra points, He worked in Oz from jan 2007 -may 2008 which is over 12 months so we thought that this would help get the extra points, however the refusal states that the experience needs to be with in the immediate 48 months prior to the application which was made on june 1st 2011, so they will only take the work experince from june 2007, so we are 4 weeks short even though had over 12 months of working for an australian company. Please can someone advise me what I can do next...... are there any immigration agents on this forum that could help us ???????????????????? We are devastated:sad:

In order to assure the highest levels of quality work and productivity from employees, it will be our policy to keep all employees well trained through our program of Special High Intensity Training (S.H.I.T). We are trying to give employees more S.H.I.T than anyone else. If you feel that you do not receive your share of S.H.I.T on the job, please see your manager. You will be immediately placed at the top of the S.H.I.T list, and our managers are especially skilled at seeing that you get all the S.H.I.T you can handle. Employees who do not take their S.H.I.T will be placed in Departmental Employee Evaluation Programs (D.E.E.P S.H.I.T) Those who fail to take D.E.E.P S.H.I.T seriously will have to go to Employee Attitude Training (E.A.T S.H.I.T). Since our managers took S.H.I.T before they were promoted, they do not have to do S.H.I.T anymore, as they are all full of S.H.I.T already. If you are full of S.H.I.T, you may be interested in a job training others. We can add your name to our Basic Understanding Lecture List (B.U.L.L S.H.I.T) Those who are full of B.U.L.L S.H.I.T will get the S.H.I.T jobs, and can apply for promotion to Director of Intensity Programming (D.I.P S.H.I.T) If you have further questions, please direct them to our Head Of Training, Special High Intensity Training (H.O.T S.H.I.T) Thank you, Boss in General (B.I.G S.H.I.T) Made me laugh. May be an old one, but I've not seen it before.

Hi all, well everything is in place for me and my three children to make the big step of coming over to Australia in March next year (2012). Because of logistics and trying to enable my kids are as safe and as settled as possible I am arranging for all of our furniture etc to be sent before we leave the UK, in fact the furniture is leaving before I am even allowed to apply for our visas. The visa will be a student visa so there are certain restrictions on when to apply etc. I have been accepted onto my chosen course, my children have been accepted and enrolled in school and childcare and I am able to declare that I can financially support us for the duration of our stay (apparently due to me being a British passport holder, I only need to declare it, I dont actually need to submit evidence of funds) Can anybody think of any reasons why I may be refused my visa to study? I am panicking a lot as all of our things will be in a boat by the time I can apply! But I have no other option but to do it this way. So any reasons, any reasons at all that you can think of that may come up, please, please let me know so that I can be aware of them. Also, as a British Citizen will I need health checks, police checks etc for the children and myself? Thanks very much in advance for any responses. Shelley x

Hello ... not sure if anyone can help with this but maybe somebody has been in this situation. I'm an Australian citizen and my husband is a US citizen. His spouse visa was refused a year and a half ago because of the health requirement and we are awaiting an MRT appeal. We currently live in the USA and want to visit my family in Australia for 3 weeks over Christmas/New Year. Last time we visited, all we needed was an electronic travel authority for my husband but that was prior to the spouse visa refusal. Does anyone know if he can still just get an ETA or does he need to apply for a Tourist Visa? (I know, I'm probably going to have to call the Australian Embassy but maybe someone here knows the answer, on the off chance!) Thanks for any help, Jen

hi iam paul i got my student visa refusal few days back want to know can i reapply for the student visa.............

after speaking to my ex he verbally agreed that i could take the children to aus, now he has changed his mind before i managed to get him to sign a stat dec!! :sad: What do i do now?? really didnt want to put us all through the court route but may have no choice, i have read some posts on hear by people in similar positions, anyone got any advice? thanks

Hi can anyone shed some light on the proccedure after receiving this notice..

Hi - New to this website and thinking (like so many others!) about moving to Australia. My question is regarding my partner who 14 years ago was in court for ABH, but never charged over the offence... the case was heard by a judge but charges were dropped and he walked free so no actual charge for ABH shows on his record. Basically he would't have a criminal record. But he would have to give details of this on the police check and I'm very worried that this would be grounds for refusal in a visa application? Just to let you know, he was up for ABH for beating up the man who beat his mother up for 10 years.... He has never been arrested for any reason after this offence 14 years ago! I hope someone can shed some light on this please.

Hello to everyone, This is my first post, so please excuse my ignorance for instantly asking for advice. Last week i got a refusal to my 457 visa. The grounds for refusal was that i wasn't on a substantive visa at the time of application. I hired an agent to help me apply for this visa. I went to DIAC to get advice the day after my WHV visa expired. They put me on a bridging E visa there and then. Once they done this, i went to see my agent and tell them what had happened. They were shocked. I don't know why they were shocked, as i'd said several times when my WHV expired. My agent also took photo copies of my passport pages. All the info was there. It later turned out, my agent lost part of my file. And asked for my passport again, after my WHV had expired. On the E visa, my agent took payment of $2000 off me. I had no idea this E visa would lead to refusal as its not a substantive visa. Also on my refusal sheet, my agent had made up a lie as to why i over stayed my WHV. I'll stop chatting on. My thoughts are, my agent should have gave me sound advice regarding the substantive visa situation. After doing some research, it now seems i was in a no win situation by lodging this visa. I now have 28 days to leave. Which is not a problem, im not sure where to turn now. I dont have an issue taking responsibility of things i do wrong, but on this occasion, i feel ive not been given sound advice and lost alot of money because of it. thanks B

Hello All, I have got email from ACT Specifying the refusal of application due to insufficiant individual funds. They mentioned in their letter as follows:- "ACT Government sponsorship criteria require the applicant to have a minimum $20,000 in personal liquid assets and $10,000 for each dependant. The documents you have provided in your name total an amount of approximately A$6,800. The other financial documents you have provided are in various family members’ names, which is not acceptable. We do not take into consideration declarations of family financial support. I am satisfied that you have not provided sufficient funds in your own name and therefore I am not satisfied that you will have enough personal assets to support yourself in Canberra whilst you seek employment." I have funds to show but I want to know whether it is final decions or there is a way to change the outcome by appeal of sending again a new fund statements to ACT. Is there any other alternative to solve this problem. Please help me i am very much upset due this refusal. Thanks in Advance.

Yes thats right :cry: I can no longer prove my 18 year old son is dependant. They have waited all this time to ask for proof and my son decided in his wisdom to leave college (in October) and take on a small job being trained as a grassroot football development worker. He is so good they have given him an appraisal and given him more hours and responsiblity which has taken him into full time work. :chatterbox: We have some extra papers to fill in but they are likely to refuse him and grant ours he does not qualify for last remaining relative so if in the long run he does decide to come which he always said he wouldn't we are going to have to work clever to find him a way in. It did cause a bit of upset finding out this on New years eve but we are a strong family and will come through this. I suppose its all my fault giving birth to a brilliant son who knows where his future goals are.:notworthy: Oh Happy new year everyone may all your visas come extra early mine could be another month xx

we have received our tra back as unsuccessful ,as Dave did a 2 year apprenticeship not the 4 as required has anyone else had a similar problem , if so did you manage to sort it out , we are really gutted by this ,he has worked in the building trade all his life runnind his own company but it is hard to be reject just for the 2 yr apprenticeship :no: