309 / 100 granted in 23 calendar days (UK)

[Dispo]

So I submitted my application on Wednesday 7th February 2018 expecting to wait 4-5 months before I would be asked for the medical and police checks - as a result I had not done them in advance.

Two days later on Friday 9th February I was asked for the police check and medical.

Police check completed on 21st Feb

Medical taken on the 22nd, results completed and submitted on 28th.

Visas granted on 2nd March 2018 (both 309 and 100 granted at the same time).

Even when I applied I was reading that processing times were 8-11 months for offshore applications, I was not aware of anyone posting about shorter times (basically I wasn't reading this forum) so was very surprised by the 2 days it took to be asked for the checks. I also never received any notification of a CO being appointed just the emails that came through asking for more info (checks).

Something has definitely changed with (UK at least) partner applications.

Just some background, I have been with my partner since June 2011 although from the Immi point of view we have been de-facto since March 2013. We both live in the UK and my partner / sponsor is Australian by birth. We did use a migration agent as the whole process is a minefield and there is no appeal for refused offshore applications.

 

OMG - now I need to look at booking flights for the activation.

[Jon the Hat]

Congratulationd!  Amazing timelines.  I wonder if they reallocated resources from some of the Visa types they are stopping.

I am waiting for a few 888 decs to come back then I will be about ready to apply.  Hopefully these timelines stay for a month or two!

[Adventu]

That's fantastic.  We are just doing ours now, and have been concerned by the time.  We have been married for 9 years and have three children so hopefully will be straight forward.  Which Visa agent did you use?

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, Adventu said:

That's fantastic.  We are just doing ours now, and have been concerned by the time.  We have been married for 9 years and have three children so hopefully will be straight forward.  Which Visa agent did you use?

Interesting question!  Why would you use a agent at all unless someone else was paying?  Your case sounds pretty simple.  I am most of the way through gathering everything together, and so far I cannot see how an agent would have helped.

[Dispo]

I debated whether to use an agent or not and the decider was the lack of appeal for offshore applications.

The visa itself was $7000 (roughly £4100) plus £400 in medical and police check fees.

There is a lot of confusing, inaccurate and now out of date info about the application process and it was almost impossible to tell how amenable or belligerent the application process is - for all I knew one simple mistake / misunderstood / incorrectly answered question could have resulted in a rejected application so I decided to not take the risk. Overall this process is going to cost me a lost of money so the additional fee for the agent, whilst not small, was worth it to me for the peace of mind.

I chose Greg Veal through Taylor Hampton solicitors and whilst I think the level of communication with him was not as good as it could have been I can definitely say (based on his requests) that we submitted a lot more evidence and with a lot more detail than we would have if I had been doing the application alone. He was also very helpful in clarifying which documents needed to be certified, which needed to be witnessed by a solicitor and which could be just high quality scans. Most if not all of that I would have got wrong with more being certified and witnessed than necessary.

 It's impossible to say how much an agent helped the process but what I can say is that the only request for extra info we received was for medical and police checks and if you take the time waiting for the medical tests and results out of the overall submission then we were actually granted the visas in four days - 2 day wait at the beginning before being asked for the checks and two days wait at the end after indicating that the required info had been supplied.

[xmascreek]

Excellent !!! Got mine on the 31st Jan - took around 6 weeks including Christmas and New Year - no agent though - I'm told that it makes zero difference to the application, though I expect it's good to talk to some folks who have prior experience (I used this site for info). Too many agents have taken money and folded recently for my Liking.

[Anupamanoj]

Hello 
Do you have any clues ... my application status changed from assessment in progress to further assessment... is that mean they opening file ???

DOL: 21/07/2017

[xmascreek]

Anupamanoj - are you applying from the UK ?  How long have you been married, how long have you been living together, is your partner Australian born, did you submit 888's. Do you share expenses, banks , utilities etc etc. I suspect that each area is examined in detail - including Character requirements - did you fill in that very detailed form about family, employment etc ? 

It seems clear that there are some cases that are what is called 'tick and flick' ie clear cut, so these progress faster. 

Maybe they will want more details ?

[MrsShields12]

18 hours ago, Anupamanoj said:

Hello 
Do you have any clues ... my application status changed from assessment in progress to further assessment... is that mean they opening file ???

DOL: 21/07/2017

I noticed before the maintenance on the immi account ( Yes I'm a serial immi stalker, only applied on the 15th of Feb )  mines said Assessment in progress  , It now says " Further assessment " .

In my opinion it is just re wording on the new website , I'm not an expert or anything though.   

[J-J]

Congrats Dispo that's really quick. When you thinking of making the move? 

[Dispo]

To be honest the speed of the visa has caught us out, the plan was to spend 2018 getting the house ready to sell and thinking about all the other aspects of moving whilst we waited for the visa to come through and then look at 2019 to move.

Even with the visa now available we are not in a position to speed that up much if at all.

[Gbye grey sky]

8 minutes ago, Dispo said:

To be honest the speed of the visa has caught us out, the plan was to spend 2018 getting the house ready to sell and thinking about all the other aspects of moving whilst we waited for the visa to come through and then look at 2019 to move.

Even with the visa now available we are not in a position to speed that up much if at all.

What is the last possible date for validating your visa?

[Dispo]

You have to activate the visa by entering Oz within one year of the medical date or the police check date - whichever is earlier.

For me the police check came in on 21st Feb and the medical was finalised on the 28th Feb - so I have to go to Oz (even if I just arrive and then leave again) before 21st Feb 2019. My last date of entry is 5 years from the date that the visa was granted. Even though it gives me the right to permanent residency it only gives me the right to leave Oz and return for 5 years. If I left after that date and tried to re-enter I would be denied. To keep the right to leave and return I will need to get a RRV (right to re-enter ??) visa every 5 years or go for citizenship.

Needless to say, even though we cant move that quickly, we are going to make a holiday of it and not just arrive and leave. 

 

All in all I don't understand the activate requirement, it seems unnecessary, especially as it is tied to the checks rather than the date that the visa was granted.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Dispo

[xmascreek]

Dispo - well done  - we're in the same boat - never expected it to happen so fast. Busy getting the house painted for sale etc. will go out before 23 Dec '18  (maybe just me - luckily I can get the business to pay for flights etc). 

We did interviews and paid for schools in Brisbane during the (UK) summer holidays when we went out, so our start point is Jan 18. 

A note to others - both my kids are dual UK/Aus citizens so that may be why it was processed so fast ? 

Another note for folks looking for jobs - the Christmas break in Australia is a dead zone for jobs, so make sure you arrange prior to Nov or after Jan for interviews etc.

[xmascreek]

Another note Dispo - is that you can apply for Citizenship after 4 years - so should be no reason to need an RRV - unless you're out of the country for more than 25% of the time.

[laf]

On 03/03/2018 at 19:34, Dispo said:

He was also very helpful in clarifying which documents needed to be certified, which needed to be witnessed by a solicitor and which could be just high quality scans. Most if not all of that I would have got wrong with more being certified and witnessed than necessary.

I have read conflicting advice on whether any documents need to be certified.  The brochure guidance says to certify all documents but I've heard that this is out-of-date and that now all applications are online it is possible just to submit colour scans of original docs.  Did your agent say you have to certify the key documents like passport, birth and marriage certificate?  After submitting the application does the document upload clarify exactly what's required?

[xmascreek]

From my experience - 888's need to be certified, as do the Statutory Declarations. Other than that if you submit colour scans of reasonable quality via online the other docs don't need to be certified.

 

 

[Dispo]

We did certified copies of birth certificates, passports, marriage / divorce / name change documents.

The statutory declarations by supporting family / friends were witnessed by a solicitor. (being offshore these were not done on 888 forms but I believe a commonwealth form).

The declarations by myself and my partner were scans of the signed documents, these were neither witnessed nor certified.

Everything else, bank statements, utility bills, proof of address etc. etc. were all scans to pdf.

I did complete a form 80 but it was never included in evidence by the agent and apparently not asked for.

 

[jicms]

Thank you very much for this helpful info. 

[xmascreek]

Dispo - "We did certified copies of birth certificates, passports, marriage / divorce / name change documents." that's interesting because non of those specific docs we submitted were certified, just colour scanned and submitted. We weren't asked for further docs or to resubmit them, so sounds like your agent was erring on the side of caution. It also indicates, still, that there is no clear guidance from the site. 

- 

[Dispo]

It's definitely confusing - we did certified copies etc. as stated above which were then sent to the agent. I had also seen 'current' advise on what should be certified etc. and it differed to what we were asked for by the agent. We went with what the agent said - as that was the whole point of engaging him - and it clearly worked.

I hadn't thought about it (to be honest it was all a bit quick) but I now realise that those documents were then scanned by the agent and uploaded. I remember seeing the entries in the attachment list and the medical clinic had a printout of my passport scan (which must have come from the paper document I sent to the agent).

It may be that the certified copies meant that paper copies were available if asked for - rather than just having scans and needing to get certified copies done quickly if asked.

One example where this would be expensive or delayed is the British birth certificate. I only had the short form and needed the full one with both parent names. These can be ordered easily enough but they are now copyrighted so making a certified copy of them is actually a breach of copyright and the solicitor I used to do the witnessing / certifying refused to do it (understandably). It wasn't an issue as I just sent the official one I had received (it was itself a certified copy of an official document), however if I needed to get one quickly it would be a pain.

It's possible that the confusion comes from the fact that 'offshore' covers the rest of the world and there are bound to be variations between countries and high commissions. The above worked fine in the UK, but may not apply elsewhere. They obviously reserve the right to ask for real paper certified copies, its whether they do or not that varies.

 

[Englishwifeinoz]

Mine was 26 days start to finish - we had a lady called Rosemary who I think was unbelievably on the ball! 

[laf]

That's amazing. Perhaps applications using agents are much quicker as everything is produced exactly how they want it. I'm almost there with doing my own so fingers crossed.

[J-J]

4 hours ago, laf said:

That's amazing. Perhaps applications using agents are much quicker as everything is produced exactly how they want it. I'm almost there with doing my own so fingers crossed.

Ours was approved in 24 Days and we didn't use an agent. 

28th Jan to the 21st Feb 2018

[Jon the Hat]

Ah stop it I am getting frustrated waiting for my birth certificate copy to arrive.... If the prices go up / process changes in the next couple of weeks I will be well pissed off!