Timing advice

[Benj08]

Hi all,

Im looking for a bit of advice, after looking on here it would appear that visas are being processed relatively quickly. I want to time ours so that we could leave uk at the end of next year. We have a son that will complete his GCSEs next year. I would then like him to complete year 11 + 12 in Australia starting the following Feb.

Little bit about us:

Im Aussie and my wife and kids are uk. Twin daughters age 6, son 15 (step son to me) and daughter 18 (step to me but wont be on the app). Together 10 yrs, married 5 yrs.

On the home affairs website it says the visas could take up to 15 months or so. I've read on here that some have come through in less than 3. 

1. If I was to apply soon (allowing 15 months) but it was approved straight away. Can the entry before date be extended to allow son to complete school?

2. If we did apply now and it was approved could wife and son just head over and come straight back? Or do they need to stay there for a while?

3. Has anyone ever taken their child from uk after finishing year 11 GCSEs and enrolling them in year 11 in Australia? Some advice on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Jon the Hat]

I can't comment on timing, but I would consider whether your step daughter might in fact want to come later on, as it might be much easier to include her now than later.

[aconcannon]

Hi all,
Im looking for a bit of advice, after looking on here it would appear that visas are being processed relatively quickly. I want to time ours so that we could leave uk at the end of next year. We have a son that will complete his GCSEs next year. I would then like him to complete year 11 + 12 in Australia starting the following Feb.
Little bit about us:
Im Aussie and my wife and kids are uk. Twin daughters age 6, son 15 (step son to me) and daughter 18 (step to me but wont be on the app). Together 10 yrs, married 5 yrs.
On the home affairs website it says the visas could take up to 15 months or so. I've read on here that some have come through in less than 3. 
1. If I was to apply soon (allowing 15 months) but it was approved straight away. Can the entry before date be extended to allow son to complete school?
2. If we did apply now and it was approved could wife and son just head over and come straight back? Or do they need to stay there for a while?
3. Has anyone ever taken their child from uk after finishing year 11 GCSEs and enrolling them in year 11 in Australia? Some advice on this would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance

1) we got 12 months to activate our visa (189 PR) from the date it was issued. If I remember correctly it was the same with our gap year visa 10 years ago. I presume it would be the same for your visa

2) yes. Once you’ve activated your visa by landing in the country you can come & go as you please. You each need to activate your own visas though.

3) no personal experience on this but happened to a family we met. Their daughter found the work was easier than what she’d been doing at school in the UK. I think kids here have to stay in school until their 17, not 16 like in the UK

[Jon the Hat]

I assume you are getting citizenship by descent for your twins - read the 1195 instructions properly won't you, mine got sent back as I didn't put middle names on the photo endorsements!

[Benj08]

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said:

I can't comment on timing, but I would consider whether your step daughter might in fact want to come later on, as it might be much easier to include her now than later.

She would absolutely love to. Unfortunately she left school and went straight into an apprenticeship in Business administration (focusing on credit control) which isnt on the skills list. 

[Benj08]

2 minutes ago, Benj08 said:

She would absolutely love to. Unfortunately she left school and went straight into an apprenticeship in Business administration (focusing on credit control) which isnt on the skills list. 

She is currently in a relationship. He is completing an apprenticeship in plumbing and gas. That may be their way in down the line. If they stay together. If not any advice on how to get her there would be much appreciated.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

9 minutes ago, Benj08 said:

She would absolutely love to. Unfortunately she left school and went straight into an apprenticeship in Business administration (focusing on credit control) which isnt on the skills list. 

I think you still have to get her to do medical etc, I may be wrong if she isn’t dependent on you. Have you also gone to the court or got a letter from the father of your step son as this will be another step you have to go through. If your partners ex is happy for his son to leave the country you can go to a solicitor and get him to complete a stat dec. If he refuses then it will need to go to court which is a very long drawn out process.

In regards to schools, you could choose to do what we did and hold him back a year, so if you wanted to come earlier or later he could start in Year 10 and do 11 and 12 the following Feb. 

‘in regards to validating your visa, you could all come out and validate together and return, I know back when we applied it was a 136 Visa and once validated you could fly back home and had 5 years. If you didn’t manage to get back in those 5 years you had to apply for a Resident Return Visa, but my experience is based on many moons ago, things change all the time on Visas.

Have you had a chat to an agent? Personally I think it would be of benefit especially in regards to the best action to take in regards to your daughter. @Richard Gregan Or any of the other agents on here would be able to offer the most updated advice.

 

[Guest The Pom Queen]

13 minutes ago, Benj08 said:

She is currently in a relationship. He is completing an apprenticeship in plumbing and gas. That may be their way in down the line. If they stay together. If not any advice on how to get her there would be much appreciated.

If she is dependent on you then you have a good chance of getting her added. If she is independent you may struggle. This is where chatting to an agent would help.

[Benj08]

2 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I assume you are getting citizenship by descent for your twins - read the 1195 instructions properly won't you, mine got sent back as I didn't put middle names on the photo endorsements!

That's right and will do. Cheers

[Nemesis]

1 hour ago, The Pom Queen said:

If she is dependent on you then you have a good chance of getting her added. If she is independent you may struggle. This is where chatting to an agent would help.

If she is in a relationship, and doing an apprenticeship, she is no longer dependent. That also means she would not need to do a medical. 

[Quoll]

Get your U.K. citizenship before you go if you haven’t got it already, you never know if you want to come back and that’s getting harder.

Personally I wouldn’t risk the “we can credit the GCSEs towards Yr12” if your lad wants a good TER (or whatever it’s called these days). Better to enroll in yr 10 if you arrive at the end of the year and get the full 2 year course in, then there will be no unexpected glitches. Of course, if you’re going to stay in Australia then GCSEs will be irrelevant anyway.

The turn around time for visas in London for straightforward cases with relationships with longevity and kids seems to be 2-3 months only at the moment.

[Benj08]

1 hour ago, Quoll said:

Get your U.K. citizenship before you go if you haven’t got it already, you never know if you want to come back and that’s getting harder.

Personally I wouldn’t risk the “we can credit the GCSEs towards Yr12” if your lad wants a good TER (or whatever it’s called these days). Better to enroll in yr 10 if you arrive at the end of the year and get the full 2 year course in, then there will be no unexpected glitches. Of course, if you’re going to stay in Australia then GCSEs will be irrelevant anyway.

The turn around time for visas in London for straightforward cases with relationships with longevity and kids seems to be 2-3 months only at the moment.

Thanks mate, i was born in uk in 82 and migrated in 91, I already have dual citizenship so that's no problem. I'm currently a head of year 10 at a high school in UK, completing year 11 in the uk would appear to be the same as completing yr 10 in Australia. A-levels in UK being equivalent to year 11 and 12 in Australia. I would be looking to put our lad in an Australian school to complete the full years 11+12. Does that make sense?

[Quoll]

2 hours ago, Benj08 said:

Thanks mate, i was born in uk in 82 and migrated in 91, I already have dual citizenship so that's no problem. I'm currently a head of year 10 at a high school in UK, completing year 11 in the uk would appear to be the same as completing yr 10 in Australia. A-levels in UK being equivalent to year 11 and 12 in Australia. I would be looking to put our lad in an Australian school to complete the full years 11+12. Does that make sense?

Actually, there is one more year in the UK system so yr 12 (on the off chance it all went pear shaped and you wanted to return) doesn’t have quite the same status as A levels (which, on the contrary, travel well to Australia for Uni requirements). Sometimes a Foundation year at a UK Uni might be required if only an Aus yr 12 cert.

But, yes, if you reckon the final two years will give you the end of school score to gain admittance to Uni, I suppose it’s equivalent to A levels in that regard. Aus catches up by the end of Uni though with 4 years required to get honours compared with 3 years in U.K.  In the same way you wouldn’t really want to put a kid into an A level class 1/3 of the way through the course, you wouldn’t want to put a kid into a VCE/HSC/whatever course part way through, so, yes, your reasoning makes sense.

[Benj08]

Also if we applied this year and were granted visas, then nipped to Aus to activate the visas, is there then a set period of time to officially move there or are the visas for life? Giving us the option of our son completing school and A-levels here then moving to Aus at a later date, perhaps doing uni there. 

[Jon the Hat]

You have 5 years to settle in Australia, but you would then need a resident return visa (RRV) if you wanted to leave Australia again before you get your citizenship.