Guest mcoupe Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Hi Carolyn, Have I read your post correctly, you have been granted your 143 visa on 23rd of Jan 2015 ?? woohoo if so congratulations. I am three weeks behind you so I should be hearing something in February. Margaret x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carob Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Hi Carolyn, Have I read your post correctly, you have been granted your 143 visa on 23rd of Jan 2015 ?? woohoo if so congratulations. I am three weeks behind you so I should be hearing something in February. Margaret x Thank you Margaret. Yes, you are absolutely right, we did get our visas yesterday. So have reached the bottom of the helter-skelter! Yesterday we booked our flights for 11th March, so we are now at the top of the roller coaster haha. ??. Once your final documents are asked for, it all happens very quickly, providing of course you are able to get going. Our daughter sent the final VAC cheque by registered Mail on Tuesday afternoon, so once the money is received it is only a matter of a couple of days, before the grant. We were rather worried that we might fall at the fence of Australia Day, as things tend to close down early on the Friday. Look forward to hearing when you get yours. It does feel very unreal though, I have to say. Lots and lots to still think about. My good wishes to everyone on here. ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve2 Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Thank you Margaret. Yes, you are absolutely right, we did get our visas yesterday. So have reached the bottom of the helter-skelter! Yesterday we booked our flights for 11th March, so we are now at the top of the roller coaster haha. . Once your final documents are asked for, it all happens very quickly, providing of course you are able to get going. Our daughter sent the final VAC cheque by registered Mail on Tuesday afternoon, so once the money is received it is only a matter of a couple of days, before the grant.We were rather worried that we might fall at the fence of Australia Day, as things tend to close down early on the Friday. Look forward to hearing when you get yours. It does feel very unreal though, I have to say. Lots and lots to still think about. My good wishes to everyone on here. Hi Carob Brilliant news that you have your visa - many congratulations! Hopefully we'll follow you to Perth early next year. Best wishes Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veronique Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 HI Carob Brilliant news it's been a long slog but you have made it !!!!!! We are just behind you - waiting for our australian police checks Thank you Margaret. Yes, you are absolutely right, we did get our visas yesterday. So have reached the bottom of the helter-skelter! Yesterday we booked our flights for 11th March, so we are now at the top of the roller coaster haha. . Once your final documents are asked for, it all happens very quickly, providing of course you are able to get going. Our daughter sent the final VAC cheque by registered Mail on Tuesday afternoon, so once the money is received it is only a matter of a couple of days, before the grant.We were rather worried that we might fall at the fence of Australia Day, as things tend to close down early on the Friday. Look forward to hearing when you get yours. It does feel very unreal though, I have to say. Lots and lots to still think about. My good wishes to everyone on here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve2 Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Hi Steve Great news that they' e moved into June. so we lodged on 23 rd June, only a week in front of you. let's hope it does'nt take 1 week for each day in June!!!! Just got back back from Melbourne last Sunday and now have the bit firmly between my teeth about getting the process moving. today is the first day of our grand clear out which will probably take most of the year to complete. actually once you decide to just get on with it and sort out your belongings its quite therapeutic. Soon as we get our acknowledgement which will hopefully say medicals in October we're putting the house on the market. will have to have a re think if it's later. JULIE Hi Julie Let's hope their task force gets into 1st gear and pushes on now. From recent posts about grants of 143`s the average time to grant is about 19 months from lodgement. We're gradually getting through our clear out and declutter, so great minds think alike there. Look forward to hearing when you get your acknowledgement soon. Best wishes Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest geordie joe Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Thank you Margaret. Yes, you are absolutely right, we did get our visas yesterday. So have reached the bottom of the helter-skelter! Yesterday we booked our flights for 11th March, so we are now at the top of the roller coaster haha. . Once your final documents are asked for, it all happens very quickly, providing of course you are able to get going. Our daughter sent the final VAC cheque by registered Mail on Tuesday afternoon, so once the money is received it is only a matter of a couple of days, before the grant.We were rather worried that we might fall at the fence of Australia Day, as things tend to close down early on the Friday. Look forward to hearing when you get yours. It does feel very unreal though, I have to say. Lots and lots to still think about. My good wishes to everyone on here. Hi Carob Fantastic to hear that your visa has been granted, it must be such a relief that it's all sorted and you can start your new new life in OZ with your family. I guess when it all started it must have felt like an absolute age to get to this point, but I bet stepping on the flight in March you will have a beaming smile on your face. Don't forget to keep posting with your updates. Best wishes Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freesia Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Congratulations Carolyn- have an amazing Australia Day celebrating your PR !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maisiedaisy Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Thank you Margaret. Yes, you are absolutely right, we did get our visas yesterday. So have reached the bottom of the helter-skelter! Yesterday we booked our flights for 11th March, so we are now at the top of the roller coaster haha. . Once your final documents are asked for, it all happens very quickly, providing of course you are able to get going. Our daughter sent the final VAC cheque by registered Mail on Tuesday afternoon, so once the money is received it is only a matter of a couple of days, before the grant.We were rather worried that we might fall at the fence of Australia Day, as things tend to close down early on the Friday. Look forward to hearing when you get yours. It does feel very unreal though, I have to say. Lots and lots to still think about. My good wishes to everyone on here. Woohoo! That's absolutely brilliant news, so pleased for you, this is the start of the next wonderful phase of your lives, enjoy xxxxx Marilyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carob Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Thanks everyone for your good wishes. Would anyone like to help us get rid of even more stuff haha!! My OH was an ebay 'Virgin' 18 months ago, not quite sure what he would be called now though haha, as he has sold many thousands of pounds worth!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mcoupe Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 So pleased for you Carolyn. Good Luck, I hope everything goes as planned and you have a fantastic new life in OZ Margaret Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vava Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Congratulations to those who have recently been granted their visas. This is also a "test" post as I don't seem to be getting regular alerts any more and I keep getting logged out. Very weird! Also, if any of you already have Australian bank accounts, I would strongly advise you to send some money over (if you have any spare) asap as I have just got a very favourable 1.9225 rate with my foreign exchange people. He said its forecast to drop again. Cheers, Val Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve2 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Congratulations to those who have recently been granted their visas. This is also a "test" post as I don't seem to be getting regular alerts any more and I keep getting logged out. Very weird! Also, if any of you already have Australian bank accounts, I would strongly advise you to send some money over (if you have any spare) asap as I have just got a very favourable 1.9225 rate with my foreign exchange people. He said its forecast to drop again. Cheers, Val Hi Val Test post received ok and the advisory email from the forum. That's a great exchange rate! Regards Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vava Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Hi ValTest post received ok and the advisory email from the forum. That's a great exchange rate! Regards Steve Thanks Steve but its happenend again. The email came, I clicked on the blue link and it took me to 03.10.14! I cannot fathom why its happening. Technology! At least I managed to wire the £££££'s for my fab exchange rate to $$$$$$$'s successfully! Regards, Val Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisher1 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Yes I've just sent some money over and got a great rate too. About time!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maisiedaisy Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Thanks Steve but its happenend again. The email came, I clicked on the blue link and it took me to 03.10.14! I cannot fathom why its happening. Technology! At least I managed to wire the £££££'s for my fab exchange rate to $$$$$$$'s successfully!Regards, Val All working ok here Val, received email without any problems. Very good exchange rate, we've been watching it too x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summerskybird Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Congratulations to those who have recently been granted their visas. This is also a "test" post as I don't seem to be getting regular alerts any more and I keep getting logged out. Very weird! Also, if any of you already have Australian bank accounts, I would strongly advise you to send some money over (if you have any spare) asap as I have just got a very favourable 1.9225 rate with my foreign exchange people. He said its forecast to drop again. Cheers, Val I had a few probs but seems ok now. how easy is it to open an Aus bank account? Do you need a visa etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vava Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I had a few probs but seems ok now.how easy is it to open an Aus bank account? Do you need a visa etc? Hi, Yes. Its quite easy to open an account. We opened ours in 2007, way before we thought of applying to live there. We used it to save for our daughters wedding which was on the Gold Coast in 2008. Now we use it to shop and pay for things when we go on holiday although we also have a savings account which we opened when we were getting close to being granted. Our daughter used to have access to it but I've changed the password! She has "borrowed" from it in the past. There is a branch of ANZ in London and they were really helpful but I'm sure there are other banks in the UK too. Once you have an account its very easy to transfer funds via an FX trader. We use Halo Financial but there are others too. I usually get 2 quotes before I do the deal, all done on the phone, email and online transfers. Easy peasy. Good Luck! Val Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest geordie joe Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Hi,Yes. Its quite easy to open an account. We opened ours in 2007, way before we thought of applying to live there. We used it to save for our daughters wedding which was on the Gold Coast in 2008. Now we use it to shop and pay for things when we go on holiday although we also have a savings account which we opened when we were getting close to being granted. Our daughter used to have access to it but I've changed the password! She has "borrowed" from it in the past. There is a branch of ANZ in London and they were really helpful but I'm sure there are other banks in the UK too. Once you have an account its very easy to transfer funds via an FX trader. We use Halo Financial but there are others too. I usually get 2 quotes before I do the deal, all done on the phone, email and online transfers. Easy peasy. Good Luck! Val Never thought about opening an account in Oz and transferring the funds now. I was thinking of transferring some of it to either my son or daughters accounts, but I might as well get the interest on it and benefit from the excellent exchange rate. thanks Val Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maisiedaisy Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Hi,Yes. Its quite easy to open an account. We opened ours in 2007, way before we thought of applying to live there. We used it to save for our daughters wedding which was on the Gold Coast in 2008. Now we use it to shop and pay for things when we go on holiday although we also have a savings account which we opened when we were getting close to being granted. Our daughter used to have access to it but I've changed the password! She has "borrowed" from it in the past. There is a branch of ANZ in London and they were really helpful but I'm sure there are other banks in the UK too. Once you have an account its very easy to transfer funds via an FX trader. We use Halo Financial but there are others too. I usually get 2 quotes before I do the deal, all done on the phone, email and online transfers. Easy peasy. Good Luck! Val That's good to know Val, that's something we need to get set up. Trying to decide between Westpac, NAB or ANZ but I'm guessing they're all much of muchness Maisie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vava Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 That's good to know Val, that's something we need to get set up. Trying to decide between Westpac, NAB or ANZ but I'm guessing they're all much of muchness Maisie Something that we didn't think about when we first opened our account was the $5 per month charges but not all of them do this. We got a letter when my husband turned 60 to say that there would be no further charges as he is a senior! The other thing that we didn't think of was that as we have banked with ANZ for 7 years we now have a history which won't do us any harm should we need a small mortgage or loan etc in the future. The manager knows us too because of the hoo haa when IMMI needed our visa fee. We sent them one of our ANZ personal cheques but IMMI sent it back and asked for a bank cheque which is what we call a bankers draft. ANZ allowed my daughter to go to the local branch and pick it up. Luckily I was able to email them a photo of her passport and she showed the real one for ID. Very helpful and accommodating. The lady who deals with migrating poms at ANZ in London is very helpful too. Hope you manage to sort it out before the exchange rate plummets again! Regards, Val Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliew1499 Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 We opened an account with NAB, it was all completed very quickly online. If you are in the process of applying for a visa then they are happy to open accounts for you, including a savings account which will give you a better rate of interest than you will get in the UK. NAB don't charge for withdrawals or have monthly account fees. they Lao have a lot of ATm machines compared to other banks. The thing you have to remember is that until you validate your account, that is in person in Oz showing your passport, then you can only pay money in, not out. We made an appointment at the branch in Mt Martha and within 5 mins we had our debit cards and online banking set up. now we are back in the Uk we can our account online and deal with any payments we need. Anyone had the TEST email from IMMI it's not working again? JULIE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest geordie joe Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 We opened an account with NAB, it was all completed very quickly online. If you are in the process of applying for a visa then they are happy to open accounts for you, including a savings account which will give you a better rate of interest than you will get in the UK. NAB don't charge for withdrawals or have monthly account fees. they Lao have a lot of ATm machines compared to other banks. The thing you have to remember is that until you validate your account, that is in person in Oz showing your passport, then you can only pay money in, not out. We made an appointment at the branch in Mt Martha and within 5 mins we had our debit cards and online banking set up. now we are back in the Uk we can our account online and deal with any payments we need. Anyone had the TEST email from IMMI it's not working again? JULIE Hi Julie Thanks for the info re the bank accounts. I did the test email earlier this week and it's still showing acknowledgements for June 1st. There must have been an awful lot of 103 applications thinking the non contributory visa was going to be closed. joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliew1499 Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Hi Joe I know IMMI were inundated with 103 applications in May and June last year but I don't know why we who have applied for 143’s have had to wait so long when they are supposed to give priority to CPV applications. After all they have apparently 13 yrs plus to process the 103’s. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summerskybird Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Hi,Yes. Its quite easy to open an account. We opened ours in 2007, way before we thought of applying to live there. We used it to save for our daughters wedding which was on the Gold Coast in 2008. Now we use it to shop and pay for things when we go on holiday although we also have a savings account which we opened when we were getting close to being granted. Our daughter used to have access to it but I've changed the password! She has "borrowed" from it in the past. There is a branch of ANZ in London and they were really helpful but I'm sure there are other banks in the UK too. Once you have an account its very easy to transfer funds via an FX trader. We use Halo Financial but there are others too. I usually get 2 quotes before I do the deal, all done on the phone, email and online transfers. Easy peasy. Good Luck! Val Thanks, that's very interesting and informative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summerskybird Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Thanks for all the info on banks. I'm going over at Easter so could verify my account then if I get a move on now to open one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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