Eeek! Anyone who've applied for the 100/309 visa please read and respond!

[Tulip]

Today I took the online assessment and passed verifiable for a spousal visa.

Now when I looked on the website a little while ago it said it cost £1395 for the visa. However I've just got this email through, which basically says it will cost twice as much. Can someone please verify they got the same email?!

It also says visa will be granted after 6 months, but there are people on here that have had it granted at 3.5 months?!

 

Here's the email; any help would be greatly appreciated. No idea where we're going to pull an extra £1,500 from. I'm even wondering; is this actually from a migration agent?!

 

Dear Bethany,

Thank you for taking the time to complete the online assessment through Visa Bureau.

I have included an outline of the application procedure for applying for your partner visa (including approximate timescales and all costs) below, and attached a guide on the visa so you have some reading.

If you have any questions or you want to arrange a time to discuss your eligibility and our services then please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Kind Regards

Lauren Mennie

Timeline and Costs

We recommend that you budget £3,000 for the entire process of obtaining your Spouse - ( UF/309 Provisional) and Spouse (BC/100 Migrant) visa to Australia.

This figure will cover the following:

· Australian Visa Bureau fee;

· VAT;

· Medical check fees;

· Police check fees;

· DIAC fees;

Preliminary Stage

To begin your application we will require the following:

· One copy of your client agreement (signed).

I can send this out immediately upon request.

· The initial deposit.

The first instalment is £720.00 which is 50% of our total Visa Bureau fee of £1,200.00 +vat

Payment can be made using cheque, credit card or debit card.

Please note: If at any stage in the verification process we determine that you will not qualify for Australian migration, we will refund this fee in full.

DAY 1 - First stage verification

Your application will be looked at in detail to establish whether you will qualify for an Australian visa and if there is any risk of failure. We will pay particular attention to your work history, Australian family ties (if applicable) and any pertinent health or character issues.

DAY 7 - Second stage verification

Your application will be presented to the Global Casework Director, Leonie Cotton. She will assess your application in compliance with the MARA Code of Conduct, the 1994 Migration Regulations for your visa sub-class and the Migration Act 1958. If there is any indication you will not qualify for an Australian visa, you will receive a full refund of your initial deposit.

DAY 8 - 1st Set of Instructions Issued

If you pass the 2^nd Stage Verification, you will be assigned a dedicated caseworker and the first set of instructions for your visa application will be issued.

During the next few months you will work with your case worker collecting documentation, completing forms, evidencing documents, preparing for medicals (Budget £200 to £300 pp), police checks (Budget £35 pp), writing statutory declarations and gathering any other supporting documentation that your case work deems necessary to satisfy the legislative requirements for your visa.

After 2 Months - DIAC Application Review and Lodged

Once your case worker has deemed you application complete there will be a final review of the application . Our MARA compliance procedures require that your application is signed off by 2 people, a senior migration case worker and a Registered Migration Agent

On the day we submit your visa application , we will require 2 payments.

 

• Payment of the DIAC application fee of AUD$1,995.00 AND
   
• Our Second and final fee of £720.00
  

DIAC can take between up to 6 months to consider your application and during that time your case worker will liaise directly with the DIAC decision maker and deal with any requests and issues that may arise.

They can also provide you with resources and information on relocation topics such as shipping, currency transfers, banking, drivers licences etc

After 6 Months - Visa Granted

Once we are notified of the visa grant, your caseworker will request your passport(s). They will then send them into the Australian High Commission in London (or if you not in the UK then your nearest High Commission) and have the visa stamp placed in them. You are then free to book flights and travel to Australia

[Guest hels]

3k sounds about right, reading it, it just states that's the rough amount to budget not how much the visa costs, the figure includes meds, police checks ete

I got mine in 4 months but that was almost 2 years ago, as I'm now awaiting stage 2 to go perm

[Guest Guest31881]

The fees look about right, they have given you a pretty good estimate of the total costs. its not just paying for the visa, you have to budget for your agent fees ( if you use one) police checks, medicals, The 6 months is the time scale that is being quoted at the moment, sometimes its quicker and sometimes it can take longer. I believe at the moment DIAC are quoting around 6 months, but members are saying 4 months seems to be average.

[Tulip]

Just got an email back; they said they're a migration agent!

[Guest Guest31881]

Yes, they are one of the bigger well respected agents.

[samlee337]

Has anyone gone through the process without using an agent ? Is the paperwork that complicated ? I was hoping to do it without one to save on costs? Any advice would be appreciated :wink:

[Guest Guest31881]

If you have a simple application then a lot do go down the DIY route. if you have complications (EG criminal convictions) then it could be beneficial to use an agent. In the end it is everyone's choice as to what route they take.

[frogian]

Hi,

 

Haven't had that particular e-mail as we did it all ourselves and applied directly at the Oz consulate where we were living at the time.

 

I have just pulled the receipt out of our paperwork to see what I paid when I applied and it was around GBP 1600 (based on my estimation of exchange rates back when I applied at the end of Feb 2011, so realistically could be a bit less or a bit more). As Hels says, there are also fees for police checks, medicals etc that need to be paid on top of the visa app fee (estimated cost of these being at around GBP 300 to 350).

 

There have been changes to the apps since I applied though, so they may have increased in cost.

 

For info: My app went in at the end of Feb 2011. Med / Police checks were requested mid-March 2011 (they were all supplied in support of the app at the end of March 2011). Visa was granted end of May 2011 (just short of 3 months from my initial application). Once granted, you have 12 months to enter Oz to activate the visa. The visa must be activated within 12 months of the earliest date as shown on either your med or police cert. e.g. in my situation, my med cert was dated 16th March 2011. My police check was dated 20th March 2011. My visa was granted 26th May 2011. I therefore had to enter Oz to activate my visa before 16th March 2012 (i.e. 12 months after med cert date, which was the earliest).

 

I also put something together about this particular app in response to a previous post that may be of use to you. It runs to around 2.5 A4 pages so is too long to post here - if you PM me with your e-mail address I'll drop it over to you (have had quite a few people from the last couple of posts I've mentioned this on contact me to send it to them and all have come back saying it was of help to them when putting together their stat decs etc).

 

All the best!

 

:animal-frog:ian

[samlee337]

If you have a simple application then a lot do go down the DIY route. if you have complications (EG criminal convictions) then it could be beneficial to use an agent. In the end it is everyone's choice as to what route they take.

 

Thank you Srp, think i'll stick to my original plan and do it myself :jiggy:fingers crossed !

[Tulip]

Thanks so much everyone; I wish they would have made it clear they were an agent as I really can't afford to use one and nor do I really need to (no criminal records, etc). Phew!

 

I'll pm you now Iain!

[frogian]

Has anyone gone through the process without using an agent ? Is the paperwork that complicated ? I was hoping to do it without one to save on costs? Any advice would be appreciated :wink:

 

Hello Samlee337,

 

We did it on our own (no crim convictions, but we did have a major lack of evidence of a relatioship due to where we were living at the time) and all worked out well - my wife researched the 309/100 app and what we needed to supply etc for quite some time - she just wanted to get back home!

 

Wasn't too much of a trouble to go it alone at all though.

 

See post above if you want some info on how we structured stat decs etc.

 

Good luck!

 

 

:animal-frog:ian

[Guest Bazinga]

Do it yourself for sure!

[RockDr]

The official australian dept of immigration website is www.immi.gov.au If you go on this website and search for the 309/100 you'll get to the info pages for that visa, which have links to all the checklists, forms etc that you need. Any other website is probably an agent.

 

I applied DIY but from within Australia (same process, different visa number). IF your case is straightforward, there's no issue doing it yourself.

[piglet1]

We applied ourselves too, very stressful due to lack of evidence but we manage to pull through. Been here for a year now! If you need any help, we're here for you!

[llessur]

If your application is likely to be straightforward (i.e. you meet all of the requirements, aren't applying before you've been together 12 months, don't have a complicated situation of both living separately with very little contact, don't have substantial criminal records, severe medical problems or any other reason why they might reject your application) then I would suggest saving the migration agent's fees and applying directly yourself.

 

Take a read of the partner migration booklet via the link below - it's really useful:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/books1.htm#how

 

We applied for our 309/100 ourselves (as many other PIO members have) and the process is fairly straightforward (especially if you follow the instructions in the booklet/on the forms to the letter) - although don't underestimate how fiddly it can be to gather all of the evidence required. Some people find that part easier than others - just depends on how much evidence you've kept hold of over the years or whether you've just shredded it all :eek:

 

I haven't got the exact costs to hand but you'll make a substantial saving by going down the DIY route - allow £1400ish for the visa application fee, £350ish per applicant or dependant for the medicals, £50ish for the police checks and then another £100 or so for ad-hoc costs of getting documents certified, postage etc.

 

If you want peace of mind however then by all means use an agent - they will be able to sanity check your application to ensure you haven't missed anything - although you would still need to do much of the evidence gathering (the tricky bit in my opinion) yourself anyway.

 

Best of luck with the process - keep us updated :wink:

[wellieboots]

We did it ourselves - unless you have complicated issues it is straightforward enough. The DIAC website is http://www.immi.gov.au, anyone else will be an agent and their fees include the fee you pay to use them, it was about 1500 pounds all up for our application, meds and police checks. (But that was 2 and a bit years ago...)

 

There are also loads of people on here who have been through it and can answer all sorts of questions

 

Good luck!

[wrussell]

all the checklists

 

Currently, substantially out of date.

[Guest nick2704]

If you do your research, this forum is a great place to start, I dont think theres a problem in doing it yourself. I did it myself and although its complex, it can be done. The partner visa booklet is a good place to start, it gives you the details of the 4 categories you want to show evidence of your relationship, and there are checklists from the immi.gov.au site which goes through all the forms etc you need. Personally I dont think its worth paying double, save the money for your new life in Oz. if you are really stuck, ask this forum, I found it invaluable, or just email the european contact centre, they get back to you in a couple of days. Or even ring them up, i called twice when I needed an answer asap.

 

A few things I learned along the way was that since the new partner booklet came out in Jan, Stat Decs are only valid for 6 weeks, so once they are signed and witnessed, they need to be submitted with the application within 6 weeks. So my advice is get people to get them written now, but not signed and witnessed till you are sure you have everything ready to submit, then ask people to go get them signed and witnessed. Also I checked the content of stat decs before they were finalised as a few people had put different dates for events in our relationship. Perhaps when you ask people to do the stat decs, give them a short timeline of your relationship so they dont get any dates wrong.

 

We submitted a timeline of all the significant events in our relationship for the benefit of the case officer, as things have been a bit back and forth for us.

 

Also I found it very helpful to do a summary of every document I was submitting, and I put that at the front of the application too. So I started by collecting all the paperwork and letters that we had showing we are at the same address at the same time, and everytrhing that was joint and in both names, and then just started typing the name and date of the letter into my summary document and organising them into folders that are the categories on the partner visa.

 

Also bear in mind you need to send copies of everything, not originals, except your police certs. I got confused over what needs to be certified, and I spoke to Immi and they sed only legal documents need to be certified, so I got our birth certs, passports, employment contacts, and leases certified. I didnt worry about getting bank statements or letters certified.

 

Also one thing that has tripped me up is validity of police certs. I got mine done in October, thinking I would be submitting the visa before end of the year. But with delays and then having to get stat decs done again in the new year because of the new 6 week time limit, I didnt submit the visa till march. So now my validation date, which is when I have to have gone to australia to validate the visa will be October 2012, although I dont want to migrate till late november, and I am pretty much locked in going on holiday to visit my OH (who left the UK last week) in August because of work, so I am fingers crossed that my visa will be approved in July time so I can validate in August.

 

Anyway, although it might seem impossible, just break down all the things you need to do. if you are just starting out, I would suggest begin by collecting all the documents from around your house which show your relationship, joint bank statements etc. Start organising them. one thing we did on top of the rest of the evidence was to include letters addressed to the OH and I individually for every month we had lived together. Because we didnt have utilities in joint names, only bank account, I think this helped to prove our relationship.

 

Good luck, and dont forget you can do it yourself! So many others have!!