immigration

Patience is a Virtue Apparently

December 3, 2014 by Vicky Leave a Comment

For me, I think not so much but I am trying to become more patient.

In addition to still having no idea what the Aussie means when he describes a surprise for me as being “a bird with big feet” I am currently waiting for Immigration to process our visa application which was submitted in July and now for a university to decide whether to offer me a place to study the subjects required to qualify as a Solicitor in Australia as well as the UK.

The waiting time for processing the visa we have applied for is according to the Immigration website, 6 months from receipt. To be fair to Immigration, we did apply with only minimal documents at the end of July because my previous Visa expired in August. We submitted the rest of the documents that they need at the end of October so I am counting the 6 months period from October and will hopefully be pleasantly surprised when they process it earlier than that.

The frustrating thing about the Visa application process is that on the website you just receive a message that says that the application is being processed and someone will be in contact soon! I think it would be much more helpful to allocate it to a Case Officer and for that Case Officer to contact you and say, yep I have your application and I am processing it but its taking X number of months to process your kind of Visa so you won’t hear from me until at least then.

I’ve heard that the fact you haven’t heard anything is probably a good thing, but not for someone with no patience of course!!

I have also this week finally got around to submitting an application to begin studying again at University. It’s taken a while to get going because I had some questions and then when I received the answers more questions (trust a Lawyer to be that way inclined right?) for them as I am classed as an International Student currently.

I applied yesterday and was almost immediately told some of the documents I had tried to upload had not uploaded so sent them and now I have to wait and try and be patient whilst trying to remember I actually have to do the studying once I am offered a place 🙂

Are we Nearly There Yet?

June 4, 2014 by Vicky 2 Comments

It’s been a while since I did a visa update but I think we might finally be on the final straight for this visa business and it reminds me of when your a child on a journey and keep asking your parents “are we nearly there?”.

We have gathered the following “evidence” to be submitted:

1) Statutory declarations from friends and families with just a couple outstanding;
2) Copies of emails, text messages, Skype and phone chat logs;
3) Evidence of our travels together;
4) Evidence of employment;
5) Bank statements, receipts, tickets as evidence of joint finances;
6) Certified copies of my passport and driving licence;
7) Proof we live in the same address – which is hard to do as we don’t get post to the home address but our PO Box address but we have evidence the post goes to the same place;
8) Copies of cards, letters and emails to and from friends when we discuss my moving to and being in Australia with the Aussie

Now we just have to do the following:

1) Finish our statutory declarations and get them certified/witnessed;
2) Get the Aussie’s passport and driving licence certified;
3) Wait for the outcome of my UK police check;
4) Wait for the outcome of the Aussie’s police check for Australia;
5) Finish filling out my application form;
6) Fill out a form which asks for everything I have done for the last 30 odd years including where I have traveled outside Australia, education and worked (seriously!).

I have tried to think of everything possible to support the application and sometimes think we have gone over the top but then I think is it better to give them more than they need so they don’t end up needing more from us so the process is smoother?

I think we will then be done if we can just get these last few bits finished off this week. Then it will be a case of submitting the application, being granted the bridging visa (hopefully) and waiting.

I do still wonder whether we should have used a Migration Expert but with the cost of the visa being so high we really wanted to avoid that cost. I’m hoping we do have everything together finally. Has anyone else used a migration expert for this process? What was your experience?

One of my friends in Darwin said to me that I should just write in my statutory declaration that I live in a house in the middle of nowhere with an outside toilet and shower, why would I do that if we weren’t serious!! I think she has a good point 😉 Not sure that’s what immigration is looking for though.

*** Please note that I am in no way giving visa or legal advice about applying for visa’s in Australia or anywhere else – this is just what I have found and is only relevant to our situation ***

Visa Update

April 12, 2014 by Vicky Leave a Comment

Sooo this visa process is flipping complicated. I honestly don’t know how we would manage it on our own if I was not legally qualified and bearing in mind my experience is more along the lines of employment law I really know zilch about immigration law. I guess we would have to pay a Migration Agent or Lawyer which is totally understandable as we go through this process.

I have made the local immigration office my second home as I am always popping in to ask questions where I can’t find the answer from the Immigration Website or all of the super helpful forums for people going through the same process.

We are applying for the Onshore De Factor Partner Visa which is subclass 820 and 801 and means that I apply and the Aussie sponsors me to stay. When you submit the forms, which can be done online and the supporting evidence (or as much as you have to hand with confirmation of what else you will be sending) my understanding is that you get issued a bridging visa, we will see when the application gets submitted.

This bridging visa continues with the same conditions of the visa you are already on (I think) and so in August when my Working Holiday Visa (sub class 417 ends) I will go on to a bridging visa on the same conditions (including the working restriction).

So, so far I have managed to arrange my Australian Police check as you need a Police check for every country you have lived in for more than 12 months. This came back last week and apparently I am not of dodgy character, phew!

The Aussie will also have to apply for this, once we locate his passport, as he is sponsering me.

The process was really quick. I applied online by filling in the form, downloading, printing, signing and uploading it along with 100 points of ID (passport, medicare and bank card) and paid the $42 fee.

That was on a Sunday and on the Monday I had received an email confirming my certificate had been printed and by Friday it was sitting in the mail box for me.

Next up I have to sort out the forms and all the documents for my UK police checks. I also need to start printing all of the evidence to demonstrate our relationship as well as finish off writing our statutory declarations and filling in all of the forms.

*** Please note that I am in no way giving visa or legal advice about applying for visa’s in Australia or anywhere else – this is just what I have found and is only relevant to our situation ***

Life Juggling

March 27, 2014 by Vicky Leave a Comment

There is a certain degree of juggling going on in my life at the moment. Between keeping in touch with family and friends in the UK, blogging, job hunting, visa application stuff and of course spending time with the Aussie I feel like there are a lot of “balls in the air” at the moment but it is worth it.

As you know I finished working for the company where I had worked for about 5 months last week. I have a job lined up to start but not for a few weeks so I thought I would try and find something temporary for a few weeks to get out of the house, earn some money and of course spend time in the air conditioning.

Sadly it appears that it is not meant to be as even with my criterion being only administration work in an office for 2 to 3 weeks there just isn’t anything around, even with my amazing recruitment consultant who found me my last job literally in 24 hours after I joined.

I’m filling the time as best as I can but there is only so many movies you can watch and so much window shopping you can do. Today i’m meeting up with my friends for lunch and quite looking forward to it.

(Image from here)

This break in work does also give me/us the opportunity to start getting things together for a visa application.

We have decided to apply for the Onshore De Facto Partner visa (subclass 820 and 801) which will mean that I am able to remain in Australia after my working holiday visa expires in August and also visit the UK for my friends wedding in September and for Christmas with my family.

This is by no means an easy decision and I know it has been tough on my family and friends when I told them that I was going to apply for the visa and remain in Australia but they have all been amazing and so so supportive which makes me feel truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends back home.

The visa process is so confusing and very involved, the Aussie thinks I am joking when I grab the receipts for dinner etc from the keypad thing but it is needed.

I sometimes think that I am a Lawyer but I have had to visit the Immigration Office in Darwin numerous times to check things or ask our questions so I can totally understand why people use migration agents to help them even with the expense. I’m determined to do this by ourselves with a little help from Immigration, the visa website in Australia and the many many online forums where you can speak to people and ask your questions or find the answers because someone else has answered it.

After quite a bit of research I have made a list/table of each aspect of our application and what we need to provide to Immigration with our application forms.

We have to prove that we are in a genuine relationship which includes:
♦ LOTs of statutory declarations from our friends and families that they are currently writing for us as well as our own;
♦ That we have lived together for more than a year (or been in a serious relationship for more than a year);
♦ How we support each other financially, emotionally etc;
♦ That we or particularly me are of good character through Police checks; and
♦ I will eventually have to have a medical to show i’m healthy and won’t require lots of medical treatment.

I suspect that this is going to cost us a fortune in printing and scanning costs before we even get to the fee for the visa, police checks and medical but I think it will all be worth it!

I’ll try and keep you updated on my visa application as it progresses but we are hopeful it will be submitted within the next few weeks, fingers crossed.

Forums I have found helpful (although you should always refer to the Immi website and/or the Immigration Department)
Poms In Oz
Australia Forum
Expat Forum

*** Please note that I am in no way giving visa or legal advice about applying for visa’s in Australia or anywhere else – this is just what I have found and is only relevant to our situation ***

Patience is a Virtue Apparently

Are we Nearly There Yet?

Visa Update

Life Juggling

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