Nixxypies

Hi there,

This is my first post here, I'm sorry if I've posted it in the wrong area but I can't find the information I need anywhere!

I'm currently a registered nurse in England, and my boyfriend is a speciality doctor in England. We decided in March we were sick of the strains on the NHS service and that we were going to relocate to Australia where a few of our friends already work. We both applied for jobs, had an interview and got a job working in the same hospital in Melbourne. My boyfriend applied for his ACCS (I think that's what it's called) had it confirmed, and also had his AHPRA registration approved within 3 weeks.

I on the other hand have been waiting over 13 weeks for my AHPRA approval despite sending mine off 5 weeks before my boyfriend, but hopefully it should be through within the next week.

Anyway, our employer has said they will sponsor us on a 457 visa. There is a lady dealing with my boyfriend's application at the hospital, she sent off whatever she needed to send off 3 weeks ago but he hasn't heard back yet. Obviously the processing of mine cannot begin until my AHPRA is approved.

We're concerned about the time frame, as my boyfriend has to start his job in September of this year, so against advice we have already booked our flights for 8th September and I've quit my job. I understand we both need a medical. I've looked on the websites for the clinics in Edinburgh and Manchester and they have a 'full adult medical' for £320, or options for part medicals, X-ray only, additional blood tests etc. Because we haven't got a sponsorship number yet for the visa application, we can't get past the first page on the immigration application form, so we can't actually see the information we're going to need to provide. We were hoping that by completing whatever we need now it might speed up the process. I've tried to fill in the My Health Declaration form but the immigration website keeps crashing and will not load!

I am also aware we need to pay for a police check. Does it have to be conducted by the website the visa application mentions? We've both just paid £90 for the AHPRA international criminal history check, and my boyfriend had a UK CRB check 3 months ago, so we're finding it so frustrating that we have to pay for everything to be repeated 2 or 3 times through different companies when we have clear criminal records.

Any hints or tips that anyone could provide would be extremely helpful, as I'm starting to get worried about the whole process! Does anyone know roughly how much the whole visa application process costs? We've already spent £700 each on flights, £500-£700 each on AHPRA registration including university transcriptions and getting documents certified, and noticed we may need to pay again for further documents to be certified for our visa application!

Sorry for the long message, as you can see I feel like a little lost lamb at the minute! I just hope it will be worth it when we get to Melbourne!

Pollyana

Firstly, have you and your boyfriend been cohabiting for more than 6 months? If so, you can be considered de facto partners for 457 purposes and only one of you will need a 457, the other can go as dependent spouse.

You'll be provided with the links and forms to do the medical once the 457 application has been lodged by yourselves, but you can't start lodging until you have the confirmation that the employers nomination has been approved.

AHPRA are - quite frankly - a pain in the proverbial. They have always been slow for nursing staff, and the recently introduced criminal history check is slow and expensive.
The official UK police check required by DIBP is the one for migration purposes from ACRO and you will both need one of these IF you have any criminal record. If you are only applying for 457s you may well not need one.
https://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx

Be warned - the hospital MAY want you to provide a police check to them directly, in which case you will need to apply for Subject Access checks from your local police force - much cheaper than ACPO.

Hope that helps a bit

Nixxypies

Thank you for your quick reply.

Myself and my boyfriend have lived together for a year, but originally I rented the place alone, so absolutely everything is in my name and we have no proof that we live together. All of our bank accounts, credit cards etc are all still registered at our parent's addresses as I never got round to changing them over, and I'm moving back there at the end of the month! So it looks like we'll both have to apply for our own visas. Hopefully by the time it comes to renewing/if we move jobs we'll have proof of living together in Australia to make the next application a bit easier!

AHPRA have been terrible with me. They were so quick responding to my boyfriend and from their first contact processed his application within 2 days. Amazing! In the mean time I emailed several times, was told to expect a reply within 7 working days, which took 3 weeks, and just said they had received my application and will be in touch if/when they need to. They then said being an English citizen, with 5 years of university undergraduate and postgraduate education, in an English university, of which they had my full transcriptions, did not prove I had undertaken 5 years of education in English and requested further proof. I've never heard anything like it in my life.

In other news I have made some progress with the health declaration. After hours of trying to immigration website finally worked. I've filled out the paper work and can get my medical completed before lodging the visa application which hopefully will speed it up! I also found that the Manchester visa medical office give the second adult a 10% discount if two people book together, making it cheaper than anywhere else I could find.

Nixxypies

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me. Myself and my boyfriend are moving to Melbourne in September. Against advice we booked our flights before visas etc were granted (as I spoke to immigration and they said we could always get a tourist visa and have a holiday whilst waiting for our working visas to be granted).

My boyfriend is a doctor and I am a nurse. We both have job offers at the same hospital, and our employer has offered to sponsor each of us on a 457 visa. I applied for AHPRA 5 weeks before he did, but they did not respond to me (despite several emails) for over 8 weeks. My boyfriend sent his and within 3 working days his was granted. After sending an angry email I finally got a response saying I had not proven that I had 5 years of English education (I am English, living in England, speaking only English, and sent full English university transcriptions from a 3 year undergrad nursing degree and 2 year post grad nursing diploma). I collected the further evidence they wanted and posted it over. Then AHPRA denied receiving it for another 3 weeks, until I sent another angry email and by some miracle it appeared in the office overnight, with them stating it arrived during a late night delivery.

Anyway, long story short... Because of this delay, over 3 months has passed. In these 3 months I was hoping my AHPRA would have been approved and I could have applied for my visa. Now I'm in a situation where AHPRA have passed my details on to assess my skills against an Australian nurse which their website states can take another 8-10 weeks. Our flights are booked for 7 weeks time.

We have both had our medical for our visa application, and my boyfriend is in the last stages of completing his application.

I was wondering if I could speed up the process by becoming a defacto partner on his visa application? I have been trying to read through different forums to try and ascertain exactly what evidence we need, but we're in a tricky situation.

My boyfriend has previously been married and is still waiting for his divorce to come through (applied for over a year ago, apparently will be granted in the next couple of weeks). After his marriage broke down he moved in with his parents, until we met, and eventually he moved in with me (over 12 months ago). Because I already rented the flat, all of the rental details and bills etc are in my name, and he pays a monthly direct debit to me to cover these payments. We don't have a joint bank account, and some of our post (such as bank accounts) are still registered to our parent's addresses. My landlord is aware that he lives here so there is a possibility that he could write a letter as proof if this is something that would be accepted? We have had 4 holidays together in the past year, we're going on holiday again tomorrow, and another holiday together in August just before we leave.

Basically I was wondering would this count as enough proof that we are in a defacto relationship or would we need more 'official' proof? Could I be included on his 457 visa even through my AHPRA has not been approved yet?

Thanks for any help or advice.

old.sparkles

Threads merged.

Pollyana

AHPRA are a nightmare and for nurses can take 7-8 months.
On a 457 you only need 6 months, not 12, and I think that you would have no problem proving that from what you have posted. being a de facto on his 457 will certainly get you here quicker, you just won't be able to work until you get registration etc. As his de facto you don't need any work evidence etc you are just included cos you are his partner.

Tramps_mate

We had very little paper work for our 457 application. Things like car insurance showing same addresses or named drivers, drivers license address, photos together, invitations addressed to both.. Literally anything that shows you are together..

Phoodilicious

I work for a large global engineering company who sponsored me on a 457 in October last year. From the time the paperwork was submitted to the visa being granted was less than 5 working days and I was not required to do a medical or have a police background check for myself or my accompanying spouse. So not sure if these things have changed in the last 8 months but they don't seem to be mandatory. I too booked flights ahead as my company wanted me here asap but in the end I actually got my visa 3 weeks before the flight so everything worked out fine. Good luck!

Nixxypies

Thanks for all of your help and advice guys! I'm so pleased to tell you that despite all of my worrying our visa was accepted after 1 and a half days!

Our evidence included a letter from our landlord, car insurance, and travel documents (and embarrassing photos!) from 4 holidays. We were expecting to be questioned or for some delays as the website states it can take 90 working days, but we were so lucky it was approved yesterday.

Now I just have to wait for my AHPRA approval which I have a feeling won't be as quick!

Thanks again.