PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING! **Forum Usage Guidelines**
 

We are seeing an increasing amount of members registering with more than one username. Members are only allowed to register with one username. Any members found with more than one username will have all accounts disabled, and you will be permanently banned from this site.

Please familiarize yourself with rule 16 of our Site Rules.

Thank you.

Forum Usage Guidelines - READ BEFORE POSTING!
 

The Australian Immigration, Visas & Citizenship forum is an "information exchange" for members to discuss and share their immigration experiences. Moving abroad is a serious, and sometimes complicated endeavour, and we ask that members, in addition to our site rules, adhere to the following guidelines in order that this section can remain an important and useful discussion resource:

1. Thread Topic - Use a descriptive title when posting a new thread. Titles such as "Help" or "Advice Needed" will get overlooked, and do not offer any hint as to your intended discussion. Try and give brief details of your topic. For example "Marrying Australian citizen" or "Looking for info on 457 visas" etc.
2. Search first, discuss later - Before posting a new thread it might be beneficial to use our search function prior to posting your topic. New members frequently ask the same questions over and over again, so by searching first you may find the issue has recently been discussed.
3. Thank you goes a long way - If someone has taken the time to discuss, and share their experiences with you then please be appreciative of that and thank them accordingly. This applies especially to the migration agents who give their time on the site for free.
4. Stay on topic - If you wish to participate in off-topic banter/chit-chat please do so in the other forums that are offered for that purpose on this site.
5. We don't walk in their shoes - If someone is offering to share their experiences please do not belittle them, or make personal comments, or judgments, about their situation. It is not helpful to anyone, and only detracts from the discussion at hand.
6. Be respectful - We ask that at all times you treat every member with respect and courtesy.
7. Timelines - No-one can accurately predict a timeline for any visa. Each application is different and will require different amounts of processing, and it is impossible to say at any point in the process how long an applicant will have to wait. Equally, all terms such as "Further Processing" "Further Checks" "Internal/external processing" "Additional processing" mean exactly what they say. DIAC is undertaking more work on that application, and the Region/Team to which your Case Officer belongs has absolutely NO bearing on the speed of processing.
8. Online Status Page. Please don't ask why the DIAC online status page has not been updated. First of all it's nothing to do with British Expats and secondly it's well known, documented and repeated constantly that some Case Officers at DIAC don't update the information. Therefore more often than not the page can state that information is required when the Visa has been granted.
9. Multiple Usernames - Members are only allowed to register with one username. Any members found with more than one username will have all accounts disabled, and you will be permanently banned from this site.
10. Asking questions by Private Message Please do not send private messages to Moderators asking for immigration advice. If you need information or advice on migation issues please post on the forum or engage a registered migration agent.
11. And finally - Any member not adhering to these guidelines will be asked to stop participating in the Australian Immigration, Visas & Citizenship section of this forum, and if you continue, may be asked to leave the site entirely.

Tolerance and Understanding
 

Please know that whilst we welcome people from all corners of the globe as members here, this site is primarily aimed at British expatriates, and those from Britain who are making the move abroad, therefore the sense of humour and culture reflects that. You need to carefully take that into account when posting here. What may seem rude or inappropriate in your country/culture may not be viewed the same by others.

In the same vein please take the time to say thank you to a member who has taken the time to help you, and understand that many long time members answer the same questions over and over again. So if they seem a little short occasionaliy it's because they get a little frustrated constantly sharing information and to not even receive a thank you for their time. Bottom line .... Please be a giver, not just a receiver :)

So in conclusion, take into consideration the title of this site when interacting here, and we will all have a happy posting experience :)

Thank you for reading.

Sue

Re: Members are only allowed ONE username!!!
 

Also you should know and understand that a poster who has been banned, is expected to abide by that decision and not use someone else's username.

Copying of posts from other forums
 

Several people recently have started "lifting" posts from other internet forums, and then posting them on here.

Please don't do this.

BE is aware that many posters are members of other forums and this is not a problem as long as posters respect that these forums are completely separate entities, run independently.
BE does not expect other forums to allow copying and pasting of posts from here, and in return we ask that members of BE do not copy posts onto our pages.

The same applies to the posting of links to posts on other forums - if you wish to link to an official site, please use a direct link, not one that goes via another forum.

Thanks.

The language of this forum is English
 

The language of use for this site is to be English only. Any "discussions" on this site should be in English, and any "discussions" comprising of a different language will be removed.

There is an increasing tendency to write in other languages. It has to stop- it is unhelpful to other posters and hampers the work of the Moderators and Admin. These posts will be removed and repeat offenders wil be banned.

Copying of posts to several threads.
 

Please do not copy your post into several different threads.

Several people recently have posted exactly the same on four or five threads. Its totally unnecessary and the only thing it achieves is the bumping of threads for no real reason. Particularly senseless is the posting of the same short messages on several of the monthly threads. If you wish to post something related to the movement of applications submitted within that month, thats fine, but please don't post just for the sake of it on several completely unrelated threads.

Finally, if you are asking a question it becomes very confusing and annoying for those trying to answer you, so please restrain yourselves and only post it in one place, that way the information and the answers stay together - more helpful for you, and for anyone coming after you with the same question.

Thanks :)

Re: The language of this forum is English
 

It appears necessary to bring this post out again. Several posts have been reported and/or removed in the last couple of days for being in a variety of languages.

If you wish to communicate in something other than English please use the email or private message facilities. The language of the forums themselves is English, as per the rules.

Thanks.

Visa Scams, Fake DIBP website and other fraudulent activity
 

Migration agents who operate in Australia must be registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA). If they operate without being registered they are breaking the law and a penalty of up to 10 years jail can apply. If you know someone who is providing migration advice and is not a registered migration agent, you should report them in writing using the department's feedback form.

People may give you false or misleading information in order to take advantage of your desire to visit or migrate to Australia. Becoming a victim of fraudulent activity could mean your:

* dreams of coming to Australia are shattered
* visa is cancelled and you are sent home
* identity is stolen
* life savings are lost
* computer is corrupted with viruses.


For more information visit the DIAC website.

This is NOT a timeline site
 

British Expats is not a timeline site.

There are several sites on the internet which exist in order that visa applicants from various countries can compare and contrast their individual timelines. This is not one of them.
The Aus Immigration Forum is here for people to ask questions and seek advice. We do offer the option for people to post their timelines in their signatures and/or extended signatures, but we ask that people should not start threads with the intention of getting people to fill them just with timeline information.

Bear in mind also that everyone's timeline is individual. Each person has a unique application and so will have a unique timeline.

Repeatedly posting to ask others for their individual details is achieving nothing as every application is unique.
In addition in some threads this is verging on breaching people's privacy and is making people unwilling to post at all as they are feeling pressured into revealing more information than they feel comfortable about.
Discussion of the process is one thing, constant niggling and speculating about whether someone's application may be moving faster than someone else's is another and is not wanted on here.

Thanks.

A few hints on thread titles
 

The Immigration forum has a lot of contributors with a huge wealth of information to share, but most of them (us!) are very busy people and don't have time to read the threads that we know we aren't going to be able to answer. So when creating a thread its a good idea to use a title which gives a hint as to what kind of help you are looking for. Some examples are:

Confusion filling in Form 80

Co-habitation requirement - Spouse Visa

Info on 457 needed

Marrying an Aussie citizen

Medical checks on children?

Can anyone help with Work Experience requirements for PR?

PCC from the UK

Entitling a thread "Help" "Ädvice needed" "Urgent" "Please respond at once" or even (as spotted once) "Änswer my question NOW its life or death" really isn't very helpful to the responder as we have to open the thread in order to find out whether we can answer it. If we are busy we probably won't even bother so you will be overlooked. We are all answering questions for free and in our own time, so please, Help us to help you - give us a clue in the title!!!

If it really IS urgent - I suggest you phone an agent and be prepared to pay:)

Tolerance and Understanding
 

Please remember that this website was created as a support system for those of us living abroad and and those yet to make the move. This particular section is devoted to information based around obtaining visas for Australia, and thus should be comprised largely of factual and helpful posts.

Some of us have been here a fair while now and its easy to forget what a maze the immigration rules were when we first looked at them. Similarly after several years on the site there are very few questions that we look at and think "ooh that's a new one". Perhaps sometimes we all need to be reminded what is was like when we were starting out and hadn't even found the link for www.immi.gov.au All we wanted was some tolerance, understanding, and help :)

On the other side of the fence, newbies, you may think that your question is a fresh one, but it very rarely is, and sometimes when we've answered the same thing 6 times in a week and are having a bad day in real life we might come over as a bit short or even rude. Part of that comes from us being around here a while - sometimes we forget that newer posters aren't as accustomed to our individual mannerisms and may take things personally that aren't meant that way. :) At the same time, you may need to understand that some of the replies you get may not be what you want to hear - people post the facts in answer to questions, no point in flowering things up and raising people's hopes if the eventual answer is "No" - if anything the short answer is preferable as it leave people in no doubt that they need to look for another solution.

There are a few threads on here lately that have descended into discussions on rudeness, bullying etc. Lets try and all put a stop to accusations like that. BE is a friendly site, we welcome everyone and we want everyone to enjoy being a member. That's how the site will continue - the newbies of today are the long-term members of tomorrow :thumbup:

Thanks for reading.

Reminder of the purpose of the Immigration forum
 

This section of British Expats is for Immigration, visa, passport & citizenship discussions for those living in, and migrating to, Australia.

If you want to discuss any other aspect of the move, or of life once you get here, please use the other forums:
The main Australia forum is for general lifestyle threads - shipping, flights, cost of living, the merits of various cities etc.

The Barbie is for general chat and discussion. There are also separate sub-forums for Meet-ups, weather and disasters in Australia, and for Updates on how life in Australia is working out for you.

Please try and post in the correct forum - it will help you to get better and quicker responses, and will save the Mods having to constantly move threads to the proper place :)

UK Citizen Arrested in Sydney for Immigration Fraud
 

DIAC Austalia have recently released the following:

Immigration investigators are using the weekend arrest of a man allegedly involved in multiple instances of immigration fraud as a testament to the value of cross-agency cooperation. The UK man has been bailed to appear in the Downing Centre court in Sydney on Wednesday (October 31).

Read more here

DIAC phone scam warning - temp visa holders
 

Hi

Just a quick warning - from the news reprt it sounds as if it is mainly Indian temp visa holders that are being targeted at the moment.

http://www.newsroom.immi.gov.au/chan...s-in-australia

Re DIAC
"Students from overseas and subclass 457 visa holders in the information and communications technology industry are among those in the fraudsters’ sights."
re
"individuals impersonating departmental officers seeking payment to fix ‘visa irregularities’."

Tee