jensteve

I sat here this morning, thinking of the new system were you seem to able to get a visa within weeks and wondered not only are these people really prepared, lets face it all us other ones have had 12months plus mulling it over, preparing ourselves and making sure its the right decision, and the majority knowing it is and some falling out 6 months down the line after having time to think. But what of there people who suddenly decide this is a good idea, lets apply and see what happens. They get a visa 2 months later and have hardly had time to think about what they are doing. Are dimia not asking for trouble, and many of these super quick applicants will be going straight back to the uk.
I am glad we had the 12 months to think about our decision, and by the time we got our visa we where psychologically ready for Oz.
The only other problems that seem to be probable, the people who put up a bond will have even less time to sell up property, this I can assume will cause problems, our bond payment caused us no end of problems with the 49 day rule. How can anyone who applys manage this as well if applications are being processed so quickly. Or have they scrapped the 49 day payment clause.
Oh well just my opinions, but think some of you may well agree with some of what I have said.
Jenny

JAJ

They have not scrapped the 49 day deadline. It's possible to get an extension but their patience is not infinite.

Clued-in applicants who have money locked up in their house and who need to invest in the bond will already have arranged approval for the right kind of additional mortgage loan long before DIMIA come asking for the bond.

That kind of strategy is almost universally preferable to trying to sell a house within a short period, especially as the visa is not granted until it's actually *granted*.

Jeremy

jensteve

We ended up though selling before getting our visa, we where maxed out on the mortgage we had, and when I asked if we could unlock the equity they laughed at me. Just goes to show having more than £100k in equity does not help you out at all. We ended up selling and living in a caravan for the final 3 months.
That was the worse part of the application for me, trying to think in advance the timescales for each part as they where very important due to house sale in the middle. I hate to think how we would have done it if we did it now, I don't think it would have worked.
Jenny

sado

sorry if i seem a bit slow but can you now get in to oz in less than 1 year and if so what is needed

seang

Post July 1 apps seem to be coming through much quicker.There was a new system introduced by DIMIA and some PR visas are coming through extremely quickly.

Pre July apps as far back as Nov '03 are still waiting

lucyb

Thats what we have done, as we dont want to have to sell up just yet, as hopefully next year the house might be worth £10k or so more than it is now....and every little helps! We were able to arrange a secured loan against our property and it is now all in place, and as soon as we get the nod from DIMIA we will activate the loan. We are indeed going down the SIR route, but only because that was the only avenue open to us. I agree with much of what was said about people rushing in, but in our case we have been discussing emigrating for 4 years. In addition I grew up overseas as did my husband, and we have years of practice in adapting to new environments!

Lucy

walaj

We have had more time than most (2yrs so far and another 1yr before we go). In that time we have been able to decide for sure where in Oz we want to go, visited Oz, read about various aspects of the move/settling in/finding job etc, dispell some of the myths, gone through the 'do we really want to move?'/consequenses of going rollercoaster, and given us time to plan and sort our financial situation out. Yet I still learn new things about my future home, even if it is the price of a lettuce

On the other hand not knowing for a year or so if you have got the visa or not puts your life on hold, which is not great especially when deciding when to start a family. I assume there is still the yr to validate the visa and 5yr before it expires, so still gives people time to reflect, just that many are too impatient/want to take their life off hold that they will go ASAP.

JAJ

The usual rules about validating and keeping PR still apply - except for the SIR visa where you don't have nearly as much flexibility to stay overseas for a while.

Jeremy