Howdy.

For the many of you that have set up home in Aus can you explain how you actually validated your visa at the airport. By this i mean, once you get off the plane and begin the trek through the airport and then through Passport Control/Customs, do you have to do or say anything different than what you would if you were a normal holiday. My wife thinks we need to jump up and down shouting "we`re here!!" like mad people, but i guess they`d probably make us go back to the UK.

Please let me know.

Cheers.

BB.

You have to change into your trunks or bikini, wear thongs [flipflops] and go to the gas BBQ located just before passport control. So make sure you bring plenty of snags for all the customs people.

Once customs have all had a snag a piece, then they stamp your passport and your forehead with "Permanent resident"

Naaaaa....only kiddin.

You go through passport control as norm [visa holder first] and they stamp the passport and you're in. You lucky, lucky man

Very very boring and straightforward I'm afraid. Present passport to customs person, they check it through computer, stamp it and hand it back. Over. No bells, whistles, fireworks, congratulations - nadda. They are very polite though and ask how your flight was

It's an anticlimax. You go through as normal, get a stamp & a 'welcome to Australia'. That's it.

I can't wait!!!!

Great reply, if only it were true.

Thanks for replying everyone, i`ll guess we`ll have to wait until we get out of the airport terminal before we crack open the ale.

BB.

And the validation has to be done within 12 months of the police and health checks, if you don't stay in the country after the validation of the visa you have 5 years to return (or you have to go through another visa application). Validation gives a Resident Return Visa (entitling the bearer to settle or return within 5 years).

I'm just thinking aloud, please correct me if I'm wrong! My wife has to go through the process of getting a spouse visa soon and she'll validate on our next trip and we intend to move within 5 years. We've been married for so long, have the joint assets and bank accounts etc, I understand she will be given a permanent visa immediately (won't have a temp visa for 2 years) and can apply for citizenship 2 years after the move.

OzTennis

Spouses in a "long term relationship" (explained in the partner migration booklet) at time of application for the visa get a PR visa immediately.

However citizenship will take longer than 2 years if the residence requirement is increased.


Jeremy

Yes, you can ask for the waiver of 2 yr waiting period if you've been married 5yrs or more without having kids together or 2yrs or more with kids. I did this, it was written on the application, fine print as usual. So when I sent my application in, along with all the paperwork, I asked them for the waiver, they called me 2 wks later, and asked if I could proof the 2yrs somehow (at the time of the phonecall we were 2wks short of our 2nd wedding anniversary but defacto counts as well). Told them about my MIL putting an engagement notice to West Australian 2 and a bit years earlier. 20 mins later DIMA called and said that I now had PR, not TR, passport was in the mail.

My friend was at the same time a TR, she had a baby, notified DIMA of the baby wk later and although she was only 6mths into her TR, she now filled the requirement for the waiver and ask DIMA for it, 2wks later she had PR as well.

Thanks very much Jeremy and Teza. When you have been married longer than you have been single you definitely qualify for long term relationship status!

As I understand it my wife's spouse visa application should be dealt with very quickly too as we can provide all the things mentioned in the sponsor and spouse visa forms. In such cases what are the pros and cons of doing the police and medical clearances first (front end loading as it is often referred to) or after lodging the application on AHC/DIMIA's direction?

OzTennis

Oz, do it all up front, they recommend it for spouse visas cos they turn them round so fast, it would just delay things. The doctor can no longer send the meds back to you to send with the rest, so if you ask him/her to let you know when they are sending it to AHC (normally one week after meds) you can special delivery the rest of the info at the same time and AHC will put them together.

Last October I got my visa back inside a week. Make sure you enclose the passport as well which cuts down a few more days. Be sure to enclose a pre paid self addressed special delivery envelope for them to send it back in otherwise they will use plain old royal mail.

It's funny, you expect the bunting to be broken out but it's a big anticlimax - just a stamp in the passport and a "welcome to Australia"

It was a bit different for us, the woman asked me where I was staying before she opened up my passport. I was really tired and had forgotten the name of our friend who we were going to stay with. The passport woman went straight into attack mode, just like you see on the telly "So, you've come all this way and you don't even know where you are staying?"

I told here we had PR visas and straight away she chilled out and said "Oh, right, stay as long as you like, welcome to Australia".

If you're coming to Perth you sometimes get the Scouser bloke stamping your passport which I think is great and sums up Australia and Perth in particular.

If you are engaged or married to an Aussie you can queue up in the aussie queue at customs as you are a family member. Just a little tip as most flights from the UK land around 6 in the morning and the queues at the non-citizen immigration go forever and ever.......... Just what you need after a long flight. Have done this myself on several occasions

Yes I agree with that one we were the same just stamped the passport and that was it.

Hi all,

I'll resurrect this thread because I wasn't 100% sure how it worked...until now.

I'm out in Sydney at the moment on an interview trip so validation was part of that. I walked straight through immigration, handed my passport, cher-chunk of the stamp, and a friendly smile. That was that !

Not sure what I was expecting really, but it was a great feeling.