KateZ

Wondered if anyone could help. Just waiting on final approval of Employer Sponsored 457 visa . My husbands employers nomination approval came through end of Sep and we applied for our part of the visa on 1st Oct. All medical requirements were finalised on 11th Oct (according to our online status) and we have heard nothing since.. am slightly concerned as put the proposed start date of the visa as Nov 1st does that mean we wont hear till then? Will (visa provided!) be moving to Melbourne - looking for serviced fully furnished appt for arrival - any ideas / reccomendations?

melbournebound

Hi Katez,
I am in Melbourne with my wife and son on my wifes 457 temp visa. When we applied for our visa we were kept informed by email by our case officer, they will usually advise you by email that the visa letter has being sent, ours was delayed due to postal strike in Ireland but if you talk nicely to your case officer they will fax it out. we applied in September 2003, employer nomination finaly came through on 30th December 2003 ( we didnt hear till 3rd January 2004, medical requested 17th February 2004, Medicals returned and sent to wrong visa office by dr, visa granted 17th March 2004, Visa Letter Faxed 23 March 2004, Fle to Melbourne 24th April 2004, 21st October 2004 Applied for Permanent Residence (wished we had done it instead of Temp 457 as it would have being quicker (Nurses only Take 12 weeks - Fast Tracked)
If you want to know about appartments serviced etc general info about moving to Melbourne, there is a guy on this board called steve who runs a business called melbournehelp, give him a bell.

Many Thanks,

Melbournebound

JAJ

Are you fully aware of all the limitations of being a temporary resident (457 visa) compared to having permanent residence?

And have you got a plan in place to get permanent residence? - otherwise you will have to go home eventually no matter how much you like Australia and want to stay.

Jeremy

Sharpy67

Hi
its only been three weeks since you applied. Giver it a couple of more weeks. When I did a 457 last year, over christmas it took 8 weeks!

JAJ is right in saying have you considered the adv/disadv of being on a 457 against being PR? There are several things that you need to know about. It was one of the reasons why we ended up getting employer sponsership up to PR status, after having been here for 6 months on a 457 and finding ourselves at a disadvantage. However not all companies are willing to do this, and even if they say they will. it a different ball game when push comes to shove and its not been put down in writing.

Suggest you do a few searches on this forum against '457', 'temp visa' and 'ENS'.

Ref serviced apartents , I have stayed at the Medina apartements in Queens street. Not cheap, but good for the first couple of weeks in a new country as it is central in melbourne and a good place to steady yourselves whilst you plunge into the exercise of finding rentals, schools and the hundred and one other things there are to do.

www.medinaapartments.com.au

good luck

Nick

Bordy

What area of Melbourne do your husbands employers come from? I take it you will be looking to stay in apartments around that area.

chels

Once we had sent off our x-rays etc, it only took 6 weeks to hear from them. Pretty straightforward.

Re being here on a 457 visa - yes, you are at the mercy of your employer. They can sack you - you then face having to leave Australia. If you don't like the job, you have to find another employer willing and able to take you on and to sponsor you. No, you aren't entitled to most of the benefits permanent residents enjoy, but you'll pay the same amount of tax that they do. Yes, it is more difficult to buy property. Yes, it only lasts four year.

But hey, it can work out - my partner really loves his job out here, and for us it was ideal because it meant we could have a taster of what living here would be like before applying for residency, plus with all our relocation costs paid for. And it only took a couple of months from him applying for the job to coming out here, rather than the much longer PR application.

Remember to claim your LAFHA. That helps.

jimtrish

Hi Chels,

im hoping to come to townsville hosp on 457 with my family, well, id love pr but they seem keen to do 457. can you tell me how you go about claiming the LAFHA, do i need to get the employers to be aware of that before getting over there?

cheers

Trish

chels

My partner is having problems getting his employer to set up his LAFHA. This is despite them saying he would be entitled to it when he accepted the job. If you can, get it written into your contract.

Apparently you also have to sign a declaration every year saying that you are entitled to LAFHA. The employer should have a standard form for you to sign, otherwise have a search on google, there are a few examples on there.

Wish I could give you a bit more advice, but I suppose my partner is an example of how difficult it can be to get what you are entitled to. Our next step may have to be to get professional advice on how to force his employer to arrange for his LAFHA.

jimtrish

thanks for that, will definately bear that in mind

tonyk38

Cas (Caroline Gorka) is going to Melb'n on a 457. You should have a word with her and tell her I sent you.

KateZ

Thanks for all the info! Finally got the visas approved and have been told just to get visa labels in our passport within 4 weeks of arrival in Australia... no other paperwork - is this right? Also plan to book a one way ticket as have no fixed return date yet - will this cause a query at immigration / passport control?
HUsbands job is in Collins St so think we a re going to get serviced appartment for few weeks in CBD and then work out the areas before we get a lease on anything. Any advice on nice areas, not too far from city and reasonably priced housing would be great!
Aim to arrive first week of Dec - booking flights tomorrow! Have heard conflicting reports about weather and as will be shipping a lot of our clothes can it still get very cold and wet at this time of year?

JAJ

If you have been approved for a 457 visa it's ok to travel one-way. As far as I'm aware, it is possible for ETA eligible people to get the actual visa label in Australia.


Depends what you mean by 'very cold and wet'. Although it's unlikely to freeze, the temperature could be anywhere between 14 and 40 when you arrive. Best to take at least some clothes suitable for cooler weather with you (although in the worst case scenario, there are shops in Melbourne).

Jeremy