of2oz

hello, we have just been granted a provisional offer of stni in victoria, any ideas how long they take take to grant a visa. thanks , steve and family.

Troood

Hi there

We went the STNI route aswell and it only took 4 months to get our visa's.

Good Luck,
T

of2oz

Hi Thanks for the reply
Can you give more accurate dates, we have front loaded our police checks and medicals so they shouldnt hold it up, ideally we would like to be there in jann 2005, what do you think?

Troood

Sorry - should have put more detail in before. Dimia received our application towards the end of October. Then we notified them of our STNI acceptance and sent our police reports off in November. Medicals were done in the new year and then within a few weeks of medicals being sent off we got our visa (February).

Comparing my timescales to yours - as you've frontloaded everything then I reckon Jan 2005 is reasonable - as long as they don't come back querying anything. You need to allow at least a week to get your visa's stamped in your passport as well don't forget.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
T

of2oz

Thanks Trood, thats great news.
Not long to go now for you, have a good journey, we may catch up with you in Melbourne in January. Do you know what area you want to settle in? We were thinking of Geelong or the Mornington Peninsula.
Good Luck and keep in touch
Steve & family

Troood

Thanks Steve. I've lived and breathed this whole rollercoaster process for what seems like forever! I still can't believe that we will be flying out on the 31st October. My nerves are on edge and I keep getting upset about those I'll be leaving behind.

Having never been we haven't got a clue where we'll end up, but the Mornington Peninsula is definetely on our radar as it sounds fab and could be just what we're looking for. Not too fussed about city living, although it will depend on where Paul wants to establish himself work wise!!

Good luck with yours - hopefully an expat meet will be organised for the new year and we'll get to meet up then.

Take care,
Trudi

Bret

HI we applied for a subclass 137 visa after being sposored by Vict. We also frontloaded with medicals and police checks. Our Visa took 4 1/2 months from start to finish and was granted on the 8th Sept. This timescale took into account a lost form and also the fact we got caught up in the pre/post July rush so hopefully yours should not take as long.

Hope this is of use.

Bret

of2oz

Hi Trudi
Its getting very scary here now, house on market and everything moving forward quite quickly. We have never been to Australia but my wifes sister lives in Sydney. it looks like a fantastic country. Our girls (10 and 14)have mixed feelings (they will miss their friends) but we have to give it a go.
There is a member on the Britvics site called Bordy who is based in Melbourne and he has given some useful info on areas. Let us know how you get on and hopefully we will all get together one day for a Melbourne meet.
Good Luck
Steve & family

Troood

I keep forgetting about BritVics. Have just gone back in to there and put a message out. I've had dealings with Bordy from this site in the past. He's great.

We're taking our 2.5 year old - so the big adventure soon begins!!!
Take care,
T