jarv

Hi
Just thought I would share my experience regarding the timescales when the visa is approved.
Our visa was granted late Feb and we have to be in Oz by Sept 1st !!!
That leaves us 6 months to sell everything including the house (date starts from police checks / medicals).
When you take into account it takes 2 months for a solicitor to do the conveyancing alone - after you have found a buyer !! things start to get a bit "urgent".
Estate agent was sending round people who didn't even have their properties on the market yet and we were saying to ourselves "where are all the first time buyers".
In hindsight we would have put our house up for sale before the visa grant, but this is a gamble.
Basically I am warning people that time is very tight when the visa is granted if you want to arrange everything before you go.
We don't want to take a holiday to Oz just to validate (waste of £5k) but I can see now why some people have to.

Good luck

Dave

wmoore

It's always a gamble, whichever way you play it. We've sold up already and there's always the possibility we won't even get a visa.

Good luck with yours though.

kelman

Hi Dave
We are in the same position, we got our Visas in Feb and we have to validate by October. We put our house up for sale just before christmas even though we had not got our visa. we did not get anyone looking until about three weeks ago and we recieved two offers. One was too low and the other one which we would of taken did not work out as her house fell though. We are now starting to panic and had now received one viewing for the last ten days, until tonight when we noticed someone outside looking at the house the next minute the estate agent rang to ask if we would mind showing someone around at so short notice. The house was really untidy as we had just got in from work, but i thought what the hell. Anyway they looked around and liked it (thats what they all say) but we wont know until next week if they make an offer as the agents are shut for the bank holiday!!!
Anyway i wish that we had put the house up last summer when they were selling well and for a higher price. Ah well you live and learn.
i would encourage anyone to put their house up when they have applied for their Visa as the time limit is not very much at all.
Goodluck to anyone else in the same position
Dawn

Kopites

Hi,just a quickie,put are house on the market 5 months ago, sold it yesterday,have to be out in 8 weeks,nowhere 2 go and still waiting on our visa's,is it worth the gamble!!!!!!you bet it is,Sydney bound soon
Andy

Chris Mitchell

We have taken the gamble on this , have put house on market when have a buyer will then apply for visa, cant really afford to do it otherwise. Ready for a house move anyway, if it all falls flat then i'll be living in a 5 berth caravan with 4 kids and a golden retriever oh and hubby!!!

Mad or what!!!!?

If any one has a house to rent out might be looking for one if dont get visa!!

Chris

Flying Banana

The 'Initial Entry Date' on your permanent residency visa is not necessarily the date you have to take up residency by, I had a nightmare selling my house, put it on the market in July 2003 and due to 3 failed sales all of which dragged out till almost the last minute didn't actually move to Aus till Nov 2004. The initial entry date on my visa was 3 April 2004.

All you need to do to activate the visa is enter Australia using it, that can be for a holiday, from that entry date the visa is valid and you have the full length of the visa to move here.

I know it's not cheap but after the time and effort spent getting the visa it's worth it if you don't think you'll make it by the initial entry date.

Good luck, hope all goes well with the house sale

Kopites

Good luck Chris,you only live once,and if you dont get your visa your caravan will look well in the summer with all the V.B.cans put around the caravan to make a nice beer garden,good luck
Andy

Chris Mitchell

Thanks might need it, BUT the worst dawned on me today NO INTERNET ACCESS in caravan OMG how will I cope without daily fix!!!

the wayyou put itlike sound of my beer garden, might getsome gnomes too,

Chris

TheRossers

You could allways put your cavervan near a WiFi hotspot and go wireless!!
Yes I know, I'm a computer geek
But then 16 years in the business is bound to take it's toll. At least I don't have a beard and open toed sandles (it's an in house geek joke for those that don't know - 1970's MIT staff were all like that)

TheRossers

We too have taken the gamble and have got our house up for sale.

I presume Dave you front loaded your app. That too is always a risk but what's life without taking a few risks eh?

We had our PCCs done in Feb and our medicals done in March but they haven't been sent off yet. Might wait until requested as it should only be a couple of weeks off.
Best of luck mate.

jimtracey

Looks like I'll need to reconsider my own timescales then. We plan to move out to Melbourne Jun/Jul 2006 and I have just been getting all our paperwork ready to sent to DIMIIA start of April. I'm sure our agent said that we had a year from the date of being granted our visa to validate it.

TheRossers

The validation date is dependent on the date of the PCC or medical whichever is the earlier.
Basically the clock starts ticking when one of these is done. That's why DIMIA suggest not front loading, but with post July 2004's it's not so much of a problem.

jimtracey

Thanks Rossers, but is this then 6 months from the meds or PCC or 12 months? Also, does the whole family have to validate or can we get away with just the main applicant going over to validate?

jensteve

we ended up in a caravan and guess what internet no probs, join your local library and get 1 hours free use per day! The caravan was one of the best ideas we had, and nice in summer like being on holiday all the time.

Jenny

Chris Mitchell

tell me more laptop has wireless card etc, how do I know where these hotspots are, living in caravan sounds more appealing.Wont tell hubby this yet as he is planning loads of walks, NO computers.

you are a lifesaver
Chris