cheers Joolz ,
Me and hubby been together for 4.5 years but migration agent says that it has to have been like a "de -facto" relationship ie living together etc in order to permanent visa straight away, which it wasnt, we were on opposite sides of the world until 2 years ago.

I was told that on the temporary visa, you couldnt get full medicare cover, and werent entitled to things like the grants you get when first time home owner etc, not sure what else.

Yeah, I think unless you have kids together you'll only be able to get the temporary visa initially. Regarding the fee - we paid £580 (Yay credit card!)

We did the application ourselves via the www.immi.gov.au website, filled that damn form out 3 times, but it was pretty straight forward.

I only found out about not being able to get the first home owner grant on temp visa the other day! I thought that cos the wife is an Ozzie that we could get it on a temp visa but she tells me that's not the case...

oh no, i was banking on because hubby is aussie, he could buy the house and get the 1st time buyer grant , is this not the case??

I initially started doing the visa process without an agent to save money, started last year, then ran out of steam - kept panicking that i had done it all wrong and wasnt sure about our evidence or lack of it! , so decided about a month ago to get an agent and get sorted asap!!
Im only paying a reduced rate though, not the full agent fees as i have an "intermediate" service, so they are only checking and advising me on what to do.

if i had found this site before getting my agent then i wouldnt have got one, coz you guys seem to know just as much!!

I think there are quite a few agents that post on these forums too which helps!

http://www.firsthome.gov.au/ has some info on the first home owners grant - although it could be that some States have different criteria for whether both need to be permanent residents?

edit: "You, or a joint applicant, must be an Australian citizen or a permanent resident" - found that on the Queensland site @ http://www.osr.qld.gov.au/fhog/eligibility.shtml

hey thankz for the links

http://www.osr.nsw.gov.au/portal/pag...schema=OSRPTLT

this one for NSW (where im headed) says at the bottom that as long as one of you is an Australian citizen you are eligible for the grant, so hubby should qualify

I got the full medicare rights on the temporary visa; they explained its because when you apply for the spouse visa you are actually applying for the PR one, its just that you may be granted a temporary one for two years first.
Also, in NSW and Qld, and quite possibly others, you are entitled to the First Home Owners Grant if your partner is an Aussie

We did my wifes spouse visa on our own. We didn't even sign our supporting statements, let alone have them witnessed. Just typed it out on a sheet of A4.

Her visa came through exactly 2 weeks from the day I posted it... good luck

I wish i had done my visa on my own ! would have saved me a few hundred quid!! and it hasn't been nearly as hard as i thought it would be ! I think in my head i made it out to be this awful complicated process and in the end it was quite straitforward!!

the annoying thing is i found this site about 24hours after signing the contract with my agent and all the answers seem to be here!

Ive heard different things about getting the stat decs witnessed, but anyway, its only costing us £10 for the solicitor to do it so gonna get it done.

just gotta share!! just this minute received my citizenship certificate
oh the fun of the visa apllication now

One step nearer

good luck with the rest

No - unfortunately for a child's first passport one of te parents has to physically go to Aus House and apply in person - bummer but necessary. Can go to the Aus Consulate in Edinburgh also.

And Pomgrrrl - good luck on the next phase! I must get round to doing mine but I need to send off for my renewed UK passport first and its been sitting on the side ready for posting for a week now.

Wonder how Shiels is doing - its been a while since we've heard from her, think she has been there two weeks now!

Hi everyone!
Im submitting my Visa application on Monday, so Im very excited!

although, still got to re-do the application and sponsor forms as they changed on 1st July apparently
and the fees gone up to £620

wish I'd got off my butt earlier and got it all in before July 1st!!!

About bloody time

Congratulations and welcome to the club

oh no - whats changed???!!! My sister in law has already done her stat dec form and sent it to me, please dont tell me its different now!!! ANyone, anyone!!???