Wall.E

As always Alan is around to help.

Thanks Alan,

Cheers

johnemo

Some people have sent their passport to Australia House in London to get a visa stamp. When we received our visa grant email there was also an attachment about VEVO www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/evo.htm implying that a stamp in your passport is not neccessary.
Can anyone shed some light on why that might not the case please?

John.

moneypenny20

It's no necessary and DIAC are not longer saying you should get one because it's all computerised and in theory there is no issue. However, in real terms, whilst you will have no problems travelling without a physical sticker, when you are here permanently and are trying to do things like register with Medicare and some other agencies, employers, a sticker is more than useful.

Some of these agencies don't appear to understand the technological age, they won't accept what a computer tells them and obviously some places are not linked to the Government system and if you don't have a sticker they won't register you or accept you are here legally. Yes you have VIVO but in all honesty if you're in the UK send off the passport to AHC and get the sticker or wait until you're in Australia and visit your nearest DIAC who will happily put the sticker in the passport immediately free of charge.

It's also nice to see the fruits of your bank account and labour actually physically in your passport.

johnemo

I guess that trumps everything - thanks for your reply.

DaveandLinda

We haven't encountered any problems so far without a sticker in our passport. We just showed a printout of the email with our visa grant.

mavinaus

Hi everyone,
Just an update on our situation, We have just paid 2nd VAC and will be going offshore from Oz end of November to evidence visa, so virtually there now. Has taken us about 3 months once CO contacted, but we lost a couple of weeks due to some AOS issues, but all done now.
I will continue to get notice of emails on this forum and will endeavour to answer or help prospective applicants, if I can.
Thankyou to everyone who posts here, even though I haven't been on a lot I have used the information on this forum to help with our application.
Marian

JohnDeeHart

We had our medicals done last July 2011 although we do not expect to be appointed a CO until Feb/March 2012.Is this permissible?
Are you expected to wait until you get a CO before arranging your medical?
I realize that we will have to validate the visa before July 2012, but that's OK.
We're planning to get our Police Checks done also, so that all is ready and waiting when we get our CO.
Thanks.
John

moneypenny20

It's only ok if you get a grant prior to that date. It's not advisable to get meds and PCCs done prior to being asked by your CO for them. Getting a CO and getting the request could and often is months. Sending PCC and meds and getting a grant can and often is more months. However you've done them so never mind. It's permissable though but don't be surprised if you do have to get the Meds redone, it does happen.

JohnDeeHart

Assuming the medicals are "all clear" (which they are) why would they request a further medical? After all, it costs £300 a go for each of us!.
Looking at the tracker it would seem reasonable for us to get our CO by April or May at the very latest, and have the required money available for our second VAC payment in our Commonwealth Bank a/c in Sydney.
Surely this means we'd have no probs getting to Sydney by July 2012 to validate our visas?
Please advise me if I am missing something.
Thanks.
John

moneypenny20

You're not missing anything. I'm simply pointing out that no one, including DIAC can guarantee that you will receive a grant prior to the expiration of the Meds. If your application isn't finalised by then you would have to get new meds done. That's why it's always advisable to wait until asked before getting the Meds and PCCs done as they don't take long to get. The chances are you will get the grant through with time remaining but it's not a dead cert.

JohnDeeHart

Thanks, Moneypenny.
John

JohnDeeHart

We have several bottles of high quality olive oil which a friend in the south of France gives us each year.
They're not in sealed bottles, as they were locally pressed; bottled in used but clean pastis and perrier bottles, in fact!
Does anyone know whether these will be confiscated by customs when our container arrives in Sydney.
If so, is there any way of "validating" these so that they get through?
Thanks.
John

moneypenny20

If they're not sealed they won't get through. Give them away as christmas pressies. Sorry.

JohnDeeHart

Awwww! It's really nice oil too.
How about a fair number of sealed bottles of wine? About 100 bottles!
Will anything get through as long as it's sealed and legal?
Thanks.
John

Pollyana

The wine would be allowed in but only if you pay the duty on it.

Have a look here for more info - http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/travel/e...alia/cant-take