liverpool girl

Hi all, we are in the process of being sponsored by a company in Sydney. However they have had to apply for sponsorship status - they have sponsored people before but their sponsorship status has now expired and therefore they have had to apply again. The problem is that this is taking forever as there is a big backlog. Husband spoke to the case officer this morning and she said that it would be another 2 weeks before the sponsorship application would be finalised and that she would not look at the 457 visa application (lodged by us on 7th April) until then. We fly out on 14th June!!! We booked the flights on the advice of the company (they are paying for the flights effectively via relocation allowance), have rented the house out from 15th June and have arranged for shippers to come and pack up on 9th June. So basically we have to fly on 14th June as we have burnt our bridges here - which is OK because we wanted to leave liverpool anyway. The case officer said that we could get an ETA - husband forgot to ask whether we would need return flights with an ETA visa. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Did you need return tickets, or proof of funds etc. I will e mail immigration as well just to be sure but just wanted to know if anyone else had been through anything similar. Case officer was quite chilled and said that we could get a bridging visa if 457 didn't come through in time. I presume that we wouldn't be able to start work on a bridging visa though??
Thanks everyone.

Hooch&Lol

I'm not going to be much help for you but I know how disheartening it is when no-one replies to you!!!
Sounds like you're in a really tricky situation. Have you thought about using an agent for advice? It will cost you but perhaps it will give you a clearer idea of what to do next. Loads are recommended on here. George Lombard seems very well known and he writes into here from time to time so he might be able to help. As regards the ETA, if you are travelling to Oz without a visa you must have an ETA which gives you a three month holiday visa and you would have to have returned flights booked otherwise they'll not let you in!!!
Whether you would then be able to change your visa whilst there or not I'm not sure?!
Sorry there's no definitive answer but hang in there and contact as many people as you can to get help!!!!
Good Luck
Hooch and Lol

QUOTE=liverpool girl]Hi all, we are in the process of being sponsored by a company in Sydney. However they have had to apply for sponsorship status - they have sponsored people before but their sponsorship status has now expired and therefore they have had to apply again. The problem is that this is taking forever as there is a big backlog. Husband spoke to the case officer this morning and she said that it would be another 2 weeks before the sponsorship application would be finalised and that she would not look at the 457 visa application (lodged by us on 7th April) until then. We fly out on 14th June!!! We booked the flights on the advice of the company (they are paying for the flights effectively via relocation allowance), have rented the house out from 15th June and have arranged for shippers to come and pack up on 9th June. So basically we have to fly on 14th June as we have burnt our bridges here - which is OK because we wanted to leave liverpool anyway. The case officer said that we could get an ETA - husband forgot to ask whether we would need return flights with an ETA visa. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Did you need return tickets, or proof of funds etc. I will e mail immigration as well just to be sure but just wanted to know if anyone else had been through anything similar. Case officer was quite chilled and said that we could get a bridging visa if 457 didn't come through in time. I presume that we wouldn't be able to start work on a bridging visa though??
Thanks everyone.[/QUOTE]

woody1cruiser

I'm afraid I am not going to be a lot of good but I was offered a job on 13th May and the company has to start from scratch as they have never sponsored anyone before. They have bee told that the processing time fo a 457 is 4-6 weeks if done electronically and 8-10 weeks if done by paper. They are therefore expecting me to arrive at the end of July. Once there they will be applying for PR for me as this is supposed to be an area that has a backlog.

I am being very wary in case anything goes wrong but have booked medicals, xrays (as they have requested full ones for the PR) and the police checks have gone off. We are going to wait until we have the visa's before we book our flights.

Debs