Pregnant: when to apply?
 

Hi folks

I'm fairly new to the forum and have a couple of questions which I hop someone might be able to answer.

We have just received our positive outcomes from skills assessment yesterday and now we need to apply for state sponsorship (for a 475).

Here's the thing...I am 6 months pregnant, due end feb/beginning march 2009 and I'm just trying to get my head around timings.

Can we go ahead and apply right now for state sponsorship (then lodge visa after that) before baby is born? Or do we need to wait until after baby is born so that we can include baby on the application?

It's taking about 4 weeks for state sponsorship approval and then you have 60 days after that to lodge visa application. I think if we wait until just after new year to do state sponsorship then baby will be born before visa app is submitted in which case we'd be able to include baby in visa app but not in state sponsorship app. Maybe we can just inform them that I am pregnant so that they are aware of it? I'm not sure what's the done thing?

Oh, I'm sorry if that makes no sense at all! :confused:

If anyone can help I'd be really grateful. Thanks!

Re: Pregnant: when to apply?
 

Maybe you should contact DIAC and see what they say? they might advise you one way or another. If you apply before the baby's born things might get delayed until after the birth anyway Im not sure if you have a medical for the 475 visa but the baby would need one if that's the case.

Not sure maybe someone else knows a bit more and can shed some light.

Good luck

Re: Pregnant: when to apply?
 

Thanks Suzy. I've contacted www.immigration.sa.gov.au and asked them their advice. I just don't want to do the wrong thing and muck it up in the process!!!

If anyone else has been through a similar thing I'd love to know how you went about it.

Re: Pregnant: when to apply?
 

Let us know how you go on

Re: Pregnant: when to apply?
 

You should contact DIAC.

However, my understanding is that you should go ahead and lodge your visa application regardless. The difference is not whether you should apply, but when your medicals will take place. You will not be able to have medicals until after your baby is born, and when that happens, you just need to send DIAC the passport and birth certificate of your new addition, along with a 'change of circumstance' form (Form 1022 if I remember correctly).

Re: Pregnant: when to apply?
 

I haven't applied for the same visa as you, but here's my experience with the old 136 visa (now the 175 PR visa).

I applied in June while I was still pregnant. There wasn't exactly a spot to put unborn babies on the form, so I just made a note on one of the child entries to say that I was pregnant. I'm sure they didn't even notice that part anyway.

In August I had the baby. I got the babies birth certificate and passport and then sent of from 1022 (I'm pretty sure) and added the new baby to the application. In early November we all went off and had our medicals donw at the same time. Our visa was granted in December, time scales do change from year to year so don't use that as an indication.

I'm not sure how this all works for your visa type, but I believe that you should be able to add the baby after you apply. Just make sure that you don't do the medicals while you're pregnant. Once the visa is granted there is no way to add people to it after the fact. So you should be able to apply, add baby, then do medicals. In that order.

If you are already 6 months pregnant (same as me when I applied) then you should be able to apply and then add the baby before they even ask for the medicals.

I hope that helps. Remember though, my advice is based on my experience for our visa. I don't have any clue about your visa type so you'll still need to double check.

Re: Pregnant: when to apply?
 

That's great comet555! I was doing a bit of research yesterday on the diac website and it says yes that you can add a newborn to the visa application as long as the visa has not yet been granted.

So we have to obtain sponsorship from SA before we even get to lodging our visa app. I contacted them yesterday to find out and waiting for a reply. I'll be sure to put info up here once I hear from SA, for anyone else who may be in the same situation in the future.

Thanks again for sharing your experience. It helps to know you're not the only one facing these dilemmas!

Re: Pregnant: when to apply?
 

Forgot to say that to get sponsorship approval from the region we're applying (SA) it's taking up to 4 weeks for that. We've still got a few bits and pieces to pull together for that sponsorship app so I reckon it'll be the new year before we do it...wait for 4 weeks and then we have 60 days to lodge our visa app. So if we do lodge our visa app before the baby is born it should only be a matter of a few weeks. I don't know how quickly they ask you to have medicals done once your visa is lodged?

I'll keep everyone posted ;)

Re: Pregnant: when to apply?
 

Just a little update...

I received a response from immigration SA, this is what they say...

"From Immigration SA’s perspective, you may apply any time you wish as long as the information you present is true and accurate. However, DIAC may have a different view, you should contact them direct for advice."

So it looks like we can apply to immigration SA for state sponsorship as soon as we like now!

I think our baby will be born before or just after we lodge our visa app but I'll contact them to make sure anyway.

Does anyone know if you have to send certified docs again for state sponsorship? I did ask them that question when I asked about the pregancy but I didn't get a response on that. Maybe I should ask that in a new thread or if anyone can point me to a thread that covers this off already that would be fab!