PWBCSA

Excuse my ignorance but won't there be basic time variances depending on if the Skilled Independent application is a MODL / Regional / Student / in Australia / not in Australia / A$100k 'Bond required' / Region 1, 2 or 3 / CO having a bad month etc. meaning that you can't get a fair comparison between them all...?

Cheers.

PS. It's great to think that our non-sponsored, non-MODL, outside Australia, 136 application 'could' come through in March!

manxfamily

I have spoken to our agent about this, and although some people are receiving their visas in 3 months, it is not the case for all applications. I have been told that all should follow the DIMIA timescale of 12 months with a 6-8 month wait for police and medical requests and this is the norm.

So maybe you will be a lucky one and be a 3/6 monther not 12.

has anyone put in an application after August 04 and not heard back yet? This questions should give some answers

huguinho

I applied on July 19th 2004, Meds sent on the first week of Otober (sent for second time just for a missing signature from my doctor), Health Undertake form requested and sent November 15, and still no visa.
I'm Skilled Independent 136, non modl, region 2. (And also a little desperate)

Alex Hall

I am going for a skilled independent 136 (non-MODL). I know a friend/family doing family sponsored and another friend/family doing a 136 MODL.

We all sent of our visa apps around the same time and the family sponsored received their visa last week, I received my capital investment bond request a month ago (i.e. would have received my visa if I didn't need the bonus points) and the MODL visa will hopefully be granted shortly.

Time for each of us has been around 3-4 months from sending off the visa forms.

So looks like there are a fair number of post-July visas going through in 3-4 months, although I would not suggest you count on it in terms of booking flights, selling house, quitting job etc. Might be tempting fate a little bit too much!

hope that helps
:-)
alex

melbournebound

Hi Guys,
I'm not going to rub salt into the wounds but will explain our case which may enlighten you a little bit.
We are currently in melbourne on a 457 visa having arrived in Oz on the 28th April 2004 (this visa with delays took 4 months to come through). My wife is a nurse and her job registered nurse is on the modl, after 6 months we decided we wanted to stay in oz but not be glued to an employer on the 457 visa (if you come on this and have problems with your employer you are on a sticky wicket if you decide to go your seperate ways, my wife applied for a modified skills assessment with the anc which saved us a bit of money compared to the full assessment. We then sent off our application form to the adelaide skills processing centre (got there nextday using australia post courier service fo equivalent of 4 uk pounds) on 25th October 2004, we were able to get dima to extend my wifes medical as it was due to expire on 29th January (extended to 28th June 2005) but myself and son had to undergo medicals all done on 17th December 2004 at a hsa medical office in melbourne for $289 including everything blood tests x-rays etc and done in 45 minutes, extra info was also requested back in november ie we only sent short birth certificate for son and so had to order one from northern ireland and reference from wifes ex employer back in uk to cover full 4 year period for work experience. With Christmas coming we didnt expect to receive a reply till end of January/ early feb, we got a letter in a plain white envelope not even a dima crest or logo on envelope, our co had hand written envelope to get the letter out to us asap. The letter was a pre-visa grant letter asking us to contact them before 10th feb with travel details for leaving oz for 7 days, emailed co to explain couldnt do this yet as waiting for legal stuff from uk expected mid to late feb, she emailed back and said let them know details asap.
We completed all the visa process ourselves including skills assessments etc, this suited us but wasn't without its nightmares i.e not sending in form 80 was told on forum and by a chap at dima that should have sent it in with application, then worried for week in case application was sent back as being incomplete, I spoke to a nice girl at dima who said not to worry as if they wanted it they would ask for it and as we had being in oz since april it probably wouldnt be required (it wasn't). If we had gone down the route with an agent, we would have crippled ourselves financialyas most had quoted about $6000 plus all fees for application, skills assessment and medicals etc.

Being in oz already gave us quite a few benefits with the process as we were able to speak to dima with no time difference, couriers were cheaper and efficient, we were able to get documents copied and notarised free of charge by notary publics/jp's who dont charge in victoria and all comunication with dima was direct to us evn by post it was nearly the next day when we received letters, rather than a week or tow by airmail.

One of the factors i think affecting the process is if your skill is on the modl and if its is on the ministers list for being fasttracked.

Melbournebound

tracey.d

I have found this to be the case. I was initially told it takes around 20 months for visas to come through, but when my agent found out I was a nurse I was told our application would be fast-tracked. I was quoted 4-6 months but got it in just under 3 months. I think it definitely depends on whether you are on the occupations in demand list.

Alex Hall

As mentioned in my previous post for post july visa applications there does not currently seem to be much difference between MODL, non-MODL, family sponsored timescales, i.e. 3-4 months (for applications lodged in Sept/October 04). For the $100k capital bond it seems to add about 1 month on due to the time it takes to sort out the bond.

THis is based on myself and other family members who applied at approx the same time (within a couple of weeks) for MODL 136, Family sponsored and non-MODL 136 with cap investment bond. The first two took 3 months, the cap investment bond had the request for bond after 3 months.

These ones also included slight delays on medicals, so from our experience 3-4 months seems to be fairly common at the moment and this was over the xmas period which probably slowed things down by 1-2 weeks due to the xmas break.

However I wouldn't recommend booking flights etc and quitting jobs until you actually have the visa, who knows what might happen!

All the above cases went via George Lombard as the agent

hope that helps

happy visa-ing
:-)
Alex