MandC Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Hi, Morne and Chapman here. Been looking at this forum for about a week now, but couldn't yet post anything.We are a same-sex couple, married under the Civil Union law in South Africa.We were in Sydney, exactly a year ago, and decided then and there that we want to move to Oz.So since we've been back we have started gathering all the required info needed to apply for 175 VisasWe wrote our IELTS end of last year and sent the skills assessments over. Well, I am happy to say that we FINALLY got everything ready, so last Sunday (22Feb) we officially lodged our online application.Everything is attached, and now we wait.It is really exciting but also quite scary at the same time. And reading that Australia are becoming more strict on their immigration laws has me worried. I really do hope that we were still in time to go. On average, how long does it take for an online application to go through?And do we wait until we are told to go for police clearance and medicals, or should we do it now?Anyway, nice to meet you all,See ya around in the other forums.Morne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTrotter Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 It all depends if your occupation is on the new CSL list if it's not it is anybody's guess how long it will take as they are first processing all 175 CSL applications and not any other applications at this stage. It may be worth your while to research state sponsorship (176) and see if your occupations are on the state of your choice's sponsorship lists and convert your app to a 176 app which should go pretty quickly these days. They are allocating CO to 176 applications 10 days after confirmation of state sponsorship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riekie Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Hi there, welcome to the forum. You can apply for your police clearances now, as it takes some time to issue. On the other hand it is only valid for 6 months (unless that's changed recently). With the medicals, you can wait until they let you know or you can "front-load" it like a few others on the forum has done. (Not sure how to go about doing that). Not much help, I'm afraid (been there, done that, but too long ago to remember all the details). Luckily, there's many people on the forum either in the same process as you or recently been through it! You can also use the "search" function on the top right of the screen. I prefer the advance search options, as you can fine-tune your search better. Good luck for the road ahead! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Welcome!Glad to hear you have a voice now!I am sure if you search around the forum you will see that there have been changes in processing priority and therefore timelines have been affected too- before the changes one would have looked at a potential timeline of 12 to 18 months.As GTrotter says- a lot depends on where you sit in terms of occupation and if you are on the critical skills list etc.If you would care to share some info such as what you do and where in Australia you would like to live, I am sure you would get loads of advice and this would help in deciding the best time to do medicals etc- you certainly wouldn't want to do them too early, have them expire and have to redo them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polly Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Good luck with the whole application thing. We are in Melbourne. Everything happened so fast for us, I still get confused Hope everything gets approved for both of you soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon-Louise and kids Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Good Luck for this process with it's many ups and downs!!!Thankfully the fellow forumites are there for all the ups and downs.Have you deceided which state you want to settle in? I see you visited Sydney.From Louise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Welcome and good luck with your application and all the waiting in the process.At times you WILL feel like murdering people, but even that passes with time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zorba Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Hi Morne & Chapman, and WELCOME to the forum!Lots of great info here, and good company for while you wait for your visa!Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 A big welcome to this addictive forum. Hope all goes smoothly for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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