Marisawright

Indeed, and those lessons have been learned as evidenced by the processes they're following now.

That's what I thought. Go for that before you try for a RRV.

No they won't. Every country in the world will be in economic trouble after this. The more they botched management of the virus, the worse trouble they will be in. I think Australia will have a flood of even more applications. However the employment rate is forecast to double, so I'd expect them to cut back on approvals.

@AusDream, the bigger issue is that you haven't graduated yet. To get a visa to live permanently in Australia, you must have both the qualifications AND experience required. Assuming you are under 30, your best option would be to apply for a Working Holiday Visa (417), which would allow you to work in Australia for a year. That visa is very easy to get. It is normally granted within a few days or weeks, (although you will have to wait until the coronavirus emergency is over, which will be next year sometime). If you want to work as a teacher while you are on your WHV, you will need to be registered first. Each state has different registration requirements, so your first step is to check those requirements, and see if you are eligible.

double post

Immigration isn't likely to be contacting you any time soon so I wouldn't worry about it. Too much on their plate right now.

I think you are missing the point. The OP is not worried about teaching subjects like PE and German to native English speakers. The point is that their second subject IS English. @AusDream, I agree with you that trying to get a job teaching English would be unrealistic. I am sure your English is excellent and your grammar is probably better than the average Australian English teacher, but employers would be worried as soon as they heard your accent, and they would be overly alert for small errors in speech. There are quite a number of German schools in Australia, but I think even they would be looking for native speakers to teach English.

I believe official advice is to contact Immigration to request an extension, but to wait until close to your activation date before doing so. Currently, there is nothing to stop you moving or visiting before your "arrive by" date (see the wording below from the website). The government issued a warning that all Australian citizens should return home some time ago, before flight numbers were cut back. So that becomes a problem for the RRV because you can't claim you weren't warned and you can't claim you were unable to fulfil your obligation. The reality is, of course, that it's difficult to get flights and you are undersandably reluctant to risk flying in the middle of all this. I have no idea whether Immigration will see those as good enough reasons not to make the move. All you can really do is cross your fingers Partner (subclasses 100, 309, 801, 820) and Child (subclasses 101, 102, 445) visa holders can come to Australia. You do not need to request an exemption.

Yes, if you all arrive before the expiry date, then your visa stays valid and you can live in Australia forever. Your travel facility would've expired, though - that means you won't be able to leave the country, even for a holiday, for a year or two (and then you'll have to apply for a RRV before you do). Under normal circumstances, if you get a 189 visa and don't use it within the five years, you've lost it. You can apply for a Resident Return Visa (RRV) and you might get a one-year extension - BUT you have to show "strong ties of benefit to Australia". That means things like having a job offer, or having close family members in Australia, or having a property or investments in Australia. If you don't have any ties to Australia then you wouldn't stand much chance. It's possible that because of the Coronavirus, they'll be lenient about arrival dates - we just don't know yet. But if they are, the best you'll get is a short extension. I very much doubt they'd look kindly on giving you an extra couple of years so you can arrive in 2023.

If circumstances were normal, I’d say no. However you only have to look around the forums to see that thousands of new migrants must be affected by the travel ban, so they will have to make a policy decision to determine what happens to those who can’t activate in time

I was trying to keep it simple. If you hold a 190 and you stay onshore, it never expires

They would have to be permanent residents, surely?

The visa is permanent. However, when you receive the visa, it comes with a 5 year "travel facility", which allows you to enter and leave Australia whenever you like. When that first 5 year travel facility expires, you must apply for a "Resident Return Visa" if you wish to travel. To be eligible for a Resident Return Visa, you must have lived in Australia for a total of 2 years during that first 5 years. Since your mother will not receive her visa until 2026 at the earliest, and you say she is due to retire in 2022/2023, that should not be a problem for you.

The waiting time for the 143 visa is at least 6 years so you should apply as soon as possible

No. The Central Coast region is made up of several small towns. If you want to live close to that area, then Newcastle would be a much better bet.

Term deposit interest rates are so low, it's not worth worrying about. Like Samson says, look at Ubank or one of the other Saver accounts.

The Australian housing market was in a bit of a bubble before all this started, so they are predicting house prices to fall around 20%. It's only a prediction, though - who knows what's gonig to happen at the end of all this.

The government announcement said that the travel restrictions would be in place for AT LEAST the next six months.

Yes, it's irrelevant. Now you have PR, you have your own independent visa.

TBH I don't approve of negative gearing and think the government should do away with it, but I have to admit, I did take advantage of it. It's ridiculously generous actually - I didn't make a loss on my property in fact, I only made a loss on paper, entirely due to depreciation.

Sounds like a good opportunity to go into evidence-gathering mode. A 47 you are too old to get any kind of work visa in your own right, so you either need to establish yourself as de facto or plan to get married in Australia when the restrictions are eventually lifted. Normally you need to live together for de facto but you have the perfect excuse with the virus. Working out how to prove that you’re in “the equivalent of marriage” will need some imagination but worth thinking about

If the garden furniture is very bulky, it may not be economically sensible to ship

Currently none since they can’t get you into the country. Most companies won’t take the chance even in normal times. They’ll offer you a 482 temp visa to see how you go first.

I think the agent is probably right

All governments have admitted that it cannot be defeated now, it is too late. All we can do is try to slow down the rate of infection so our hospitals don’t run out of beds and equipment, and have to let people die