Marisawright

Please note that it is against the law for an educational consultant to give you advice about migrating as they are not a migration agent. I did some research and as far as I can see, you get only 5 extra points for doing your Masters in Australia instead of in another country. The student visa pathway will cost you thousands of dollars - not just in fees but in the drop in income for your husband and increase in costs. Considering that, I strongly suggest you book a consultation with one of the excellent migration agents on this forum, to check that all the information you've been given is accurate. A few hundred dollars now could save you making expensive mistakes with your visa.

Be very careful if you are using an education consultant. Most of them are paid commissions by the university and they will tell you lies to persuade you the course is suitable even if it is not. You would be wise to contact the university department yourself and ask them about things like hours and child care

The recent experience someone had with broadband was the very first time I had ever heard of credit history being an issue in Australia. So I’m not sue if anyone knows how it works yet

But couldn’t you do that in your home country and get the same points?

I agree with Bulya except that of course, it doesn't meet your criteria of a half-hour's drive. Is there a strong reason you need to be so close to Queensland? The beaches on the NSW coast from Newcastle north are every bit as good and I think the weather is better.

You need to be able to prove you have a residence in the UK, and if you're staying with parents then you won't have that. You may have to budget to take on a 6 month rental immediately so you can show you've got a lease, and you can get on the electoral roll which will also help. I don't think it matters how long you've been resident, you just need to prove your intention to live there. If you haven't been paying your Class 2 NI contributions while you've been in Australia, then I'd get on and organise to pay the years you missed.

Look into the cost of a Movecube. They have three sizes The smallest one will usually work out cheaper than shipping three or four individual boxes, and you'll fit a lot more in. It might even be worth going for a medium one, especially if you have children. I agree it's probably not worth bringing big furniture unless it's stuff you chose carefully and you're attached to. However, I found it was the small stuff that really, really mounted up. We don't generally buy pots, pans, cutlery, crockery, kitchen utensils, tupperware, sheets, duvets, pillows, towels, tools, sewing stuff, all at once, so we don't realise how much it's all worth. The other issue was that it takes a heck of a long time to traipse round the shops buying all that small stuff!

You've posted several questions about setting up a charity. This sounds like a new question. The simplest way to accept donations is Paypal. It has no setup fees or monthly fees. Its transactoin fees may not be the cheapest but it is the one that will attract the most donations, for one simple reason - it is a service that many people are familiar with in their daily lives, so they are more likely to trust it. They can use it to pay donations by credit cards OR by direct transfer from their bank.

I've never heard of them, but the fact that they've got people with experience in both countries is a plus.

I'm guessing it's because he just wants citizenship, then he wants to go home.

Be warned, when you apply for citizenship, it's not finalised until you attend the citizenship ceremony. So you'll have to stay in Australia until after the ceremony takes place. We've seen people who've been waiting over a year.

Sadly the authorities will just say, “you should have thought of that” so there is no way to appeal for priority. Does she want to move to Australia permanently or just for regular visits?

I would be very careful about admitting you're going to lie to Immigration on a public forum

All the best. It's never good being in a country where you don't feel at home. Although I'm a Scot by birth, I experienced the same thing in reverse. You'll be fine!

Yes, I felt the same. It seemed the writer was looking at the low number of invitations and deducing that there can't have been many applicants - which is flawed logic. I suspect part of the issue is that we have an Immigration Minister who hates immigrants.

Unfortunately that's the consequence of the decision they made. He'll have to wait the 5 years. You could try consulting a good agent to see if they can spot a way around it.

Just curious, where are you seeing hype about labour shortages? You certainly don’t see it in Australia.

The downturn is in residential, specifically large apartment blocks.

This is really surprising because Australian suppliers never used to check credit ratings. Provided you had the 100 points of ID, you were fine. Are you sure it was the credit rating that was the problem?

Hope doesn't equal certainty. What will you do if you get refused?

Was that person a qualified agent? If not, how do you know that was the truth? I think you really, really need professional help

We recently had someone else refused for the same thing

I realise that, but you should have applied for the partner visa in Australia, not in some random other country. You have made life difficult for yourself. You may be able to withdraw the application and start again, this time apply for the onshore visa. You need to consult a good agent.

You obviously do not understand how Australian government works. Immigration is just a government department staffed by ordinary people. It does what the government tells it. The current government (which has just been re-elected) is anti-immigration. There have been too many companies using 457 and 186 visas to bring relatives or friends into the country, when they could just as easily hire an Australian. The government is very keen to stop that happening. So now, companies are required to make a strong case to prove that they have tried to hire locally first, and that the position is genuine.

Doesn't your agent know what is required? They are both things that must be supplied by your employer, anyway.